Southwest Florida is the #1 place in the world!?!? 

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!

“Hi Dick,

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.

“My wife and I have been actively trying to purchase a second home in the Fort Myers/Estero area for three years. We made several offers on both short sales and traditional sales, but none panned out. It was either we were not the first offer (even if our offer was higher), or it was our offer was not the highest (even though we were first in), or we had the offer the bank was working with on a short sale, but the bank decided at the last minute to foreclose instead and we got pushed to the side.

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

“My wife and I worked with Brad for nearly a year in an attempt to secure a lot (which was in short sale) and then to negotiate to build a home.  Along that journey we also looked at existing homesites.  Throughout this process, which ran the full gamut of realty services, Brad was truly a professional gentleman.  He was always accessible, prepared and knowledgeable.  He was flexible and accommodating.  It was easy to become his friend because it was clear he was concerned about us and was treating us as he would a close friend.  You can rest assured that you have found a professional with integrity.”  ~Joshua and Ronna Nagin

We could spend a lot of time going over all of the big events of 2011.  It was, after all, a year of major current events, however, our main focus is the economy, specifically relating to how the economy has affected the Southwest Florida real estate market.  I will be the first to admit that I was WRONG about the market in 2011.  I thought we would continue the trend towards stabilization in the market and have minor appreciation of values.  Well, I was accurate about the stabilization part, but appreciation overall has been higher than I would have expected.  Here are the numbers.

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.

“Brad is an excellent realtor. He is very thorough, very conscientious, very knowledgeable and very patient. He went above and beyond the basics in order to help us find the perfect condo for us. After the sale he continued to be extremely helpful. I would highly recommend him!“

~Dennis & Margaret Haire

“Brad made our sale happen. He is very professional, has excellent communication and knows what it takes to get the job done. I would recommend Brad to my own family!!!”

~Rich Calkins

One thing about being in Real Estate, there is no shortage of information.  We are constantly barraged with information on properties, mortgages, trends, and much more.  On occasion, we run across information that requires second take and then a thorough analysis.  It’s one of those days.

We are constantly in the MLS searching for properties that will meet the criteria of our clients.  We represent buyers from all walks so we are quite familiar with everything from investment condos to large estate homes.  Having said this, the article to which I am referring was done by Realtor Magazine Daily News and referred to average list prices.  They were comparing the average list prices in 146 markets with a database of 2.2 million properties.  You have to admit, that is a substantial survey.  The purpose of the survey was to determine where average list prices had increased by the largest percentage in the country.

The reason I did a second take was that average list price is not a stat that I am accustomed to studying.  This created a need to analyze the term average list price.  My first reaction to seeing an average list price for Fort Myers – Cape Coral was that the figure was much higher than I would have expected at $405,809; however, after careful consideration, I came to realize that large estate homes skew this number a great deal.  One $8,000,000.00 property on the market offsets a whole lot of $150,000.00 properties.

So why is this significant?  Of the Top 10 cities in the country with the largest increases in listing price from August 2010 to August 2010, Florida cities accounted for 9 of the top 10.  Fort Myers – Cape Coral ranked #2 with a 26.27% increase in 1 year, second only to Miami.  There can be forces at work here besides increasing prices.  Owners of larger homes may have been waiting out the uncertainty and have finally decided it is time to list.  Large homes statistically take longer to sell, thus inventory of these larger homes is swelling while the less expensive homes are selling quickly, etc.

What it positively means is that the market is heating up.  The average list price is up 26.27%.  That is remarkable.  Does this mean that all prices have increased by that amount?  Absolutely not but I can assure you that some have and I see that trend continuing.  Many communities that were devastated with distressed properties have worked through their problem inventory and are now strong again.  Once these properties are dealt with these unrealistic comps go away and the unrealistic deals cease to exist.

While there is much speculation that the “Shadow Inventory” of foreclosures looms in the wings and that we are going to see another big surge of this activity, I have my doubts.  The banks have stabilized themselves (most are announcing huge profits now) and have made room on their balance sheets to carry this inventory.  They also seem to be catching on that they need to protect the values of surrounding homes which happen to belong to other clients.  It is a lesson that was learned the hard way, but I believe that it has been learned and that the release of this inventory will take place in a more measured manner.

The moral of the story; we are past the bottom and a degree of realism is beginning to return to the Florida market.  The deals are still amazing but no longer ridiculous. There are still great deals so take action.  We all have our “I remember when I could have … “ story.  I believe you still have the opportunity to say, “I took advantage of the once in a lifetime real estate opportunity in Florida, and I’m glad I did.”

“My wife Adrianne and I are very busy full time professionals with a 2 young children. We were currently out growing our first home and knew it was time to look for a home with more space and one with character. Home prices were at their best and interest rates were at historical lows.

Like most folks searching the internet is the most common way to find the dream home. That is where Brad Dohack assisted us with every step of the way. We knew Brad from several friends of ours. Like many people in Florida, everyone knows a realtor, but do they truly know a professional and expert of real estate? I knew Brad after having several conversations with him. You can tell the difference in character compared to the other realtors out there.

Just give him a call and you will find out.

Every home we found, Brad was there to quickly assist in setting up an appointment to visit while respecting what little time we had. Visits to house showings were done either after work or in between our childrens’ naps….. In fact most showings were all scheduled around their naps. He was quick to identify pros and cons of each home.

When we finally found the perfect home, the process of placing an offer on the home was well done to a science and art. The process of signing the offer was efficient thru Docusign. And Brad was there to help negotiate. Once the offer was accepted by the selling party (which was a bank since the home was a short sale) he took the time to explain to both of us the process and timeline. Brad assisted also with communicating with our loan officer, the title company. This communication proved important as it sped up the transaction to meet its deadline.

I would highly recommend Brad for any buying and selling needs of real estate in SW Florida!”

~Todd & Adrianne Kluener

Gateway Golf & Country Club

I recently came across this video that shows a flyover of the Gateway Golf & Country Club course.   It's a virtual flyover - if you will - but still very neat to watch for all of you avid golfers out there. 

I've played the Gateway Golf & Country Club course many times and I have to say my favorite hole on the course is probably 16.  It's a short par 4 that has a definite risk/reward factor to it.  You can use the driver, but if you end up in the woods to the right or water to the left, the hole gets a lot more difficult! 

Have you ever played the Gateway Golf & Country Club Course?  What is your favorite hole?