Cape Coral Real Estate

I read an article in the newspaper regarding the number about renting Vs Buying in Lee County. And it makes totally sense. These days, lots of people just can’t get a loan and have to rent. The high demand for rentals make prices going up, while, for the same reason, buying a home in Lee County, including Cape Coral, is affordable. Of course, if you still need to find a place to rent in Cape Coral, Fort Myers or Lehigh acres, feel free to visit my Cape Coral rental site and contact me from there

Fort Myers-Cape Coral is amongst the most affordable locations within the place to purchase a residence, but rents are far above regular.

A report unveiled with the Washington-based Center for Housing Coverage stated the median house cost right here is now $95,000 (the same as 2010), generating the area tied with Scranton, Pa., for 186th outside of 211 metro regions.

The median monthly lease for a two-bedroom apartment, nonetheless, was $996 – 56th greatest about the list – even though down from $1,029 previous year.

Solidly atop equally lists was super-expensive San Francisco, No. 1 with a median rent of $1,833 plus a median property price tag of $550,000.

Most inexpensive lease was Springfield, Mo., at $594 and Lima, Ohio, had the most cost effective houses at $63,000.

Driving the high rents in Lee County is a ongoing influx of foreclosure refugees staying kicked from their properties, said Susan Lutter, broker for Fort Myers-based Gulf Waters Rentals and Management.

“We still have renters declaring, ‘Hey, I have to become out by Wednesday’,” she said.
Houses are low-cost and there’s a strong industry from traders, but when it comes to potential buyers of the residence to reside in, it could be difficult to close the deal regardless of the lower rates, Lutter said.

It is especially difficult to borrow cash for any condominium, she explained.

“Trying to get into nearly anything with a condominium association you fairly significantly should shell out hard cash because the financial institution will not lend the cash and numerous models must be operator occupied,” Lutter stated.

Nationwide, the center’s report, unveiled Friday, located that although employment is picking up, a lot of workers even now can not manage to buy a residence.

The report said “while some task is evidently much better than no career, a lot of the newly produced employment just don’t shell out adequate to permit employees to make ends meet.”

That is specially accurate in the pricier metropolitan areas, the report states: “In far more expensive metro regions, even accountants make too minor to find the money for fair market,” even which has a standard wage array of $44,000 to $63,000.

Lutter stated she does not see a lot of first-time homebuyers right here recently.

“I’ve handled a single (couple) and they are in their 50s,” she explained. “They’ve lived here for many years and they’ve often rented and so they ultimately made the decision it is time.”

Comments (0) Jul 28 2011

As you may know, I check the foreclosures on a daily basis. I do that for all my client looking for the best deal possible. They can get into my Cape Coral foreclosure list by filling the form that you can find here.

Few months ago, I’ll say something like last fall, we had 1,000+ foreclosures in our MLS for the whole Lee County, that include Cape Coral foreclosures, Fort Myers Foreclosures and Lehigh Acres Foreclosures.
And since a couple of weeks, that number had a steady decrease to reach 660 today.

That number is very important for me and I explain that to my clients, investors or first time home buyers.
Not only, obviously, that means there are less foreclosures out there, but also, the non-distress market will take over sooner. Consequently, prices are going up. It shows even with the foreclosures themselves. Banks now see more multiple offers on their listings and adjust pricing. They see an increase of the demand.

We also experience an employment rate having an upward trend and the 60 days and the 90 days delinquency rates are both decreasing, that’s always a sign of a foreclosure rate decline.
So hurry. Not only I was showing a proof that this is the best time to purchase a property in Lee County in history, but prices are increasing little by little. So if you are looking to get a great deal, call me today and I’ll send you the available foreclosures in Lee County.

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Comments (0) Feb 11 2011

Today I break two records since I have my Real Estate license, about 10 years ago now.

The first one is I made, so far, more offers than days in the month. We are Nov 18 and I made 19 offers so far.

The second one, and most important for me, the last offer passed the limit of the 10% higher than asking price. Last year, offers were about 2% to 5% below asking price for those foreclosures in Cape Coral. Last spring, they were about on the asking price. Since last summer, buyers had to go higher than asking price for any Cape Coral foreclosure. November and I had an offer at $301,000 for an asking price of $272,900

Now, what’s amazing is my client has been outbid! Someone offered an even higher price for a foreclosure. That’s a very good sign. We were in a buyer’s market and we are entering a very strong seller’s market.

Of course, everything is not lost. My clients are cash buyers and very motivated to buy. So tomorrow will be another offer for them. I’ll have to suggest to pass the 10% above asking bar though, but they know that already

I often have newer buyers calling me about foreclosures in Cape Coral. When I explain that an offer at asking price or below is just not enough, some of them are a bit sceptical. Some believe I’m bluffing to get more commission, other will try another agent, just to hear what they want to hear. The remaining buyers will try several times below asking until frustration appears. Then, they will remember what I said and will try full asking price offers. Most of the time, if not every time, they will be outbid. Usually, the number of offers at asking price is lower than the previous offers at below asking price. They seems to understand faster. That’s when they hit the third level, and honestly, they can be frustrated as well.

The prices of the foreclosures in Cape Coral, Florida, are increasing, little by little. The demand is there and starving for “good deals”. The best time to buy a foreclosure in Cape Coral was last year and winter-spring 2010. The market is rebounding and for those who didn’t catch the train will regret soon or later.

UPDATE:

Today is March 29, 2011 and I wanted to give some updates.
Last November, when I wrote this article, there were more than 1,000 foreclosures in Lee County. Today, there are only 389! That’s mean we are going forward the end of the foreclosure crisis. And, banks realize that they can get more money now for their properties. The good prices we saw in 2010 are not there in 2011. I hope you bought your foreclosures last year.

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Comments (1) Nov 19 2010

I saw the big title in the newspaper today. There had been 656 foreclosure lawsuits filed in Lee County in October, the lowest range in a lot more than three years, according to statistics released Monday by the South West Florida Real Estate Investment Association.

It was a rare ray of hope in a grim situation: The Lee County and Cape Coral  foreclosure rate is normally within the top five metropolitan areas nationwide, with only Las Vegas consistently worse.

October’s variety is down 31 % from September’s 953. Yes, you read me: 31% less than the month before. The pace hasn’t been this slow since quite a long time.  555 had been filed in February 2007 as the wave of mortgage failures that followed the housing boom was just obtaining under way.

Experts stated that the decline likely was part of a long-term downward pattern — but that’s not all.

Foreclosures possibly plunged at least in aspect since for the past month, some banks have been holding off on foreclosures whilst they sort out issues including who truly owns the note and whether attorneys basically read all the paperwork, but the holding was only for 1 week and from 2 banks, including a major one though: Bank of America.

But the recent lender troubles alone couldn’t have caused a drop as sharp as October’s. Bankers “did knock some things out, but in the totality with the trend, no. 10 to 20 percent of your mortgages might be affected,” but not enough to account for the whole drop.

County Clerk of Court Charlie Green said that whatever the trigger, the downward pattern has helped whittle away at a daunting backlog of foreclosures within the court system: Public auctions disposing of properties are now outnumbering new filings.

Only about 14,700 cases are from the pipeline now, Green mentioned, down practically half from the 26,000 when the difficulty peaked at the end of 2008.

Still, he cautioned that there’s a substantial “shadow inventory” of houses that banks are selecting not to foreclose on. “I believe we’re clearing some out, but the banks are holding back.”

But we don’t really know how many far more. Next month will give us a better indication as to whether or not it was a normal trend or lenders stopping until they figure out what the issue with their process was.”

Also the pace of foreclosure doesn’t occur in a vacuum: if the winter tourist season is strong, it will reduce unemployment and keep far more people financially able to keep their homes, which is the case in South West Flroida, which include Cape Coral.

I think it will be only in April, May, June of next year that we’ll see how this season’s sales and the economic effect of your season influenced foreclosures.

A big builder in Cape Coral, stated that whatever the short-term pattern, foreclosures can’t sustain themselves at that pace. It’s going to sooner or later start slowing up. And I think it is happening right now.

Also, the issues with the foreclosure process have made some prospective buyers skittish about buying a previously mortgaged house.

However, while I find it easier to sell to prospective renters a house where owners are living in than a foreclosure, that  non distresses market has a hard time to compete with the foreclosures. Plus, new potential buyers have still a hard time to accept the fact that most of the time, there is a multiple offer situation on every foreclosed properties, ending by an accepted offer above the asking price. Often, those buyers go through a 3 step buying process. The first is the below asking price period where the buyer experience the frustration of being outbid. Then there is the full price offers period of time, which is usually shorter than the first one. Most of the time, the buyers learned their lessons and go the third period, the above asking price offers moment where they finally get a property under contract.

It’s now even more difficult with the decrease of the number of foreclosure and with a possible increase of pricing, even for foreclosures.

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Comments (0) Nov 02 2010

Lee Home Appraiser Ken Wilkinson is used to fielding complaints from people who think their home assessments are too high.

After all, a increased assessment translates into greater taxes.

But what a difference the housing crash makes.

Now some individuals have a new complaint: “My assessment is too low.”

“Before two years ago, I never got a call,” Wilkinson said. “This year I got two calls. They wanted higher value since they needed to sell it.”

The News-Press also received calls from individuals upset about low assessments since Truth in Millage Notices were sent out with house values and tax rates last month.

Things changed when property values fell sharply right after the residential real estate boom ended in 2006 and commercial house followed suit two years later.

On this year’s county tax roll, as an example, of properties the use of which hasn’t changed, 459,226 went down in value (compared to 2009); only 36,716 went up; and 22,525 stayed the same.

But those who wish to promote or refinance aren’t all happy about the declining values.

“Our lot is appraised at $18,000? That’s insane,” mentioned certified public accountant Leslie D’Alessandro, who with her husband, Peter, has owned a three-bedroom, two-bath house in Caloosa Yacht & Racquet Club along the Caloosahatchee since 1999.

The value of their property on the notice sent out by Wilkinson’s office last week was $169,279, which Leslie D’Alessandro also considers a lowball figure. It’s down from $282,020 in 2009 and $390,730 in 2008.

“It concerns me as far as homeowners insurance,” she said. “How much is the replacement value?”

Refinancing the home also would be more difficult due to the fact of the low assessed value, D’Alessandro stated, and selling would be even harder.

“I’m just glad we don’t have to sell our house,” she mentioned.

Wilkinson mentioned his hands are tied. Even though house owners would pay more taxes if their home were adjusted up in worth, state law requires he assess everything equally.

The notices sent out by the home appraiser every August also are not intended to reflect current worth, he stated; they’re based on comparable sales no later than the end of the previous year.

They’re also more conservative than a private appraiser’s estimate, Wilkinson said. Sales costs are deducted from the total figure, for instance.

Mike Hagen, an attorney who handles home tax value appeals, stated he hasn’t been asked to get anyone’s home value higher. But he said that typically he’d advise someone making the request to leave well enough alone.

Insurance companies and banks deciding whether to refinance don’t rely on the property appraiser’s figures to make their calculations, Hagen mentioned.

A larger assessed worth would help only when trying to sell a house.

“There’s no question a potential buyer may look at the house appraiser system, see what their opinion is,” he said.

Bill Davis thinks his house value is too low but doesn’t blame the home appraiser.
Davis, a retired banker who lives in Marietta, Ga., owns a unit in the Renaissance condominium on Winkler Avenue.

Over the past three years his assessment has fallen from $133,000 in 2008 to $76,430 in 2009 and $22,200 this year.

His unit is worth more than that, Davis stated, but lenders who are dragging their feet on foreclosures keep the complex in limbo.

Dominic Calabro, president of the Tallahassee-based taxation watchdog group Florida Taxwatch, stated there’s some concern about overly low assessed worth by commercial property owners.

“They have a myriad of different loans to support the activity and they’re often leveraged,” he said. “It does (cause problems) in the sense that it can affect whether you have a net loss of worth: whether the banks will continue to renew loans for the appraised value.”

But generally, Calabro said, it’s a perfect storm of low house values and a difficult lending environment that has some people today in denial.

“Florida’s seen some house tax declines once every 30 or 40 years,” he said. “It’s just we haven’t seen the decline in value at the same time as tight money.”

One thing remains constant, he said.

“Property taxes are a lot like the weather: Men and women are never happy with them,” he stated.

If you need more info about Lee County properties, feel free to check the Cape Coral Real Estate website

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Comments (0) Sep 07 2010

March has show an increase of the number of homes sold by Realtors in the Greater Fort Myers area.
There were 11.2 percent more homes sold in March 2010 if compared with March 2009.
Realtors of Lee county have sold 1474 homes in March compared with 1326 in March 2009.
Single family pending homes rose by 22.3 percent month-to-month. However, the pending number is almost the same from March 2009 with  2063 for March 2010 and 2019 for March 2009.
As for the median price, it is at $90,000 for March 2010, 7.2% more than March 2009 and 5.9% from February 2010.
The record number of existing home sales in March is indicative of the continued demand for homes in Southwest Florida due to affordability and low interest rates. Buyers still tying to take advantage of the tax credit before the April 30 deadline need to act now as available inventories are rapidly being depleted and as a result, the median price rose $5,000 in the past 30 days.
There are currently 11,147 properties currently listed in the MLS, a number that is 4,138 (27.1%) less than  in March of last year.
Of these, 6,889 are single family homes, which is 28.7% lower than in March 2009, when 9,666 single family homes were in inventory.
The median price encompasses three types of properties: traditional, short sales and foreclosures. At the end of the first quarter of 2010, the median price for traditional properties rose $5,000 from $135,000 to $140,000; for foreclosure properties, the median price dropped $2,900 to $67,000; however, the median price for short sale properties dropped 10.5% to $85,000 from $94,950 in the prior quarter.
Of the existing home sales in March, traditional sales accounted for $38.8% of all sales, while foreclosures were 44.4% and short sale made up 16.8%.
This do not necessarely include sale made without a Realtor, like the “for sale by owner”.

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Comments (0) Apr 24 2010

The rates of foreclosure in Lee County has increased for the month of February over the same month last year.
The Cape Coral-Fort Myers area foreclosure rate is 13.47% for the month of February, an increase of 0.99% compared to February 2009 when the rate was 12.48%.
However, the activity sourrounding the foreclosures in Cape Coral-Fort Myers is higher than the national foreclosure rate, which was 3.17% for February 2010, representing a 10.30% difference.
In Lee county, the mortgage delinquency rate has increased as well. 22.93% of mortgage loans were 90 days or more delinquent compared to 20.05% for the same period last year.
No need to say that Real Estate investors have still some good months ahead by investing today. If you are interested to receive my list of Foreclosures for Lee County, feel free to visit my website at www.1capecoral.com

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Comments (0) Apr 23 2010