Naples Florida Real Estate

I've had a few people inquire about Moorings Beachfront listings lately and noticed there was no easy way to search those listings on any site I could find so i added them to my Naples Florida real estate website today to make it easier to search Moorings Beachfront properties. 

From the drop down list located on every Naples Moorings page on my site you can one click to every subdivision located on the beach in the Moorings. 

Here's the list:

Are you finding yourself wanting to know the latest Bay Colony updates but don't want to pester an agent for details?  With inventories increasing and price reductions occuring, buyers want updates on information that just might land them the condo of the universe or the deal of the decade!  Even Bay Colony Shores is starting to move with what I've heard was a collosal deal negotiated just this week!  Attention savvy investors and "kept in suspense" sellers, I have created a new Twitter account to help you get several Bay Colony updates throughout the day!  Follow me @Bay_Colony or if you don't have a Twitter account or you don't want to sign up, you can follow me by saving this page here or saving the Twitter updates that can be found on my Bay Colony website!

Best Regards,

Your Naples Smart Girl!

Ever wanted to know what was going on in Pelican Bay but didn't want to bother your agent for the updates?  Get near real time information through my new Twitter account: @Pelican_Bay.   From there you'll learn what's new on the market, pending listings, closed sales and more updated several times throughout the day!  It doesn't get much easier than that!

Best Regards, Your Naples Smart Girl!

A colleague of mine (Scott Lepore) dropped by my office yesterday with some statistics about Pelican Bay that proved quite disturbing.  While he was preparing for a big speech he'll be giving next week, he ran an in depth market analysis of the past 2 years of sales activity and compared those with the current year.

Here's what he handed me:

We still have a full week of peak season before we can officially call it 1st Quarter 2009 but as you can see from the numbers above, Pelican Bay isn't doing so hot!

Now let's double the trouble by showing what's currently available and what the projected number of sales will be for 2009 based on 1st Q's activity:

How many fewer sales are we on track for so far this year?

BUT IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY IF YOU WANT TO SELL YOUR PELICAN BAY PROPERTY!

There are some aspects in real estate that always remain the same!

• Price
• Condition
• Location

There's no mystery Pelican Bay is a phenominal location and offers fabulous amenities like the beach clubs, fitness center, golf club and spa!  But my fellow Pelican Bay property owners (and neighbors), we need to make a tough decision!  Do we really want to sell now (in what appears to be super crappy market) or do we wait for better times? 

Here are cold hard facts!  If you want to sell today, you either need to have something very special seperating your property from the other 446 Pelican Bay listings or your pricing has to be SO astronomical, buyers are compelled to write contracts for fear of losing such an excellent buy!

The price reductions have begun and I believe we're going to continue to see a need for price adjusting for the next several months until Pelican Bay is stable again. 

The faster Pelican Bay property owners adjust price or take their properties off the market, the faster a more stable Pelican Bay real estate market will result. 

Also a simple note to the less motivated. If you haven't had any showings in awhile and you don't want to either sharpen up your property condition or drop your price, for Pete's sake, take your property off the market!  2 years of active inventory is a little much! 

For more information regarding Pelican Bay Naples Florida, you can contact me direct or follow my Pelican Bay Naples Florida tweets on Twitter @Pelican_Bay

Best Regards!

Your Naples Smart Girl!

It's not atypical for many sellers to reduce prices this time of year for fear of our most active selling season coming to an end.  In fact, it's an annual occasion unless we're in a super high powered market...which today we are not. :(  That's good news for those buyers who have been out there hovering over Pelican Bay!

Some Pelican Bay buyers are lucky enough to land a great deal during season which is awesome because that may mean they'll have a chance to enjoy their new Pelican Bay property before the cold goes away up north.  The lion share of the hot deals in Pelican Bay coincide with our weather though.  The hotter it gets, the hotter the deals get!

Just since March 11th (this past week) there have been a whopping 34 price changes in Pelican Bay with Bay Colony Shores leading the way with 3 price reductions in that neighborhood alone!  Since Bay Colony Shores has been what I would consider a sluggish market that's excellent news and although there's been chatter about an offer on one of those listings in there, you'll still want to do your full research before purchasing in this location.

There are some exceptional deals to be had in Pelican Bay right now. Click Pelican Bay deals to easily search the best prices per square foot!  You can also search by Pelican Bay neighborhood or by Pelican Bay building type! 

Two Pelican Bay deals I can tell you about now are:

• 816 Bentwood Drive - A single family home located in Pinecrest at Pelican Bay listed for the amazing price of only $850,000!  Lots of updates, a great sized, private lot complete with fruit trees, screened lanai and pool! This is by far one of the best single family home deals that can be found in Pelican Bay!
• 8111 Bay Colony Drive #1002 - A beachfront high-rise condo located in Contessa at Bay Colony which happens to be the lowest priced beach view Bay Colony high-rise unit available. 

Traffic has been strong on both of these properties and I suspect these will sell not only because of the condition and location but more so for the value here! 

There are other Pelican Bay deals to be had though so do your research or contact me and I'll help you find a great property at a great price!

Pelican Bay Sellers:

Despite what some sellers believe, price reductions are the most effective way to get your property sold at least in the current Naples, Florida market.  For example;  just Friday there was a sizeable price reduction on a property in Oakmont at Pelican Bay. (Unfortunately, I don't have permission from the Broker to be specific about this property but you can email me direct for more details). This listing has created such a buzz amongst brokers and agents that it's rumored to have at least 3 offers going on it right now.  I just checked MLS again and although it's technically not showing pending in MLS, I wouldn't be surprised if an agreement is already negotiated or will be within the next 24 hours! 

There was another one listed in Laurel Oaks at Pelican Bay that went on the market earlier this year in the $250,000 price range.  For those of you who don't know, there hasn't been a sale in Pelican Bay for under $300,000 in quite some time!  That was an exceptional deal and that one went within just a couple of days for full price.

I don't think this is the market to be doing $5,000 and $10,000 dollar bumps (or tiny percentage bumps). If that's all you got, it's better than nothing at all to spur activity!

If you want to get your Pelican Bay property sold soon, contact me direct!  There are still a few tenured agents out there who are a little bewildered at what it takes to sell real estate in the Pelican Bay area right now and with the market behaving differently than it has in the past, I can somewhat understand.  I do have a realistic pulse on the Pelican Bay market right now and can tell you with precision where you need to be to help you get your Pelican Bay property exposed to the prospect base of people who are still considering a Pelican Bay purchase! So don't delay, season is in fact almost over!

Best Regards,

Your Naples Smart Girl!

After completing some extensive research on Olde Naples Florida (single family homes) this morning, here's what I found:

Currently there's almost 3.5 years of inventory currently available in Olde Naples.

120 listings
Low:          $450,000
Medium:    $2,618,072
High:         $15,000,000

There are currently 7 Olde Naples Homes pending right now.
Low:          $599,000
Medium:    $1,126,843
High:         $1,475,000

10 Olde Naples Homes have sold so far this year.
Low:        $655,000
Medium:  $1,818,480
High:       $3,500,000

Average sales prices have remained almost exactly the same with only a -.02% differential in price compared to last year, BUT the big factor is the huge difference in price per square foot!

Olde Naples single family homes price per square foot is down a whopping 31% compared to last year.  Last year sales prices were averaging $715/square foot while this year so far average price per square foot is only $493/square foot.

This doesn't mean sellers are coming off of their prices significantly either!  In fact, sellers are getting 88% of their list price on average compared to last year when they only recognized an average of 87% of list price.  There are sellers who are getting more and less.  For example, the most a seller has received is 95% and a seller negotiated as much as 73% off list so far this year.

What does this mean exactly?

SELLERS:  It's now more important than EVER before to list your home at a price that will cause it to sell.  If you're not seeing appointment based showings ( a GREAT rule of thumb for this market is about 3 showings per week) either reduce your price are take it off the market.

BUYERS:  Please do not negotiate on % off list price alone.  There is a very clean display of sellers who are actually in the market to sell this year and seller's who are more interested in holding out for their price.  Do NOT expect to come in and negotiate up to 27% off list price across the board.  This will make you look uneducated and weaken your chances of getting an outstanding Olde Naples Deal! 

This is the same Naples neighborhood that offers walking distance to the glorious Naples Florida beaches and great proximity to the two shopping and dining districts of 5th Avenue and 3rd Street South.  You should consider purchasing in Olde Naples as more of a leisure/strategic move compared to a get rich quick investment. 

Most people who have been interested in Olde Naples this year have been precisely those people who have a special affinity for the Olde Naples Florida location, they have the means to pay for it right now (usually cash) and many of them remember when the house currently listed for $450,000 sold for $835,000 and was once on the market for $1,290,000.

For more information regarding Olde Naples, contact me direct!

Best Regards,

Your Naples Smart Girl!

Bay Colony Homes (single-family):

13 Bay Colony homes are currently for sale. 

The Strand at Bay Colony is absolutely on fire!  There have been 3 magnificent homes on the market in The Strand at Bay Colony this year and already two of them are pending contract!  That's over 30 million in sales (list prices) so far for that little gem of a neighborhood!  There's only one left so if you've been keeping your eye on The Strand at Bay Colony, you might get on it!

Bay Colony Shores is absolutely not on fire.  This glorious subdivision is at a complete stand still and has been since December, 2007.  With a whopping 12 homes on the market and 15 months without a sale what is one to think?  Bay Colony Shores once considered one of the most gleaming and prestigious neighborhoods of it's type is going through a sort of a mid life crisis.  Most of the homes in this neighborhood were built in the early to mid 90's and are really starting to show their age.  I don't necessarily mean, throw on a coat of paint and maybe re-carpet...I mean rip the pickled wood off the ceiling and take those goofy borders off the wall and replace those really ugly cabinets and since we're going to replace the cabinets...let's do something brave like venture away from the Corian style countertops and go for something a little more bold like granite or stainless steel! 

Most property owners are still asking well over 2 million on the short end of the scope all the way to well past 7 million and although I haven't been in every single home in Bay Colony Shores, I've been in 9 of the 12.  There wasn't anything that really blew my socks off and apparently they're not blowing anyone elses socks off either.  In fact, the whole neighborhood is facing an interesting predicament.  The worst home I've seen is well...a real circus act.  Not to be mean but it's really a full gut job. I won't give away which one it is but let's assume the buyer for the property is going to either be a remodel flipper (we may have about 2 of those left right now) or a buyer who likes a project ( we may have less of those)  Ok so we have 2 viable people we can pitch.  If it isn't priced well...and I mean REALLY WELL...guess what!  Everybody get really comfortable because it ain't going anywhere for awhile.

One of the strangest phenominons I've seen is how shunned expensive and once impressive outdated homes can be.Current buyer's seldom are looking for that kind of project and remodelers or investors want to see a completely crazy ridiculous deal to bite on a project of that magnitude. Since the current market isn't guaranteeing big spenders right now, that prospect base is very small.

What's the option for current sellers who have product like that they can't move?  If you really want your price, take it off the market.  It's just going to sit there and take up space on MLS and time from agents who should be working a little smarter anyway.  If you REALLY want it to go away...then MAKE IT GO AWAY.  Put it at a price that will either transform that buyer who doesn't want to do anything into a full on project manager or raise the dead...I mean wake the senses of those few remaining remodeler/investors who just can't say no to your new price.  But one word of caution.  No crying about what they sell your home for after they do all that hard work.  They're in it to make money and if they can't make money they won't buy the house to start. There's one last option I suppose...you could do the work yourself but here's the thing, consult someone who knows what's working for todays buyer if you're going to go through the drama of remodeling specifically to sell.  It can be very time consuming and expensive and if you update your home with a bunch of selections that you find great but nobody else does, you'll be in the same exact boat you're in right now and since we're talking about remodeling mistakes...no shortcuts.  You're only insulting the intelligence of a buyer and/or a Realtor when you pretend you paid alot more for a remodel than you did.  Many of us have been involved in that kind of work before and we know expenses.  Consulting professionals is always the key if you're not one yourself.

For more information about Bay Colony homes or how to move your Naples Florida real estate, contact me direct!

Best Regards,

Your Naples Smart Girl
Shannon@ShannonLefevre.com
239-595-6223

For more information regarding this Olde Naples open house feel free to click on the links above or contact Shannon Lefevre at 239-595-6223. This open house is open to the public as well!