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It’s Almost May Day!

Posted on April 30, 2012

Anyone who has ever gone away on vacation can attest to the “Law of Murphy” which states something along the line of …”just book a vacation then see how busy you get a few days before leaving”…Imagine if we all worked at that level of production all the time, think of how much we would all get accomplished! That is exactly how I feel I’ve been working lately…like there’s some kind of crazy feeding frenzy going on!

All of a sudden today I realized, ‘it’s the last day of the month’! Where the heck did April go? [picture above is an old etching depicting ‘May Day’] In the years since beginning this blog, this has been the busiest month I can recall! I’ve had good intentions of doing a real estate update often, but I’ve been out nearly every day all month showing properties to various buyers. Condos and homes…in all locations and price ranges…I haven’t stopped…and “the hurrieder I go, the behinder I get”   ~I keep seeing signs of  my time becoming more manageable then Bam! I’m off again showing homes! [Nice problem to have!]

The real problem is a shortage of inventory…Seriously…There are 8 homes for sale in Old Naples priced below $1 million! There are a total of 34 homes for sale in the the Royal Harbor Area and only 13 listed below $1 million. There are 9 condos presently for sale priced under $500,000 in highrises along Gulf Shore Blvd North…also in The Moorings and Park Shore neighborhoods only 12 total single family homes listed below $750,000. TWELVE! That’s it! ~ Naples Luxury Properties, those Previews listings priced at $1 million or above, comprise an estimated 18% of the total inventory in our multiple listing system.  There are approximately 100 homes for sale located in gated communities in Naples priced below $300,000…Considering a condo with at least a 1 car garage in a neighborhood with a community pool priced below $200,000? There are less than 250 to choose from in all of Naples! There are only 35 condos for sale in Old Naples priced below $300,000…and to get a garage space and a community pool you need to spend nearly $500,000! Presently, I am working with a buyer that is looking for a newer or updated home, in a community with low fees, a tile roof and a private pool and I couldn’t find anything under $300,000!  My humble opinion: If you’ve got a listing that has lingered on the market all season and hasn’t sold, then maybe your expectations are too high…those listings which are well priced ARE selling! I can’t tell you how many times in the last 30 days that I have made an appointment to show a property and gotten a call back that it ‘just had an offer accepted!’  I keep telling the customers, ‘if you see something you like, make an offer before someone else does’; -especially in the more moderate price points! In any given community, those homes and condos listed at ‘entry level pricing’ will be the next to go. This has become a bit of a challenge for homes and condos that need to appraise–the values cannot keep up with the lack of supply and the demand, and appraisers can only use closed sale data. Hopefully, this will not be an obstacle for long as the low end continues to have a ‘trickle up’ effect on prices. Naples over-corrected, and we are now seeing prices level off and in many cases beginning to go back up!

  

Our Internet inquiries are off the charts, too! We are tracking where most of the requests are coming from…Next to the USA, Canada ranks #2 on NaplesRealEstate.com. Many inquiries are still coming from the UK and South America, and we got our first buyer from Russia this month! Thank goodness we’ve hired 2 more agents to help The Harris Peppe Team with this influx of Internet inquiries!  

Well, summer is coming and we are beginning to think we might vacation right here in Naples this year! As long as we can stay ahead of the curve, and schedule the time to enjoy this beautiful paradise, we are thinking it might just be the perfect oppotunity to see what is happening in our own backyard…

For information about the Naples Real Estate market, please contact a member of The Harris Peppe Team! Thank you, and make it a great day!

The Naples Real Estate Blogger