It seems as if the many buyers are playing a waiting game in the greater Naples Real Estate Market today and I’m not too sure what they are waiting for. I get the impression that they perceive the market will go lower and with the great amount of inventory that we currently have will be there for quite some time to come.

As far as the market going lower, who really knows. I tell clients that if I could definitively put my finger on it and accurately predict the outcome, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I would be down in Port Royal enjoying cocktails on my 150 foot yacht and we wouldn’t be having this conversation! With regard to the large inventory that we have now being around for quite some time, I would suspect that they are right, it will be around, but the ‘kicker’ is that the really good inventory won’t.

My perception is that with the influx of the foreign buyers coming to our area and the fabulous exchange rates that they enjoy, they won’t necessarily be waiting for the market to go down, because they will be feeling that they are getting one heck of a deal anyway. Plus their mentality comes from the standpoint that they are not buying for the short term investment, they are buying a vacation home to come to.

Point of fact…I have this wonderful single family home in Olde Naples that has only been on the market for a short time. At $1,374,900 I believe that it is priced extremely aggressively and literally has no competition in the Olde Naples area. And yet, I have had quite a few buyers through who have told me that they absolutely love the home and are seriously thinking of making an offer. In fact, I had one couple through three different times, spending a total of over three hours looking at everything. Upon leaving the husband said to me, Mel you will be hearing from me shortly. Well that was over a month ago and still no word.

My take is that they are playing the waiting game to see if the market heads lower and we are forced to reduce the price. If that is the case, I truly believe that this property, like other properly priced properties of value will not be around.

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Whether you’re a first time buyer having rented for years or whether you are seasoned professional, it is a great time to be a buyer in the Naples, Florida market! All indicators are excellent with interest rates at the lowest point in quite some time. 

But buyers must get over the fear that the market is going lower and take advantage of some of the fantastic deals that are out there. They need to be made aware that they aren’t buying for the short term and that their investment will be a solid one, provided that they receive good guidance from their real estate professional.

The real issue for buyers in this market is that while they sit on the fence pondering whether the market is going lower, Canadians and Europeans are coming to town and quietly purchasing what they perceive to be exceptional values with their money that, in the case of the English is worth twice what ours is worth. Yes there will most likely be plenty of inventory around for the next couple of years, but the bottom line is that the good inventory will most likely be long gone!

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The buyers are certainly out there looking, although they seem to be taking their time about writing offers even though the product is perceived as a value. For the sellers, it can be quite frustrating, since they have either reduced their price to get it to where it really needs to be or they have priced the property correctly from the onset.

I’m of the philosophy the it is useless to entertain taking a listing unless it is priced correctly right out of the gate. In my opinion, priced correctly means pricing the property so that it has no competition in the community, which generally makes it the lowest priced property by far.

Although sellers are usually reluctant to entertain that, I try convince them that it is far better, in today’s highly competitive market, to get to the bottom line initially rather than have the property continually go through a series of price reductions. I’ve never understood agents who have multiple reductions on a property, then terminate the listing only to put it right back on the market the same day. Since that information is mainly seen by other agents, you really aren’t fooling too many people.

As Alan Greenspan alluded to this past week, in order for real estate to sell today, it must be not only be perceived as a bargain, but rather an exceptional bargain at that!

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