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 buyers dried up and have gone back to renting the former rentals. This now causes problems for the landlords who are faced with increasing property taxes, as well as the higher cost of maintenance of the properties. Because of this situation, formerly positive cash flow in many cases, has turned negative and now the owners are forced to sell in a down market.

Not quite what people envisioned when moving to paradise!

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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 and still supported the newspaper through their advertising. Even though there was small talk of an organized boycott of the paper, I think when people fully understood the implications of the Anti-Trust Laws, they backed down.

Still, I find it incomprehensible that the paper would do such a thing. Not only did it leave a negative impression for those entertaining purchasing real estate in the greater Naples area, it also had to have had a severe effect on the local economy as well.

I found it poetic justice that the international developer, Jack Antaramian who had contracted to purchase the Naples Daily News building pledging to turn it into magnificent condominiums, backed out of the deal citing market conditions. Could it be that he read too much of the morning paper?!?!

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Boy…don’t you wish that you could push a button and program your prospects to buy now? I sure do because the market here in Naples, Florida  seems stuck in those summer doldrums, even though I was talking with a friend this afternoon in New England and he told me it was 51 degrees there. (One tends to forget that when you live in paradise, it’s summer all the time!)

I have a feeling the more that the press uses the R word (recession), the more the real estate market across the country is going to stay stuck in the quagmire that we have been in for a while…actually it is beginning to seem like forever. Although I can’t worry about what is going on in the rest of the country, I feel for my fellow realtors, because it certainly is a mess! (And here we used to tell prospects and clients that Naples is a world-class destination, which it is, and we were pretty much insulated from what goes on in the rest of the country. Yeah right…Great pitch, but wrong!!!

I guess that we will just have to weather the storm and those who can’t stick it out will be returning to their jobs before the “gold rush”, or should I say land rush. Maybe that in itself isn’t so bad because we will flush out some of the pretenders or those that never should have been allowed real estate licenses, and Lord knows there are more than a few of them around So it’s back to bartending and cocktail waitressing, but not to worry, I’m a great tipper!

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Yesterday’s real estate news for Florida seemed a bit more positive, certainly a sign that the market has stabilized and we should be seeing more positive signs of a recovery as we push ahead. It all centers on the favorable economic conditions, low mortgage rates and the job growth market in Florida as well. Existing single family home sales for the month of July were in line with sales during the same period in 2001 and 2002.

The National Association of Realtors updated market forecast is calling for an increase in sales with existing single family homes, certainly good news in helping decrease the burgeoning inventories. What will help will be getting buyers off the sidelines and into the decision making process. If they perceive that the market has indeed bottomed, then much of that pent up demand will help fuel the comeback to a degree. 

The mortgage rates remain lower than those of a year ago and the market has indeed changed. The words that need to be stressed are that it is a fabulous time to buy, and if we as realtors do that, the pendulum will begin its swing in a more positive direction!

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If you have ever spent any time around the Southwest Florida area and have been to a hockey game at Germain Arena to watch the Florida Everblades, you know the name Reggie Berg. Reggie Berg hung up his skates today, announcing his retirement.

As an off-ice official for the ECHL, the premier AA professional hockey league, I had the pleasure of watching Reggie play over a seven year span. The Everblades all-time leading scorer and captain was one of the most unselfish hockey players that I have ever seen play the game. Often playing hurt, he still managed to be a factor on the ice, scoring critical goals when the team needed them the most. As irony would have it, his last career game was in this year’s first round playoffs away from home in Texas against the Texas Wildcatters. In that fourth game loss, playing with a sports hernia which had aggravated him all season long, Reggie scored the Everblades first goal of the game.

Today Reggie said, “I’ll always miss the game, and I don’t think that will ever go away, but I think now is probably the right time to step away,” Berg said. “I’ve given it all I had for a long time now and I just think it’s the right thing to do, to step back and maybe let the organization go in a different direction, and it’s time for me to put my family first.”

“I’ve known Craig (Brush, Everblades General Manager) since I was 16 years old and he’s always treated me like gold,” Berg said. “I’ve always had a lot of respect for him and a lot of gratitude for what he’s done for me and my family in terms of allowing me to play out my career with one team; when you look at minor league sports that’s pretty rare.”

“What I’m most proud of is just the fact that I think I gave a great effort every night I was out there, played through some injuries until I couldn’t any longer, and another thing is that as long as I was there I kept my nose clean away from the rink. Of course I would have liked to have won a championship, and we had a couple of good runs, but it just wasn’t meant to be.”

Reggie certainly will miss the game, but the Everblades fans will miss him even more!

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Thursday, the Planning Commission of Collier County will review and discuss the newly proposed ordinance that will effect future growth in Collier County, especially to the east of Collier Boulevard. The ordinance was in response to the DCA (Florida Department of Community Affairs) stating that, in their opinion, the county’s capital improvements were not financially feasible. When plans for services are drawn up, the counties, as well as cities are required to update the DCA.

Following a vote by the Collier County Commissioners (3 to 2 vote) staff was instructed to draft a proposed ordinance. The proposal will effectively put the brakes on future development, and the key word is ‘future’, because development in process will be allowed to continue. The county attorneys have said that in order for the ordinance to pass, it must be by a Super Majority, which means that 5 out of the 6 commissioners must vote for it.

One of the voices not so muted in discussing the issue is that of Michelle Harrison, the president of the Collier Building Industry Association (CBIA). She stated that no matter what you call it, a building moratorium or planning moratorium, it will have the same effect of totally crippling the local economy. To date, there has been no analysis of the economic impact such an ordinance would have on the local economy.

What an enormously hot political issue potato this is for the county and it will be interesting to see the turnout, especially builders and developers who may show up to vehemently protest!

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While viewing property in Pelican Bay the other afternoon, the clients expressed a wish to take the tram (originally coined by the Scots for coal truck) out to the beach. For those who don’t know, Pelican Bay is a private self-contained community that stretches for two and a half miles along some of the most beautiful beaches on the Gulf of Mexico. It is bordered in the northern side by The Inn at Pelican Bay, while on the southern end are The Waterside Shops, a world-class shopping facility. Within Pelican Bay there is a 570 acre conservation area, as well as over 40 acres of parks and trails.

It had been a while since I last took the tram out to the beach and as we rode out from the north tram stop, I was reminded of how truly wonderful it really is. The ride takes you out through the mangroves, where you see all the wonders of Florida, both plant and animal. It’s here you’ll see alligators, cranes, storks and a multitude of other birds. It really is a great nature ride that seems as if it ends way early.

The good news is that you can not only enjoy the fabulous beach, but have a drink and dine, enjoying the sunset at one of the two fine dining restaurants on the Gulf in Pelican Bay. It is an experience that we, who have the privelidge and pleasure of living here, sometimes take for granted. If you find someone living in Pelican Bay you know, maybe you can borrow their pass to ride the tram out through mangroves and go through the experience.

If not, you’ll have to find a realtor, like myself, who’ll gladly show you!

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For as long as I have been in real estate, I find myself terribly confused by the market here in Naples, Florida and more so by where it might be headed. My heart tells me that we have bottomed out and that things will stay rather flat for a while longer before starting the climb upward again. Although not a nay sayer, my head tells me a slightly different story, (and it may be that I have started listening to potential buyers who sill believe that the market is headed lower.)

I find that real buyers are all acting like they were all born under the sign Libra, which is my sign and therefore I have a great excuse. They are all on the fence about buying, at the moment, and can’t or won’t make any kind of decision. They seem to be as perplexed about the market as I am, although naturally I never tip my hand about where my head is at or that I don’t know either. I always say to clients or prospects when asked about where I think the market is going that if I knew for sure and was this great soothsayer, I’d be living in Port Royal and we wouldn’t be having this conversation. (Port Royal houses the creme de la creme of the Naples lifestyle.)

The thing of it is that I don’t think that anyone knows for sure, there are just too many variables relating to the economy, the gas prices, the weather and on and on. The one thing that I do know for sure is that here in Naples, we are living in a world-class destination and that counts for a lot. The market may be correcting or doing its thing, at the moment, but the bottom line is that it will be back with its usual vigor because Naples is Naples!

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