October 2007

FINALLY...SOME TAX RELIEF!

Wednesday, October 31st, 2007 at 4:51pm. 94 Views, 0 Comments.

Finally, after a great deal of debate between the Florida House and Senate, a much sought after tax reform bill was passed. Now it is up to the voters in January to approve or disapprove the measure.

The nuts and bolts of the proposal are basically that the Homestead Exemption has doubled from $25,000 to $50,000 and the Portability issue has finally been addressed by providing statewide portability of the wildly popular Save Our Homes, (3% cap,) differential. A homeowner can now “port” the full amount of the differential if they are upsizing, however, if they are downsizing, the pro-rata share based upon market value of the new home as a percentage of the market value of the old home. There is a $500,000 cap on the amount to be “ported” and it is…

IT'S A HUGE BUYER'S MARKET!...SO THE QUESTION IS WHEN DO THEY START BUYING?

Friday, October 19th, 2007 at 5:09am. 103 Views, 0 Comments.

With the enormous amount of inventory in the real estate marketplace, (now well over 3 years,) it is truly a buyer’s market. The big question on everyone’s mind is when are they going to start releasing some of that pent up demand and start buying.

The traffic in the greater Naples area has certainly picked up, witnessed by the fact that the normal heavily-traveled routes have seen increased congestion. As we get on toward the month of November, we should see even more traffic indicating “they’re back”. Funny…they may indeed be back, with more on the way, but they aren’t really buying. Oh sure they’re are certain pockets of interest with contracts being written, but mostly it’s very spotty.

In checking with people holding open houses, they voice the same…

WHEN IS ENOUNGH SPEED ENOUGH?

Wednesday, October 17th, 2007 at 4:34pm. 256 Views, 0 Comments.

You know it’s funny, I’m a very computer literate person, which can be good and bad. In this increasingly mobile society, (and I refer to the technological aspect,) fast is just not fast enough!

Having had broadband for a number of years and a wireless network in my house and home office, I now use an ‘air card’ with my laptop when doing open houses. That air card costs me $60 per month through my local cellular phone service provider, and when you

Is it worth it? Well I guess that it is, because if no one is coming through the particular ‘open house’ that I’m doing, it gives me a chance to get some things done on the internet that I couldn’t normally do. I can also justify the cost by the mere fact that maybe someone who does show up will need immediate…

THE GREAT PROPERTY TAX DEBATE

Wednesday, October 17th, 2007 at 10:43am. 98 Views, 0 Comments.

The great debate continues to rage on about tax reform and more especially about the portability issue within the State of Florida of Homestead Exemption and 3 percent Save Our Homes cap. The Florida governor, Charlie Crist, has been pushing the legislature to remain in session until they pass a significant reform package and they did indeed agree to extend their session.

The interesting thing is that some of them on the Democratic side might be doing some foot dragging, while claiming to be looking thoroughly at proposals. Since they are in full control they essentially could stop any reforms from happening in this session. The huge risk is that they will certainly anger voters, who have literally demanded that the legislature take action and take action…

AND YOU THOUGHT OWNING A RENTAL WAS A GOOD IDEA!

Tuesday, October 16th, 2007 at 4:56pm. 93 Views, 0 Comments.

With residential real estate in the greater Naples area taking a plunge during the past year and a half or so, so also has the rental market. Not only is there a glut of homes and condominiums for sale, there now is an enormous glut of rental as well.

Certainly it is a natural phenomenon due to the fact that the homes and condos that the investors and ‘flippers’ had intended to dispose of and did not, are now going at bargain prices on the rental market. These former high rollers, (at least in their own minds,) with the bargain rents have hopes of creating some sort of cash flow, in many cases, just to stay afloat.

Many of the developers who were converting rental unit to condominiums, have now reversed direction because of the lack of interest when the…

PAYBACK CAN BE HELL!

Wednesday, October 10th, 2007 at 8:40am. 106 Views, 0 Comments.

The Naples Press has somewhat slowed down on the constant bashing of the local Naples Real Estate Market that has taken place over the past two years.

Quite frankly it is something that I have never fully understood, considering the normal Sunday real estate section of the Naples Daily News is beefier and full of more advertising than almost any national or large city newspaper in the country. That includes the heavyweights like the New York Times, LA Times, Detroit Free Press, or even the Times-Picayune and what makes that section so impressive is that it is the realtors who support it through massive advertising.

Like a heavyweight champ, realtors have continually taken it on the chin, (through the negative press,), and yet got up…