This month we turn our attention to Mediterra as our community of the month. Mediterra stands tall among the most elite communities in Naples. The lush, manicured landscape and more than one thousand acres dedicated to golf and preserve make it a truly special place. Bonita Bay Group, with their reputation for first class developments, pulled out all the stops when they established this amazing place.

At the center of any world class community is the golf course and Mediterra boasts not one but two 18 hole Tom Fazio designed courses. Not only are these courses challenging to the golfer, but they are trophies to the environmental community as well. The Club at Mediterra has been certified as the world’s first 36 hole Audubon International Silver Signature Sanctuary.

Not to be outdone, the tennis crowd has their own facilities to boast about. Six and soon to be eight Har-Tru courts and a top rated tennis program round out the mix. In addition there is a state of the art fitness center featuring every type of equipment you need to get into shape. In the event you overdo it, a trip to the spa and their professional therapists will soothe those overworked muscles. Rounding out the fitness center are the outdoor heated pool, the sauna, and the Enrichment center offering classes in health and nutrition.

Last and certainly not least is the Beach Club. Located just 20 minutes away on the glistening Gulf of Mexico, it is a first class escape from the day to day stresses we all run into. This private beach club features valet parking, a restaurant, bar, locker rooms, a swimming pool, and private cabanas for your beachside relaxation.

Join our growing list of clients who have come to find out that Mediterra is not only beautiful but relaxed and friendly as well. Call us today for a personal tour of this unique and wonderful community.  Homes in Mediterra fall into three classifications, coach homes, detached villas, and single family homes. Coach homes currently start at $439k+, villas at $700k+ and single family homes at $750k+. Call us today at 239-963-4811 for a personal tour of this unique and wonderful community.

OR, you can visit the community website at http://LiveInMediterra.com.

Well, to be exact, Arthur Frommer, the man behind the travel website & books “Frommers” thinks so.  He rated Sanibel Island as his #1 favorite place in the world to visit.  

Locally, this is a big deal, as he ranks the Islands of Bali and Paris as #2 and #3 respectively and Kenya rounding out the list at #10.  This is not just any man’s opinion, Arthur Frommer is famous for traveling the world and for his published traveling guides.

Here is an excerpt from his post:
To Do Some Long-Range Vacation Planning, I’ve Compiled a List of My 10 Favorite Travel Destinations
Posted by Arthur Frommer at 12/28/2011 10:02 AM EST

To me, the leisure enjoyed during the holiday season is a perfect time in which to plan future vacations. And so I’ve compiled a list of my own favorite destinations, of which there are 10:

1) Sanibel Island, Florida: Off the west coast of the Sunshine State, a few miles from Ft. Myers, is this idyllic haven of white-sand beaches, condos whose seafront apartments are available for weekly rentals, excellent restaurants, good shopping–and most important, the Ding Darling Nature Preserve, visited by thousands of birds of every species, who bask in the sun after diving for fish, and are one of the great natural sights of wildlife in America.

There was a News Press article about his blog post which can be found here.  If you would like to see Frommer’s original blog post, you can do so here.

The islands are a very special part of Southwest Florida.  Between the white sand beaches and the plethora of wildlife sanctuaries, Sanibel & Captiva bring many tourists to Southwest Florida.  There is just something special about being on the islands.  Personally, every time I head over the bridge to Sanibel, it feels as though I am on vacation.

This news of Frommer’s ranking comes just days after local real estate industry experts gathered to discuss and predict what was to come in 2012.  The overall attitude is very optimistic for the local real estate market and local economy.  Jobs will continue to be a main concern, but local real estate values are predicted to continue rising.  Contributing to this fact is the slow down in foreclosure activity.  People are finally getting back on their feet.

Judging by the number of people on the road, at stores & at local restaurants, we have a lot of confidence this will be a very good season!

Thanks again for your help in purchasing our home in Gateway, Fort Myers.  You made the “home buying” experience an efficient and pleasant one.

From the beginning you impressed us with your knowledge of the market, organizational ability, interpersonal skills and overall professionalism. Initially we covered a lot of territory and saw many homes; because you’re observant and a good listener it became clear to us that you had knew exactly what we were looking for.  After our initial inability to reach a deal on our first offer, we remained confident even after we left Fort Myers for Massachusetts that we would still make something happen this year.  And, of course, we did!

As a result of your professionalism, we felt comfortable with you and trusted your instincts about the property that we finally purchased (for us, sight unseen.)  We believe that says a great deal about your skills as a realtor and also about your ability to work hard and effectively with others.  You sent photos via email and did the homework necessary to close the deal in a timely fashion. Clearly, this would not have happened and been such a smooth transaction without your involvement.

So thanks again for taking the time to work with us, and for being a positive and skilled real estate advocate in the purchase of our new home.

We were ready to give up, but discovered Brad Dohack online back in Chicago with his 2 cent tours. He was touring places we had not even seen before, so we gave it one last shot with Brad last spring.

To summarize, Brad got it done when no one else could. After working with Brad in the spring without scoring, he kept working behind the scenes and called us out of the blue in September with news of a home he thought would be perfect for us that came on the market that day. He emailed us over 50 pictures and said it was an excellent short sale property and would not last long. And he was right.

We had our offer submitted within 24 hours, but there was an offer in front of us and several right behind. The seller considered them all and chose ours and sent it on to the bank. But Brad did not stop there. He worked tirelessly with the negotiator to get bank approval within two and a half months. During that time, we asked for a number of things and raised a number of difficult issues. Brad could have said he would get back to us in a day or two, but instead he would always respond within an hour and whatever was requested was in my email shortly after that and every issue got resolved quickly and to our satisfaction.

If you are an out-of-town buyer looking for a second home, there is no better agent to have working with you than Brad Dohack. He will not give up until he gets you what you are looking for. And he is always reachable so there is never a feeling of not knowing what is going on. He gets it done when no one else can.”          

~Jim & Michelle Wisniewski

The past 7 or 8 years have been marked by extremism in the real estate world.  First, we had the extreme optimism that homes had turned into money machines.  Banks and buyers alike had the attitude that it did not matter who bought or how much they paid.  Everything was predicated on the assumption that values would rise and rise at a rate that would turn even the worst deals into viable transactions.

Along came the bursting of the bubble and we entered the phase of extreme pessimism.  Real estate transactions came to a screeching halt as everyone stepped back and waited for the world to come to an end.  Unfortunately, it did just that for many.  Prices were unrealistically depressed to a point that they were a mere 40% of replacement value and even so, nobody was buying.  Ever so slowly people re-entered the market and homes began to sell, albeit at ridiculously low prices.

I am calling for 2012 to be the year of “Regained Sanity”.    Of course, the news continues to tell us that there is a recovery but that it is lame at best.  We are inundated with news that new housing starts are up but that they are still only a fraction of what they were in 2005.  We are told that housing prices are recovering but ever so slowly.  We will never see the end of negativity but if you take a closer look some of this news is actually encouraging.  I, for one am happy to see a measured recovery as opposed to a dramatic uptick.

Here in Florida, I will tell you as one of the troops on the ground that sanity is returning. According to the December issue of Money Magazine, Fort Myers has seen the highest increase in home values in the country in 2011 at 5.1%.  Fort Myers Florida Weekly recently published an article revealing that the median price for homes sold this year has risen a whopping 28.27%.  This indicates that the bottom feeding has subsided and a normalcy has returned.  The homes that were built for investors who were over extended and went into default were sucked up by new investors positioned to cash in on the opportunity.  Now that this activity has subsided we see more traditional transactions taking place in the vacation and retirement home category. Finally, it is important to note the distinction from the 2 different numbers provided by Money Magazine & Fort Myers Florida Weekly.  One is reporting home values & the other is reporting MEDIAN sales price.

Indeed November numbers appear to indicate that this trend will accelerate now that we are in season.  All of this having been said, values are still extraordinary.  This area was hit hard and fast in the beginning and struggled for a long time but it appears that the low point was about this time one year ago.  I for one am happy to see slow and measured increases in values.  I believe that it is a sign that people have learned a hard lesson and are now being careful in their decision making.  I look forward to this election year when we as Americans have the opportunity to give direction to our country and send signals to Washington about where we want to go.

Brad and I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have enriched our lives.  We truly value the relationships we have established in the course of our business and look forward to the New Year with eager anticipation and hope that you do as well.  Above all else we hope that it brings peace, joy, and happiness to you and your family.

Happy New Year,

Dick Dohack

Lee County:

In a superb article from Fort Myers Florida Weekly (seen below), the numbers speak for themselves.  Since January 2011, the median sales price of homes in the Greater Fort Myers area have risen 28.27%.  The overall number of transactions has inched down by 5.5% when compared to this time in 2010.  They go on to explain the increase in median sales price to be a product of an increased number of traditional (non-distressed) sales.  The number of traditional sales has increased from 33.5% in January 2011 to 52.2%.  Certainly this is an indication that sellers are FINALLY seeing a better opportunity to sell…and for good reason. Even more interesting is the fact that the overall amount of inventory is down 30% from just a year ago.  We only have 3 months worth of inventory at current demand level.  Very impressive.

Collier County:

Collier County has seen its share of good news in the marketplace as well, but not nearly to the extend of Lee.  The graph below shows you the average sales price of single family homes in Collier County.  The trend line has remained somewhat flat for the year, but I would expect that December & January numbers would help increase it.  Obviously the average price is much higher than Lee overall, but that is to be expected.

2012 Prediction: While I certainly do not have the super powers of predicting the future (my crystal ball speech), I believe 2012 will be another positive year for real estate in Southwest Florida.  We are not through the woods yet when it comes to foreclosures & short sales, as I think it will be several years before we see that pipeline dry up.  However, we will see less short sales & foreclosures coming on the market which inevitably means continued appreciation.  Demand will remain high even though prices are heading northward.  Consumer confidence is likely to keep rising, especially with the upcoming elections.  Mortgage rates are at record lows now, but it will remain difficult to obtain financing.  We have been seeing the majority of our clients purchasing with cash, and I would expect that to remain the same.

Conclusion: We are still in a buyers market, but the tide is slowly changing in favor of sellers.  There is still time to buy at great prices.  If you’ve been holding off selling hoping the market would bounce back, you may want to have us look at the numbers and give you an analysis…you just might be surprised.

Below is the Florida Weekly article mentioned above.

Lee County, for instance, saw the number of Foreclosure filings jump by 39.5 % to 1,922 units according to “RealtyTrac.  That number, however, was down by nearly 50% from October a year ago.  Similarly, Charlotte County saw their filings rise 43.8% to 542 units.  Collier County was up 17% from September but down 52.5% from last year.

Media does their best to make everything dramatic.  Clearly a rise in foreclosures month over month is notable, but the bigger number is year over year.  By all accounts, the number of foreclosure filings have fallen by 50% in Southwest Florida year over year.  You can bet that fact along with steady demand has helped prices inch up ever so slightly.

All of these statistics could mean that the smoke has cleared with the “robo-signing” problems and that banks are back on track and processing delinquent homes.  The big question is how will they release them to the market and when.  My theory has been that they will release this inventory in a more measured way and work to protect the remaining property values but that remains to be seen.  In the mean time, we wait and watch but we have only been seeing foreclosure inventory remain sparse and overall prices have been moving up.

If you have your eyes on a specific community I suggest that you communicate that to us and act quickly if we send something your way that you like.  The market is turning over quickly and it is harder and harder to find deals.  We recently were able to put an offer on a property within hours of it being listed.  We ultimately beat every other agent to the punch and got a fantastic deal negotiated for the buyer.  This would not have happened if we did not know exactly what they were looking for.

Each month we highlight a community in Southwest Florida. This month we have chosen Bella Terra. We have chosen it because there is currently a unique sale opportunity, but I will get to that in a minute.

Bella Terra is centrally located just 3 miles east of I-75 on Corkscrew Road in Estero, FL. Situated right in between Naples and Fort Myers, you have everything at your finger tips. Certainly shopping is a breeze. Miromar Outlets, Gulf Coast Town Center, and Coconut Point are all in close proximity and offer a full array of shopping, dining, and entertainment experiences.

As you enter the gates you immediately notice the fabulous Central fountain and clock tower and to the right the amazing amenity center. In the amenity center you will find nearly any activity you could want. A club house with a full time activity director, a huge resort style pool, fitness center, tennis courts, basketball courts, Bocce ball, Volleyball, soccer, a baseball diamond, and an in-line skating rink are some of the amenities that await you. With more than 2350 homes this community is a beehive of activity.

In the past resale homes were the way to go. Due to the timing of the community there were a number of distressed homes and the prices of new homes just did not make much sense when compared to re-sales. The gap between the two has been narrowing and right at this very time you can actually purchase a brand new Lannar home for less than the price of a re-sale. Are you ready to make a move? Here is your opportunity.

Modena Manor Single Family Home. 1,861 square feet under air, 3 Bedroom, 2 bath. THREE car garage. Granite, 18″ tile, crown molding, SS appliances, many upgraded finishes. Nice site with preserve views.
Was= $289,500 OCT CLOSE= $232,900 Total monthly fees of $192.

Why settle for a home that someone else has lived in when you can purchase brand new at a price like this?  This offer is good until the home is sold or until the end of the month so if it sounds like it might be right for you do not hesitate. Pick up the phone and give us a call. Purchase this month and spend Christmas with your family in your new home.

If you are more interested in resale possibilities, let us know and we will be happy to send you available listings.

~Dennis & Margaret Haire