From the Naples Daily News: Take a look at some real-life examples of the incredible Naples market these days. While these stories are excerpts from a news story, I'll be glad to share a few of my own!
Arnie and Kathy Szajna closed on a vacation condo overlooking a fountain in Falling Waters in East Naples in late May, just as the weather and the housing market started to heat up. The Romeo, Mich., couple hadn’t planned on buying, but decided to act after seeing about 15 properties in the community fly off the shelf. Now, a bit more than two months later, properties similar to their two-bedroom furnished unit are selling for as much as $15,000 more than he paid.“I’m so glad we bought when we did,” said Arnie, 67, a retired human relations specialist.
For sellers such as Fatima Heath, 64, the influx of buyers has made it easier to hold the line on the price of her two-bedroom waterfront condo on Marco Island. She’s asking $345,000.She had received an offer when she first listed her condo in February, but rejected it as too low. So she pulled the unit off the market.Two weeks ago, she re-listed the place, and was delighted to get a nearly instant response from three good prospects.
Retired pastor Ken Morgan had been looking at resale properties over the summer but found none that had what he called “that ‘wow’ factor.” So in July, he decided to visit the models at The Preserve in Estero. The 69-year-old retired pastor found a three-bedroom floor plan he liked, priced in the mid-$500,000s, but didn’t put down a deposit right away. When he went back to the sales office two days later, the price had gone up $1,500. He signed a contract immediately, and was glad that he did. Two weeks later, the price went up again by more than $4,000. “If you’re looking for a home, you’d better buy now,” he said.
Buyers who assumed they could get bargains on Southwest Florida houses as easily as they could nab a restaurant seat on Fifth Avenue are in for a surprise this summer. The Naples housing market has become seasonless. In fact, if anything, the once-sleepy summer housing market is even more wide-awake than it was during the winter season. Summers typically have slumped in Southwest Florida, making it the prime time to shop for bargain-hunters, but there was always another group of buyers who preferred that time, too — Europeans, who usually vacation during August, and families with children, who want to get settled before school starts. Now these buyers are being joined by investors, employees being relocated by Hertz and other companies, and seasonal residents. All are becoming panicky about the rapidly rising market and the prospect of higher interest rates, agents say.
Source: Fletcher, June. "Summer Home Sales - From Slump to Sizzle," Naples Daily News. August 5, 2012
