We are seeing many first-time homebuyers entering the buying fray and that is good news. ‘Short Sales’ and Foreclosures are accounting for many sales along with bank-owned properties and are becoming far more common. This in itself creates a drag on the market prices. The good/bad news here is that some people are benefitting at other’s expense.

Interestingly, when you look at 30–year fixed-rate mortgages which are up nearly a full point in the last week, they are still cheaper than a year ago. (Today’s rates look awfully inexpensive to me having endured rates years ago in Boston of over 18%.)

One of the things that I have loved about my real estate career is personally doing the photography of my listings and creating my own virtual tours with photographs of the interiors and exteriors. It is always a challenge to get just the right shot or angle highlighting that particular shot and making it into the perfect scene.

As a semi-professional photographer, (I say that because I have sold some of my non-real estate work,) I find it exhilarating and quite relaxing to just go out and shoot some of the spectacular settings that we have here in Southwest Florida. I sometimes find myself a bit jaded living here in Naples and tend to forget how really beautiful the surroundings truly are.

This week I’m privileged and excited to be invited to go out and shoot the rarest of Orchid species, the Ghost Orchid, which now is in bloom some 45 feet in the air growing on a 400 to 500 year old Bald Cypress Tree. It will be in bloom for only about two weeks and it is something that most orchid lovers will never ever see in their lifetime,because it is so rare and only found in a few places here in Southwest Florida.

It will be worth the long drive and the trek through the swamp to get to it!

Yesterday we received an offer to purchase at $183,000 and the owner is considering the offer as we speak.

What makes this so interesting is the fact that we had this same home listed back in the heyday, (‘04/’05,) the height of the market then. At that time it was again the least expensive home within the City of Naples at almost $400,000 and eventually we had a contract on it.

As the price of gas continues to rocket upward, the price of real estate has settled back down, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It just goes to show how far we’ve come in such a short time!

I have been away from blogging for a bit, because we have been very busy in what has turned out to be a very challanging real estate market. Having said that I certainly do not want to sound like I’m complaining, because I’m not at all.

Throughout my career I have been primarily a successful listing agent, and now with the advent of the strong ‘buyer’s market’ that has taken firm hold, I find that I’m forced to shift gears and become much more of a buyer’s agent. Our web site at www.previewnaples.com has been producing a wonderful array of buyers, and as a listing agent, the challanges have been many, but the end result has been extremely rewarding.

Today buyers are squarely in the driver’s seat and should be for quite some time to come with the vast amount of inventory in the Greater Naples Real Estate Market. Once that inventory gets to a much more manageable level, the pendulum will again begin to swing the other way and the old addage List More…Sell More will become prevelant. Until that time and we get back to the listing game, one has to be thankful for those buyers coming to Naples to snap up the bargains. 

Naples is a world-class destination and people are continuing to move here…an estimated 900 people a day and that figure will continue to increase, as long we don’t go into a full blown recession. If you look at the Milken Institute’s best performing cities, 5 out of the top 15 are in Florida. Jobs are quite plentiful in Florida, while the unemployment rate remains around 4%. 7 of the top 15 hottest job markets are in Florida.

Property is selling well even after the “high season” has ended. I think that some buyers fear that property has indeed bottomed out and they are worried that the exceptional values are beginning to disappear. And yet oddly, we still see other people stepping gingerly, somewhat afraid to pull the trigger for fear that they are on the wrong road.

Our coaching has been and continues to be that there are wonderful values out there and that this isn’t about the short term, so why not now!

While some of the American buyers remain ambivalent about whether to finally pull the trigger, (they express concern for everything from the economy, their stock portfolios and such to the price of gas,) the Canadians and Europeans seemed rather un-fazed by it all and are taking advantage of a depressed market.

My suggestion would be jump in the water’s fine, because the smart money is certainly stepping in!

If you are a current resident already receiving a homestead exemption, it is not necessary to re-apply for the additional amount exempted. It will be automatically added to your current exemption. The deadline for a new filing is March 1^st of the qualifying year. Normally you can make application either in person or by mail. (Naturally mail applications for this year are too late, however, you could still fill in person.)

In order to file you will need a copy of your deed or tax receipt, as well proof of residency. That proof could could be a voter registration card, your driver’s license, vehicle registration or any other form of a permanent residency card. Information can be found on the Collier County Appraiser’s web site at: www.collierappraiser.com or you can also go to www.colliertax.com.

If you are going to transfer the exemption difference to another permanent residence within the State of Florida, you have until March 3^rd to file for that transfer.

For years Naples has been a destination for Canadians to rent, more especially in ‘high season’ certainly because of the cold weather at that time of year. They have been coming in droves this year with their Canadian dollar now almost on par with the U.S. dollar, making greater Naples real estate a real bargain for them.

What I find even more interesting, since I always kiddingly accuse my Canadian friends of being cheap, (actually they call themselves frugal,) is the fact the many have been purchasing vacation homes in the upper end of the spectrum. You would normally think that because, in many cases these are just that, vacation homes, that they would be more interested in smaller condos. Not necessarily so though, in a lot of cases, their interest is in the upper and single family homes with land.

Whatever the reason is that they are here buying, we welcome them with open arms, because they, along with others, are helping to stimulate the down real estate market!