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

My oldest daughter, Jaclyn Snow, sent me an old movie a couple of years ago called "To be or Not to be", http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Be_or_Not_to_Be_(1942film), with Jack Benny, Carole Lombard(released 2 months after she died in a plane crash), and Robert Stack. I recently re-viewed this Ernst Lubitsch's movie with some bemusement as many of the principles were so pre-occupied with their status and egos, they almost missed opportunities to assist in trying to prevent Nazi's occupying Poland. This theme seems very appropriate as I gaze out on our political landscape for this year's posturing for being elected. Has our political system gotten to the point of no return by electing homo sapiens (here is a great place to debate that:), that have zero to none acumen of what is the golden rule (O.K. another good place to debate if this is Wall Street). My impression is the leasing real estate agents in D.C. will BE very busy for a while with all the polticos, and selling agents may NOT BE.

(The old to Be or Not to Be Syndrome)

The pitchers and catchers for the Boston Red Sox are scheduled to report to Spring Training in Fort Myers, Florida Today. Wonder if any of them know any Shakespeare. Next episode, "Taming of the Shrew(D)"..also another Comedy!

One of our distinguished Founding Fathers was Thomas Paine, who said in "The Crisis", published in 1776, that "These are the times that try men's souls", www.ushistory.org/paine. He also is the author of another aptly named work called "Common Sense" that was a strong defense of our independence from jolly old England at the time. Both works, over 230 years old, seem to outline todays Lee County, Florida's housing market. We, and the rest of the country, are rapidly approaching the current deadline ,for a tax credit in purchasing a home, for both first time buyers and certain non first time buyers.

With the Federal Reserve, www.federalreserve.gov, in the mode not to sell any of its security holdings, and the fragile economic landscape still here, interest rates should remain stable and low for this year. It would seem this is one way to say " the trying of men's souls" and "The Crisis" is behind us and lets move forward with the business at hand. Our local real estate market here in southwest Florida still has many good opportunites to find your home in Paradise. Tonight, as we watch the torch of the Winter Olympics being kindled, and "Let the games begin" thoughts being lended to words, think about sunny Florida while people in the Northeast still are under feet(s) of Snow.

There were certain mind frames in my cranium of events that told of an outcome of a sporting event. If one heard "Dandy Don Meredith, www.famoustexans/donmeredith, crooning"The Party's over..", you knew the Monday Night Football game was decided or watched 'Red" Auerbach light up his cigar (on the bench as the game was still ongoing), http://celtics.com, you knew it was all over. Maybe the Crisis is over for the brink of disaster economically in the U.S.

Our cities in the "S" states (sand, sun and often suds) dominated the foreclosure rankings last year with the top twenty worst hit areas concentrated in Nevada, California, Arizonia, and yes, our own Sunshine state of Florida. Here in Lee County our own Cape Coral was second in foreclosure filings (about 12% of households) to President Obama's favorite city of Las Vegas (wages) The good news is that all twenty metro areas declined in filings in the last three months of 2009. The not so good news is that foreclosure filings disease is spreading beyond these favorite spots to places like Provo, Utah, Seattle, Wasington, Honolulu, Minneapolis, and other previously untarnished areas of our land.

"Should I stay or should I go now", http://www,theclash.info is rapidly becoming a new mantra for many homeowners who are considering a "strategic default" on their homes. Many reasons abound for homeowners to be in foreclosure from properties they couldn't afford, job losses, and huge loss of equity in their properties. Some have the means to pay, but rather choose to "Go Now", www.moodyblues.co.uk, from a 1964 song by the Moody Blues. These people believe (as 588,000 did in 2008) it is best for their personal finances. Since 2006 peak prices, the prices for homes have dropped more than 30%, and more in our market here in Lee County, Florida, and other hard hit markets. One in four homeowners in the U.S. have negative equity in their homes and rather than continuing to make payments on their "losing" investment, many are going now.

"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:)

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................." :)

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.

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.

As if the recent cold wave wasn't enough of reminder of strange sensations, one purview of our local Multiple Listing Service on "what happended???" in 2009 creates more throbbing numbness. Using information from the http://www.swflrealtors.com, the numbers are startling to behold. There were 45 single family homes sold for less than $10,000 (the winner was 5324 Lee Street in Lehigh for $100)

Look at these bargains: 3230 single family houses under $50k, 6887 between $50k-$100k, 3993 from $100k-$200k, and only 415 sold for more than $500,000, of which 87 of theses sold for 2 commas. There were 6 condos that sold in excess of two commas (4 on Sanibel). Currently we have over 85 condos and 545 single family homes actively for sale at $one million or more here in Lee County, Fla.

Does anyone remember Steppenwolf's "Magic Carpet Ride"? www.steppenwolf.com 

After the long rift near the end, "..you don't know what we can find..." lends credence to our real estate market here in southwest Florida. There are still many good opportunites to find what you are looking for :)

Just a day left in the decade and hopefully many more on the horizon for Lee County, Florida, and the rest of us around the planet. These last 10 years may equal the 1960's in " SHIFTS HAPPENS" approaches we have undergone. If we start with JFK being president, trouble with Cuba, civil rights,  high profile assasinations, Vietnam, large rock concerts, baby boomers, getting to the moon, and winding up with Tricky Dick as not being a crook, that is tough to exceed. However, start with  George W.....Bush, still troulbe with Fidel, civil and gay rights, high profile deaths, more unpopular wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, large profitable rock concerts, generation x,y,z znd start the Roman numerals for the next one, going to Mars, and Bernie Madoff, well it may take alot of scorecards to determine who is really on first www.abbottandcostello.net

Enjoy your final day of the decade and may God keep his eyes on us all :)