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New profile of buyers in Lee County |
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Written by Greg Snow
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Friday, 29 January 2010 21:22 |
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"Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio, a nation turns it's lonely eyes to you", en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Graduate_(soundtrack) brings back myriads of memories from the 1960's. This reference to the once rock solid American image we relied on brings to my mind the once rock solid profile of an individual whom would be buying property in Lee County. I am afraid that "Say it ain't so Joe,en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoeless_Joe_Jackson - 116k - Cached is our only real hope of a return to the early part of the first decade of our 21st century. What I really mean to say is 'The times they are a changing",www.bobdylan.com/albums/times.html - Cached
Let us look at our aging baby boomers (OMG, I am one of them). Take the 55-65 year olds, nearing what should be their retirement age(s). Many will still want or need to work, and may be stranded until real estate values recover. Probably would feel more comfortable in mixed age, active, urban "feeling" town centers. The younger boomers in their peak making money years (46-54) got really hosed with non rising income and loss of home equity which means "when" they are able to sell and buy, they will be searching in similar communities as the older boomers.
The 85-88 million Generation Y (why not?) may be disinterested in the American dream of home ownership. These tech smart ones may rent forever or finally choose a "smart", green, energy efficient, close-in community to lay their weary heads down. Then, the over 40 million immigrants whom favor "clustering" in multi -generational, larger homes, if they can afford them, in community conscious neighborhoods.
These are are "new" buyers. Could mean we are heading for "urban", rather than "suburban", purchasers. Be prepared as they used to say in the Scouts:) |
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Last Updated on Sunday, 31 January 2010 20:24 |
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Written by Greg Snow
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Wednesday, 20 January 2010 20:39 |
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Our Lee County marketplace had a tremendous volume of real estate sales in 2009. Nearly 17,000 single family residences sold in 2009, up over 90% from 2008. Our December 1340 sales were over 48% bank owned, 18% short sales, and the remaining 33% were traditional sales. Median sales price in December was almost $90,000, which is down almost 8% from December 2008. These numbers are heavily influenced by the bank owned properties.
Trying to find a home for a customer or client is very difficult when faced with competeing offers, uninterested or overwhelmed bank asset amnagers, virtual listing brokers, and if your indidvidual needs financing, most of the qualifying and approval for funds needs to be finished. With the tax-crdit deadline rapidly approaching (4/30/10), www.irs.gov/recovery, the average time to get a home loan processed has increased from as little as 30 days to about eight weeks, and that is assuming no real problems with appraisals, inspections, and unknowns. Oue Lee County, Florida marketplace has seen some tremendous real estate deals in the past 16 months and opportunites still present themselves. One needs to be ready to move quickly with quality representation to obtain the American dream of owning property in southwest Florida. |
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 20 January 2010 20:57 |
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New Decade here in Lee County |
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Written by Greg Snow
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Sunday, 24 January 2010 18:55 |
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Reading our slimmed down Sunday's News-Press, www.news-press.com, a feeling of resigned optimism caressed my visage as we work our way to high season here in Lee County, Florida. Even though the terrible tradgedy in Haiti is still our lead story as we head for week two coverage, there were certain other various items that lead me to wonder where we will be soon. If one survey's the top ten homes sold last week, topped by two sales on Sanibel Island of over one million dollars, then a fair point would be that we are still selling real estate. Another item indicated mortgage interest rates were still under 5% for 30 year fixed (although not quite as low as last week) which means cheap borrowing costs (if a bank will lend it ). Does the jobless rate still stand in our local recovery. Hovering near 14% non seasonal here is very high. Should Fort Myers Beach spend millions on beach re-nourishment? I think so if they want to keep the"family" environment and sun and sea seekers. I think the biggest question for me is how will we receive the drama "Spring Awakening" that opens Tuesday at Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall. Will it be a success? Will the brief nudity and some profanity in the songs bring down the house? Life is really tough for teens. i know..my Jordan just turned sixteen and she looks at me sometimes like "WHY................." :) |
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Let's hope for relief in Haiti |
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Written by Greg Snow
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Thursday, 14 January 2010 19:11 |
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Everywhere one looks in this poor island nation, there is despair. devastation, death, and shock from events 60 hours earlier. Our State Department, www.state.gov, estimates there are about 45,000 Americans in Haiti. Many, if not most are Haitian-American who have returned to their homeland. However, many an American has been drawn to this poor island (shared with the Dominican Republic), to help with disasters (usually violent storms), poverty and political upheval. Here, in Lee County, Florida, we have a large, and growing population of Haitians, that have sought our area out for better quality of life and our "American dream" hope.
Early reports show estimates of the dead at anything from thousands to hundreds of thousands, and with communications limited to the internet and social networking sites like Facebook, www.facebook.com, and Twitter, www.twitter.com, scarce medical supplies, limited sanitary food and water, haphazard shelters, and aftershocks, we may be many days and nights away from knowing any accurate death toll and any practical plan to begin to replace what little the people had before last Monday. If able, please offer any assistance you can to aid these unfortunate souls. |
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Last Updated on Thursday, 14 January 2010 19:29 |
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