Greg Snow - Southwest Florida Real Estate Expert provides real estate services to Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Sanibel and Captiva Islands

Think Global and be ready for new buyers and sellers. We have had a rough couple of years here in Lee County and most of the state of Florida. I think "smart" money views our real estate market as a "need to be in" place for future appreciation and growth. Almost two out of every three realtors in our state had an international transaction last year, with over half the purchases involving a single family residence and 37% involving a condo. The areas they concentrated on were varied from 38% in suburban areas, 30% in resort, 25% in a central city, and trailing in a small town or rural area of 7%.

Our visitors from Canada that speak English seem to enjoy the western part of the state from the Panhandle on down to our Lee and Collier county in deep southwest of the state. They like the value of the canadian dollar, real estate values in the "handle", and shorter drive and don't seem to care if the Gulf is colder up "there". Many Quebecois(who speak French) seem to enjoy the East coast from Daytona to Fort Lauderdale. The new buyers we are seeing from Brazil (which may enter into top 5 world economies soon), along with Peru, Chile, and Columbia are looking to the Sunshine State as wonderful opportunites to live, work, and/or retire.