Market Status
Real Estate Contributor Denny Grimes Gives Market A’s & B’s
Posted by dgrimes
January 8, 2010
By WINK News
Lee County’s home prices inch up, but sales may level off
Posted by dgrimes
August 24, 2009
Pending transactions in August are lower
Posted by dgrimesPosted by dgrimesPending transactions in August are lower
BY DON MANLEY
dmanley@news-press.com
Single-family home prices are climbing in Lee County and sales continued at a torrid pace in July, although there was a slight dip from June’s record-setting pace.
Meanwhile, sales across the nation and state are up, but with a drop in the median sales price.
A total of 1,570 single-family homes were sold with the assistance of a Realtor in Lee County in July, according to statistics released today by the Florida Association of Realtors. That’s down from a record-setting 1,705 sales in June, but the July total was staggering compared with the same month in 2008 - a 104 percent increase.
The median sales price for July in Lee County was $89,000, an increase over June’s median sales price of $87,900. For most of the past 31Ú2 years, the sales price has been dropping sharply.
Statewide, there were 115,882 Realtor-assisted sales in July, up 37 percent from July 2008. The median sales price was $147,600, down 24 percent from the July 2008 median price of $193,800.
In a separate report released Friday, the National Association of Realtors announced that sales of previously occupied homes rose for the fourth consecutive month, posting an increase of 7.2 percent - the largest increase in at least 10 years.
Experts say the flood of foreclosed homes that has hit the market is still glutting inventories and depressing prices. But some local experts say the red-hot market is about to cool, at least temporarily.
Fort Myers-based real estate broker Denny Grimes of Denny Grimes & Co. predicts sales numbers for August will show a decline because the pending sales for July (815) are down by 50 percent from June. Not all pending sales close, but pendings feed the number of closed sales.
Grimes cited three possible reasons for a drop in sales: July, August and September are traditionally slow sales months; an “interruption of supply line,” meaning fewer foreclosures hitting the market; or demand has declined, which Grimes said he doubts.
“We’ve had a fantastic year and we’ve had a great month, year over year, but before we go out and buy a bottle of Dom Perignon, July pending sales are down,” Grimes said. “The prudent person is going to keep the champagne on ice, and over a cup of coffee, try to figure out why are sales slowing.”
He also predicted a drop in the median home sales price for August because the median price for July pending sales was $79,000.
Banks have been releasing fewer foreclosed homes onto the market of late, perhaps hoping for prices to escalate, said Keith Campbell, a managing partner for Silverleaf Capital Group in Fort Myers. The company sometimes represents large investors who buy available homes in bulk.
Campbell theorized banks are being selective to avoid further depressing prices.
“I think the banks have been been besieged with so many properties that now, they’re ramped up to handle them with asset managers,” Campbell said.
He said investors will continue to be a force in Southwest Florida.
“There’s a lot of money trying to come in from outside the area because of all the press we’ve received,” Campbell said.
That helped feed the uptick in prices. Demand is outpacing supply, said Steve Koffman, a real estate broker with Century 21 Sunbelt in Cape Coral.
“We’re clearly seeing inventory levels drop and that’s because of extraordinarily low prices,” Koffman said.
“The mindset of the buyers today is very much what it was in ‘04 and ‘05, with people wanting to buy before prices get too high. The one major difference is we’re selling houses below replacement cost, and back in ‘04 and ‘05, we were not.”
Denny Grimes, President
Denny Grimes & Company, Inc. - Statistics supplied by http://www.homey.com
Summer means heat in Lee County real estate market.
Posted by mpolly
July 19, 2009
Posted by mpollyIt was 94 today and my pool was 92. Hard to cool off even getting wet. The real estate market in Lee County is experiencing the same heat. Sales are registering a blistering pace with 1742 pending resale homes in Lee County.
Inventory fell to 10,300 single family resale homes. That’s one percent less than last month. Pending sales were almost 2% meaning there is new inventory still out pacing sales.
Of the sales, over 61% were under $100,000. With out these, sales would be 1072 less. This is the market that is on fire and where buyers are seeing values they can’t pass up. Homes above this price are still facing an uphill battle with some upper price ranges facing 100 months of inventory.
Still seeing this level of demand speaks well for the interest of people to be near our waters and living in the hot sunshine of SW Florida. The heat that’s here even when the artic wind blows in the north. Remember to put the sunscreen on when your on the beach New Year’s eve.
Michael Polly
http://www.homey.com
http://www.michaelpollycom
Single-family home resales jump in Fort Myers in April
Posted by dgrimes
May 12, 2009
Buyers continue to snatch up homes at bargain prices in the Fort Myers area.
Single-family home resales rose more than 105 percent in April. There were 1,406 sales, up from 648 in the same month a year ago, according to the Realtor Association of Greater Fort Myers and the Beach Inc.
Pending sales — sales that have yet to close — increased more than 60 percent year-over-year. There were 2,368 of them in April, compared to 1,478 a year ago.
“Our market is at warp speed,” said Denny Grimes, president of Denny Grimes & Co., a local real estate firm based in Fort Myers.
For the past seven months, single-family resales have averaged more than 1,300 a month. During the real estate boom in 2004 and 2005, the best month saw 1,200 sales, Grimes said.
At the end of April, sales this year had exceeded last year’s total sales, according to the Realtor Association.
The inventory of homes continues to shrink. There were 8,665 single-family resales listed at the end of April, down nearly 30 percent from 12,324 a year ago, according to the Realtor association.
Though demand from buyers is up, the median price _ the price at which half the homes sell for more and half for less _ continues to drop because there are so many foreclosures on the market. The median was $80,000 in April.
Bank-owned homes represented 65.9 percent of all single-family homes sold in Lee County last month, according to the Realtor Association. But some of these foreclosures are selling for more than their list price because they’re bringing multiple offers.
Over the weekend, Grimes said there were 30 offers on a bank-owned duplex in Lehigh Acres listed $50,000. It sold for $70,000.
He said 90 percent of the sales for less than $100,000 can be described as “distressed.”
“It has been fairly frantic and fairly busy, which you don’t think of when you look at the general marketplace,” said Bob Groves, managing broker for Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate in Fort Myers. “It’s all about these distressed property sales.”
Besides the foreclosures, there are more short sales _ sales made for less than the bank is owned on a mortgage to avoid foreclosure.
“We are finding an awful lot of people coming in and buying their second homes,” Groves said. “We are seeing the more traditional end users coming in. They are not buying it on speculation or to turn it over. They are buying it to use it.”
Daily his company is getting calls from Northern residents who are ready to make the move to a sunnier place.
For the past 21/2 months, his office has averaged about 1,000 showings a week on its listings.
More buyers are qualifying for FHA and VA loans, which offer closing cost assistance, according to the Realtor association.
“As listings shrink and sales prices move above the listing price, this indicates that our market is starting its recovery,” said Suzanne Sherer, the Realtor association’s president, in a statement. “This should be very welcome news to sellers out there. Priced right homes are selling quickly.”
In the under $100,000 market there’s now less than a four-month supply of homes on the market, Grimes said.
The Realtor Association estimates the supply of single-family homes at all prices has shrunk to 3.7 months, half of what it was a year ago. Grimes thinks that’s too low.
With so much competition out there, Grimes recommends buyers get preapproved for loans, which will make it easier for them to go up against other offers.
“A lot of eyebrows are focused on this market now,” Grimes said.
Current Market Facts
Posted by mpolly
October 7, 2008
Posted by dgrimesBuyers continue to snatch up homes at bargain prices in the Fort Myers area.
Single-family home resales rose more than 105 percent in April. There were 1,406 sales, up from 648 in the same month a year ago, according to the Realtor Association of Greater Fort Myers and the Beach Inc.
Pending sales — sales that have yet to close — increased more than 60 percent year-over-year. There were 2,368 of them in April, compared to 1,478 a year ago.
“Our market is at warp speed,” said Denny Grimes, president of Denny Grimes & Co., a local real estate firm based in Fort Myers.
For the past seven months, single-family resales have averaged more than 1,300 a month. During the real estate boom in 2004 and 2005, the best month saw 1,200 sales, Grimes said.
At the end of April, sales this year had exceeded last year’s total sales, according to the Realtor Association.
The inventory of homes continues to shrink. There were 8,665 single-family resales listed at the end of April, down nearly 30 percent from 12,324 a year ago, according to the Realtor association.
Though demand from buyers is up, the median price _ the price at which half the homes sell for more and half for less _ continues to drop because there are so many foreclosures on the market. The median was $80,000 in April.
Bank-owned homes represented 65.9 percent of all single-family homes sold in Lee County last month, according to the Realtor Association. But some of these foreclosures are selling for more than their list price because they’re bringing multiple offers.
Over the weekend, Grimes said there were 30 offers on a bank-owned duplex in Lehigh Acres listed $50,000. It sold for $70,000.
He said 90 percent of the sales for less than $100,000 can be described as “distressed.”
“It has been fairly frantic and fairly busy, which you don’t think of when you look at the general marketplace,” said Bob Groves, managing broker for Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate in Fort Myers. “It’s all about these distressed property sales.”
Besides the foreclosures, there are more short sales _ sales made for less than the bank is owned on a mortgage to avoid foreclosure.
“We are finding an awful lot of people coming in and buying their second homes,” Groves said. “We are seeing the more traditional end users coming in. They are not buying it on speculation or to turn it over. They are buying it to use it.”
Daily his company is getting calls from Northern residents who are ready to make the move to a sunnier place.
For the past 21/2 months, his office has averaged about 1,000 showings a week on its listings.
More buyers are qualifying for FHA and VA loans, which offer closing cost assistance, according to the Realtor association.
“As listings shrink and sales prices move above the listing price, this indicates that our market is starting its recovery,” said Suzanne Sherer, the Realtor association’s president, in a statement. “This should be very welcome news to sellers out there. Priced right homes are selling quickly.”
In the under $100,000 market there’s now less than a four-month supply of homes on the market, Grimes said.
The Realtor Association estimates the supply of single-family homes at all prices has shrunk to 3.7 months, half of what it was a year ago. Grimes thinks that’s too low.
With so much competition out there, Grimes recommends buyers get preapproved for loans, which will make it easier for them to go up against other offers.
“A lot of eyebrows are focused on this market now,” Grimes said.
Posted by mpolly
Pending sales for single family resale homes topped the 1,000 mark. A milstone never reached before in September which is usually the slowest month for the real estate market. Almost 50% of the sales were REO or bank owned properties while just under 11% were short sales. Out of the current inventory of available homes there are 6,489 bank owned properties and 15,167 in some stage of pre-foreclosure. Demand remains strong as the market continues to work at moving the mountain of inventory.
The condo/villa/townhome market has not filled in as much as the single family market. Demand is outpacing last year but still far short of what is needed to eat away at this pile of inventory. Multi-family properties are having a tough time competing with the same price or lower priced single family competition. September sales were 217 condo/villa homes beating the last two years for the same month.