Life In Bonita Springs

Bonita Springs Shark Gator Snake Python Attacks

For as long as I’ve been a real estate agent there’s been a variety of common questions consumers ask which seem to never go away. Besides the common real estate questions regarding purchasing are selling, there are the questions about critters and hurricanes.

Southwest Florida has been blessed with a few storm free years. Short of the deluge of rain last week, we’ve escaped the storms and the end of hurricane season is just around the corner. The whole “flooding” question, of course, comes up from time to time. Yes, there have been a few areas with standing water and an occasionally property damage but it’s not a flood of biblical proportion.

Drama makes it to the news on a regular basis because it sells. The last time there were “Bonita Springs has flooded” reports I drove to the couple of streets that flooded and photographed them, videoed the area, screen shot a Google map of exactly where it was and put it on my blog. Why? Well, because technology is awesome and now anyone can publish accurate news. Plus, many of my clients were half a world away needlessly losing sleep over the idea that their homes were under water when they weren’t.

Monsters live in the dark. The lack of information allows the imagination to take off. Folks not familiar with our area only see or hear sound bites of the scariest things. Hurricane this, shark bite that, rattle snakes, gators, water moccasins and now, python snakes “so big they found a whole deer in its belly”.

It’s a miracle there are still any human inhabitants left in Southwest Florida. All this time we might have been tempting fate taking that siesta on the chaise lounge in the back yard.

Recently, another real estate agent in my office asked me how I answer people who ask about death by reptile in Florida. I looked at him and told him the truth, “I have three, yes three, twenty-three year old children born and raised in Southwest Florida. Not one of them has been bitten by a shark, attacked by a gator, strangled by a python or snake bit by a rattler or a moccasin. Believe me, I think they even try … I’ve watched their YouTube channel. Those kids are hilarious.”

Hey, I figure if you have a kid with a duct taped cowboy boot, big dawg, a knife on his hip, NRA card, swamp buggy and an airboat the odds have got to be pretty darn high for becoming a reptile attack statistic … and probably a republican, too.

Now, what will probably eventually happen is some tourist will have a few too many umbrella drinks at The Lake House, loose a bet, do a half gainer into the lake from the deck not realizing there’s a gator down there lying in wait. This attack would simply be a big misunderstanding because he wasn’t lying in wait for people … he was waiting for more hot wings.

A lot of these accidents are just rookie mistakes with a reoccurring theme of consuming copious amounts of alcohol then the brilliant idea of taking a swim in a lake or poking at a snake. I mean, if you juggled knives you could actually get cut. If you get your Cuervo swerve on and swim in a lake in Florida you could get bitten by something plus posthumously win a Darwin Award.

All the fretting over potential critters attacks is a waste of worrying energy. What everyone really should be afraid of is the Kardashian family. There’s a better chance of them causing far more mental anguish and damage to the human race than any Southwest Florida critter ever could.

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Real Life in Bonita Springs is a project by Chris Griffith dedicated to writing useful blog posts for consumers about the Bonita Springs, Florida area.  Find out what it is really like to live in Bonita Springs, Florida by reading about our fair city. You’ll get the latest in local real estate information, Bonita Springs real estate market reports and a little bit of humor.  If you have topic ideas, feel free to request a story about the idea, after all, this site is just for you.

You can subscribe to a weekly email newsletter by visiting www.LifeInBonitaSprings.com and entering your email in the subscription area on the center pane of the web page or by adding us to your reader by subscribing to this blog. Oh, and if you’re reading this content anywhere else but www.LifeInBonitaSprings.com or Naples Daily News it is probably stolen.

Condo Inspections, AS-IS Contracts and Nit Pickery

It’s mail day! There have been a variety of question regarding home inspections from both buyers and sellers. Here’s the latest and greatest from the mail bag that I’m able to squeeze into six-hundred-ish words or less:

Question: The home we’re interested in is offered as-is with the right to inspect? Are they trying to dump their can of worms on us?

Well I’m not sure who the “they” is but the “they” is usually giving you the opportunity to inspect the real estate thoroughly and decide whether or not you’d like to move forward with the purchase based upon those results. There are a variety of reasons why real estate can be for sale as-is. For example, it could be bank involved, either a short sale or foreclosure or part of an estate liquidation where the heirs have no knowledge of the condition.

As-Is with the right to inspect isn’t necessarily a hostage situation. It’s simply a situation where the sellers are willing to negotiate a sale price with you, you’re offered a period for inspections and due diligence and if the defects are too much for you to repair or undertake, you may exercise the right to excuse yourself from continuing with the purchase. If you have concerns you really should hire a real estate attorney to walk you through the process and explain your rights as a home buyer.

Question: The home inspection report for the home we are selling literally had a couple dozen items on it. Some of it seemed like the buyers are nit picking. Are we seriously expected to fix all of this?

First and foremost, even homes in the most pristine condition will have a few items on the inspection report. Some home sellers feel personally attacked because even the tiniest items end up in the report; discolored areas of walls, stains, torn screens, cracked tile, you name it. It doesn’t mean that the seller is responsible to remedy each item. The contract delineates which items are cosmetic and which items are actually considered a “defect” and warrant a repair or replacement.

Simply put, the buyers have hired a professional to inspect a property they may have only physically been inside of for a brief visit or two. The buyers are expecting and paying for a comprehensive report on the condition of the home. They didn’t personally type up the list to hurt anyone’s feelings.

Items like “cigarette smoke odor” or “several cracked tile which runs across the room” will be put on a on a report. Items that seem out of the ordinary get reported for the buyers benefit even if it isn’t something that is ordinarily covered as a seller’s responsibility to correct on template contracts.

Question: Should we get a home inspection on a condo?

Yes. Even a condo in the best condition can have issues that a buyer needs to know about. During an inspection all systems are checked, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, appliances, etc. Often times, inspectors will also recommend radon testing, air quality (mold) if they see reasons to do so. Most importantly, many inspectors now offer thermal imaging which can indicate moisture intrusion and wiring issues. It’s an absolutely lifesaving technology that can nearly see through walls for defects invisible to the naked human eye.

If you elect to not have an inspection you will likely be asked to sign a release for liability.

Until next week … that’s it, Fort Pitt.

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Real Life in Bonita Springs is a project by Chris Griffith dedicated to writing useful blog posts for consumers about the Bonita Springs, Florida area.  Find out what it is really like to live in Bonita Springs, Florida by reading about our fair city. You’ll get the latest in local real estate information, Bonita Springs real estate market reports and a little bit of humor.  If you have topic ideas, feel free to request a story about the idea, after all, this site is just for you.

You can subscribe to a weekly email newsletter by visiting www.LifeInBonitaSprings.com and entering your email in the subscription area on the center pane of the web page or by adding us to your reader by subscribing to this blog. Oh, and if you’re reading this content anywhere else but www.LifeInBonitaSprings.com or Naples Daily News it is probably stolen.

Inventory Bonita Springs and Naples Real Estate Market

Typically, I get an email or a phone call from potential buyers who are beginning the search for a home in Southwest Florida. They’ve been “educated” by whatever news sources they watched or read about the Florida real estate market. Most of the time it’s pretty far off base so a little remedial work has to be done to get the buyers up to speed on current market conditions.

They’re often looking for a foreclosure, willing to wait for a short sale but they all want a good deal. Check. Any of that can be accomplished but at a little bit of a different pace than in years past.

Now, if there are two things I’ve learned as a contributor to the Naples Daily News, it’s that haters don’t like good news and writing above the ninth grade reading level is like throwing stones at a hornets nest. First, let’s have a moment of silence for the death of the American comprehension level. Second, here comes the latest real estate news, which may be considered good by some folks.

While everyone was going about their business the excess real estate inventory has slowly been absorbed. The will be no cannon blasts or marching bands and you probably won’t hear anyone mention it because we still have the word “Florida” on our mailing address. We’ll still get lumped in with anyone generalizing about Florida real estate and that’s usually in a negative fashion.

The sales figures for the month of September came and went with absolutely no fanfare so I thought I’d let you know that most sectors of the real estate inventory is less than one year. Less than one year of inventory in single family homes, less than one year of inventory in low and mid-rise condos.

Is less than one year of inventory really that big of a deal? It is if you consider how many years of inventory we were looking at a few years back, even as much as fourteen months of inventory about a year ago. It’s the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.

What is really exciting is that we’re experiencing this lower inventory as we enter our busy winter season. The face of the southwest Florida real estate market will certainly be noticeably different by the time that Easter rolls around in the spring.

In general, we’re experiencing a brisk market and lower inventory in entry level priced real estate. The lion’s share of our sales takes place under $400,000. What this means to most buyers is a faster pace while home shopping or placing offers. The days of buyers firing off offers and working their way down the street are all but gone. Well priced real estate, in good condition not only sells quickly but occasionally with multiple offers.

We will continue to have short sales and foreclosures in our market for some time but the massive deluge of distressed properties and excess inventory we were swimming with has diminished significantly.

There you have it, “better news” for the McGrumpertons who feel compelled to not enjoy good news.

Unfortunately, I’ve managed to use the word proverbial, twice now, so I’m assuming that humming noise is probably the bees headed my way.

Happy Thursday!

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Real Life in Bonita Springs is a project by Chris Griffith dedicated to writing useful blog posts for consumers about the Bonita Springs, Florida area.  Find out what it is really like to live in Bonita Springs, Florida by reading about our fair city. You’ll get the latest in local real estate information, Bonita Springs real estate market reports and a little bit of humor.  If you have topic ideas, feel free to request a story about the idea, after all, this site is just for you.

You can subscribe to a weekly email newsletter by visiting www.LifeInBonitaSprings.com and entering your email in the subscription area on the center pane of the web page or by adding us to your reader by subscribing to this blog. Oh, and if you’re reading this content anywhere else but www.LifeInBonitaSprings.com or Naples Daily News it is probably stolen.

What’s The Status of Bonita Springs Real Estate Market?

Good, bad or indifferent the Bonita Springs real estate market can be summed up easily by doing a few calculations that can predict an estimated number of homes, condos or other real estate that is currently on the real estate market for sale and how long it could take to sell off that inventory.

“The News” will tell you what they think they know about the Florida real estate market and the consumers will be confused and apply the reports to Bonita Springs real estate.  Well, real estate is local so it’s important to know the numbers by individual city and drill down even further by neighborhood.

So here are the city wide inventory numbers, the categories of real estate is by structure and/or building type:

Single Family Homes (and Villas): 9.93 Months of Real Estate Inventory

Low Rise and Mid Rise Condos:  9.97 Months of Real Estate Inventory

High Rise and Tower Condos:  8.9 Months of Real Estate Inventory

Attached Villa Homes:  9.69 Months of Real Estate Inventory

Manufactured Homes:  14.92 Months of Real Estate Inventory

…and that’s the facts about Bonita Springs Real Estate for the month of September 2011.

To review other September 2011 Bonita Springs real estate market reports, read also:

• Bonita Springs Florida Real Estate Condition of the Sale

• Bonita Springs Florida Real Estate | What Price Range is Selling?

• Historical Bonita Springs Real Estate Sales | 2002-2011

Bonita Springs Real Estate, Bonita Springs Market Report, Bonita Springs Real Estate Market Report, Bonita Springs real estate inventory, Bonita Springs inventory

Real Estate Sold, Short Sale, Foreclosure, Equity Owned

One of the biggest sources of confusion in the real estate market is the amount of foreclosures real estate sales.  Buyers from all over the country call asking about “picking up a foreclosure”.  The truth of the matter is that the Bonita Springs and Estero foreclosure market isn’t exactly as big as everyone imagines. 

Banks/lenders and investors are coopering with consumers on short sales so you’ll notice that segment of the closed sales for the month of September 2011 is larger.  What surprises many people is the number of our “equity sales”.  Equity sales are regular real estate sales where there is no bank involvement or debt forgiveness. 

To review the other real estate market reports for September 2011, read also:

Bonita Springs Florida Real Estate | What Price Range is Selling?

Historical Bonita Springs Real Estate Sales | 2002-2011

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All information is deem accurate, not guaranteed and subject to change.  Check the date on this report for freshness.  If you have questions regarding your particular neighborhood, your street or your home specifically you’re welcome to contact us for a current market report. Real estate consumers that read this website are urged to seek independent, professional legal, real estate and financial advice before engaging in any transaction. All information is deemed, accurate, subject to change and not guaranteed.

What Price of Real Estate is Selling in Bonita Springs Florida?

The Bonita Springs real estate market is still moving along nicely with the largest share of real estate sales occurring under $400,000.  We’ve absorbed a good portion of the excess inventory and many neighborhoods are enjoying a balanced real estate market. 

I will repeat that for clarity.  We are experiencing a balanced real estate market in many neighborhoods at this time.  The great news is that we have a healthy market, prices are stable and even slowly going up in some locations and we’re just going into the busy winter, tourist season. 

You had to believe it wasn’t going to last, yet I still get the calls looking for "the deal of the century” or a distressed property sale; short sale or foreclosures.  We still have great deals but now there are multiple offers and they go quickly. The days of the real estate buyer shopping their way down the street are over.  That was officially a few years back.

To review the other real estate market reports for September 2011, read also:

Bonita Springs Florida Real Estate Condition of the Sale

Historical Bonita Springs Real Estate Sales | 2002-2011

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All information is deem accurate, not guaranteed and subject to change.  Check the date on this report for freshness.  If you have questions regarding your particular neighborhood, your street or your home specifically you’re welcome to contact us for a current market report. Real estate consumers that read this website are urged to seek independent, professional legal, real estate and financial advice before engaging in any transaction. All information is deemed, accurate, subject to change and not guaranteed.

A Decade of September Bonita Springs Real Estate Sales

How can the Bonita Springs real estate market be in such great shape if we hear such bad things about Florida real estate on the news?  Well, real estate is local. Years ago I quit taking the advise of the so-called professionals and doing my own numbers and this is why.  Take a look at the graph. 

You can see where we were, how brutal the real estate sales were in 2006 and the recovery and sell off of existing inventory.  We will actually see a shortage in inventory this winter as we enter the real estate market with a nearly balanced inventory in many sectors of real estate, especially under $400,000.

Bonita Springs Florida Real Estate Condition of the Sale

Bonita Springs Florida Real Estate | What Price Range is Selling?

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All information is deem accurate, not guaranteed and subject to change.  Check the date on this report for freshness.  If you have questions regarding your particular neighborhood, your street or your home specifically you’re welcome to contact us for a current market report. Real estate consumers that read this website are urged to seek independent, professional legal, real estate and financial advice before engaging in any transaction. All information is deemed, accurate, subject to change and not guaranteed.

Real Estate & Tomatoes  on The Information Super Highway

Most people, regardless of what they do for a living, now have an email brimming with speed of light requests to get things done. Email and the internet have revolutionized the way the world does business and has become one of the biggest time savers in just about every profession. The real estate business has benefited from the changes especially with online home marketing, contract preparation and contract delivery.

Speaking for my own business, there are forests of trees spared because it’s so much easier to be nearly paperless due to email, fax to email and “cloud computing” when negotiating and preparing contracts for real estate purchases.

Little did anyone know that information would move at the speed of light and turn humans into petulant children like Charlotte from Willy Wonka. The phrase, “patience is a virtue” should officially be changed to; “patience was a virtue”.

Everyone wants “the goose that lays the golden egg, now”. In a world where most people can click “buy now” and have the UPS man ring their door bell with their widgets the next day, actually waiting for something, for anything, has become an exercise in lack of tolerance for a fair number of folks.

So there I was minding my own bees wax when I get an email saying I didn’t respond to a question fast enough. I actually saw the email which was a really a comment on a blog that was sent to moderation. Unfortunately, that day I was putting my beloved dog to sleep and my secret team of webmasters was attending other matters and had escaped the shackles to their desks. It was Sunday, you know, the day that Chick-fil-A is closed so the staff was probably driving around looking for something to eat.

Apparently, someone wanted to know about farmer’s markets, and fast. Bonita Springs, like most cities in southwest Florida, has a few of them sprinkled around town on various days of the week.

Apparently, farmer’s markets are a very big deal to some people. So big of a deal that they would like to know when and where to get a goose that lays a vine ripe tomato, right now, and follow it up with a handful of emails explaining how disappointed they are with not getting the answers immediately. Why they were so disappointed, in fact, that they won’t even be moving here because farmer’s markets were actually the prime determining factor. (I’m serious) Not the hospitals. Not the lifestyle. Not the school system.

For what it’s worth, that pressing tomato question was actually answered within one day but it still wasn’t fast enough for the farmer marketeer.

Now, while I find humor in the fact that someone is this hell bent on getting fresh produce information at the speed of light from a real estate agent it doesn’t really matter what the information was that they needed. They wouldn’t have had patience if it was a pressing tomato issue or a short sale negotiation.

These days there is always something needed yesterday … last week it just happened to be emergency farmer’s market information.

Maybe people need to watch an old episode of The Rockford Files and see Jim run from payphone to payphone with a pocket full of dimes to appreciate how much technology has substantially improved their lives.

The fact of the matter is that even with so much of the communication being done on the internet there are still people, the human variable, at the other end of every transaction. Humans have to put the data there and take it down, reassemble it, deliver it or tell it where the nearest farmer’s market is and sometimes it’s just not going to be immediate.

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Real Life in Bonita Springs is a project by Chris Griffith dedicated to writing useful blog posts for consumers about the Bonita Springs, Florida area.  Find out what it is really like to live in Bonita Springs, Florida by reading about our fair city. You’ll get the latest in local real estate information, Bonita Springs real estate market reports and a little bit of humor.  If you have topic ideas, feel free to request a story about the idea, after all, this site is just for you.

You can subscribe to a weekly email newsletter by visiting www.LifeInBonitaSprings.com and entering your email in the subscription area on the center pane of the web page or by adding us to your reader by subscribing to this blog. Oh, and if you’re reading this content anywhere else but www.LifeInBonitaSprings.com or Naples Daily News it is probably stolen.

Bonita Springs Government, Parks and Utilities

Leadership Bonita students 2011-2012, sponsored by Bonita Springs Chamber of Commerce, were treated to a few inside tours of several facilities in town such as Bonita Springs Utilities, Bonita Springs Parks and Recreation, Bonita Springs Code Enforcement and Bonita Springs City Hall.

Bonita Springs Utilities: Some interesting things that most Bonita Springs residents do not know is that Bonita Springs has a state of the art water treatment facility.  Water treatment at Bonita Springs Utilities is so advanced that government committees from around the world have toured the Bonita Springs facility so they can implement the system.  Apparently, the Bonita Springs Utilities have won a few taste test for best tasting water, also. 

Bonita Springs Parks Department: The Leadership Bonita tour continued to Lee Parks and Recreation on Pine Avenue in Bonita Springs, Florida.  As a long time resident, I’ve personally watched the facility grow.  Currently, the facility offers a community pool, ball fields, a full skate park, indoor basketball hoops, a full fitness center, after school programs, disc golf (nineteen holes, baskets?) and scheduled activities, and more.

Bonita Springs Code Enforcement:  Located in the historic Liles Hotel but of course most code enforcement happens on call.  Bonita Springs code enforcement is a means to protect the public from dangers and nuisances.  Other calls Bonita Springs Code Enforcement responds to is unmowed lawns and fields, dilapidated housing and structures, sign ordinance violations, misused of real estate against zoning and of course dangerous situations that fall under code violations.

Bonita Springs Government - Bonita Springs City Hall:  The better part of the afternoon was spent at Bonita Springs city hall on Bonita Beach Road. Guest speakers included State Representative Trudi Williams, Mayor Ben Nelson, City Manager Carl Schwing and consultant Joe Mazurkiewicz.  The speakers covered the gamut of city planning, business, budgeting, infrastructure.

It’s an incredible opportunity to see the behind the scenes workings of the major components of Bonita Springs Government and the sister components that residents of Bonita Springs depend upon for day to day usage, from running water to after school programs at the park. 

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This post is part of a series written over the 2011-2012 year documenting the Leadership Bonita Program.  Other chapters are below in chronological order: 

• Leadership Bonita | Bonita Springs Chamber of Commerce

• Leadership Bonita | The Retreat

• Leadership Bonita | Economic Development

• Leadership Bonita | Government in Bonita Springs, Fl

Save The Drama For Your Mama

There’s no crying in real estate. At least there really shouldn’t be. Typically, all parties involved in the transaction have a common goal for real estate to change hands so what is it that makes it all go haywire?

So there everyone is, minding their own business when “exhibit A” rears its ugly head. We’ll call this generality “exhibit A” because most of the time these are legal matters and when a home owner or a home buyer is “not seeing things clearly” during the course of a transaction they’re fiddling with not performing to the terms of the contract. You know that contact, the legal, binding pile of paper that all parties have signed in an agreement to sell or purchase a home?

This so-called “exhibit A” can be anything from the buyers failing to apply for a mortgage in a timely fashion, failing to complete due diligence and inspections within the specified time line or not depositing earnest money in escrow. There are legal obligations on the seller’s side, too. They’re usually required to keep the property in condition in which the buyer previously viewed the property, keep the utilities on plus allow access for inspections and appraisals and close sale on a specific date.

Some folks simply thrive on drama. Maybe they live very dramatic lives because they just don’t feel alive unless there is a craptastic storm swirling around them. Sometimes when there is a breakdown in listening and communicating the reality of the contract doesn’t mesh with what’s going on in their mind’s eye and the difficulties begin.

When things start to get dicey, it’s important to not get emotional and to recognize the constants when dealing with the real estate transaction, especially when one of the participants starts to get dramatic.

What is the constant? The constant is the contract. It’s the instrument that dictates the who, what and when all things will take place. It’s the time frames and deadlines, the drop dead dates.

Even the most average transaction can get pulled into the circus of the dramatic buyer or seller. What generally compounds the issue is when others in the transaction start reacting to what is going on. That whole “you push me and I’ll push back” theory is counterproductive when trying to close a real estate transaction.

Recently, I overheard a disgruntled home owner say, “You’re making me do xyz.” The reality of the situation is that nobody is making anyone do anything; there is a contract that all parties agreed to and signed. The contract is telling all of us what to do and the timeframes in which to do it. The home owner looked at everything as a personal attack because they didn’t understand what they had signed.

The best reaction to most dramatic situations is to continue to perform under the terms of the executed contract and to always proceed to close. It might be beneficial for your real estate agent to go over the terms of the contract with the other party just to make sure there wasn’t a (finger quotes) misunderstanding and to help steward everyone back to the same page.

The overwhelming majority of the time emotionally charged transactions can and will work themselves out. Don’t become legally responsible for delays or for the transaction not closing because you allowed yourself to become distracted by drama and did not perform your portions contractual obligations.

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Real Life in Bonita Springs is a project by Chris Griffith dedicated to writing useful blog posts for consumers about the Bonita Springs, Florida area.  Find out what it is really like to live in Bonita Springs, Florida by reading about our fair city. You’ll get the latest in local real estate information, Bonita Springs real estate market reports and a little bit of humor.  If you have topic ideas, feel free to request a story about the idea, after all, this site is just for you.

You can subscribe to a weekly email newsletter by visiting www.LifeInBonitaSprings.com and entering your email in the subscription area on the center pane of the web page or by adding us to your reader by subscribing to this blog. Oh, and if you’re reading this content anywhere else but www.LifeInBonitaSprings.com or Naples Daily News it is probably stolen.