Life In Bonita Springs

 🡩🡩🡩 The February 2022 Update CLICK PHOTO ABOVE  🡩🡩🡩

Feb 2022 Bonita Springs Estero Real Estate Market Update - It’s official. We have never seen so many people in Southwest Florida. Hotels are at capacity; homes are rented to capacity. A brief tour of local Airbnb’s show people renting RV/Campers and even “Glamping” tents in back yards. Seriously. RSW airport has hit records week after week of traveling here. I tried to have lunch this week with a potential client in our usual spot where we can get in and out in 30-45 minutes.  Two hours for lunch! It’s like spring break! America is moving to Florida! I’d thought I’d share a graph share by one of our local mortgage brokers. It demonstrates the disparity between homes available vs the population. Graph image below:

In addition, the video above will demonstrate a few of our “hyper local” statistics. I can tell you from many of the calculations that we prepare for our buyers before placing offers and for our sellers before listing their homes that we have less than 1 month of inventory available in many neighborhoods and it’s been a while since I have done a calculation with more than 2 months of inventory. Consider that 6 months is a balanced market and understand the fierce competition for homes. If you’d really like to read more about housing stats:  2022 National Housing Forecast
To that end we have a variety of portfolio properties and coming soon listings. We have an institutional offering of 12 condo units in a package. If you’re looking to satisfy a large 1031 exchange in the $3M range.  Some of these units may be available individually around $275K each.  We have to work out details regarding the liquidation process that will benefit the seller. We have a 1-bedroom canal home in Old Bonita in the high $300’s. There are about 20 opportunities in process. If we know what you’re looking for you may be able to lock something in from our list. Learn: What is a Portfolio Property. 

If you're planning a visit in the next several weeks sign up for a fifteen minute phone or zoom conference. During that call we provide valuable community and market information to hone your search efforts. We promise you'll be able to make better use of your time while you're in the Bonita Springs/Estero area. Schedule your appointment HERE.
Take a look below to see a few pre-built searches that may be of interest:

• Bonita Beach & Bay Condos + Condos Close to Bonita Beach -
  Condos on or Near Beach
• Bonita Springs Bundled Golf Condos - Bundled Golf in Bonita Springs
• High Rise Condos in Bonita Bay, West Bay Club & The Colony - High Rise Condos
• Bonita Springs Pool Homes Priced Low to High - Bonita Springs Pool Homes

The "buyer tips in a seller's market' video is here: Buyer Tips Video Also, don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel as we are always adding new, relevant as-it-happens content to help our buyers and sellers.

Update on Downtown Bonita Springs, Florida

Simply put, we simply love the city of Bonita Springs, Florida. We’re local Realtors® and community cheerleaders who have called Bonita Springs home since the mid 1980’s. We also live in downtown Bonita Springs. Our website is www.LifeInBonitaSprings.com and we curate a neighborly-neighborhood group called Bonita Springs Estero Community Forum - www.facebook.com/groups/BonitaEsteroForum or enter www.iLoveBonitaSprings.com into your browser and it will redirect you to that Facebook group.

Of course, everything we do as residents and as The Griffith Group revolves around Downtown Bonita Springs, Florida and the downtown area is ever changing. Many residents and visitors are new to southwest Florida, and they may not realize that the downtown area from Bonita Beach Rd. north to about Rosemary Drive had, at one point, fallen into a state of urban decay. A great deal of vision and a lot of positive changes have taken place in the last few decades. Years ago, Mayor Ben Nelson was a catalyst with a vision to have Bonita Springs downtown area revitalized. It was a massive undertaking and proven to be well worth the investment. To paraphrase from an event that Chris remembers him speaking at, a city is only as strong as its weakest neighborhood.

The noticeable revitalization started with the city’s acquisition of Bamboo Village, a blighted mobile home community on the Imperial River. The city purchased the land, but the land sat idle after the housing crisis. It’s currently going through channels of being developed with the Barron Collier Corporation. There have been community workshops regarding the development. The next workshop will be in March 2022 at a date and time to be determined. The last workshop was held at the new downtown public library.

The downtown redevelopment has paved the way for anchor destinations such as the public library, Everglades Wonder Gardens and Riverside Park system to flourish. With time, small businesses started sprouting up around them. There are now a variety of coffee shops, restaurants, ice cream shops, a brewery, cocktail lounge, bike shop, bait shop, kayak outfitter and a new food truck park coming soon. Downtown Bonita has become destination for fun-things-to-do and dining options. It also has great walkability and is bustling with people.

Riverside Park is one of the crown jewels of downtown Bonita Springs. It is decorated like a story book for Christmas and through the winter season it is the location of many concerts, art festivals and various ceremonies. It is flanked by the little-known Depot Park on the other side of the railroad tracks and Island Park which is accessible by foot or bike with an entrance from Depot Park and from South Riverside Drive. Few people know, but there is a recently acquired, city-owned parcel on S. Riverside Drive at the foot path entrance to Island Park which will provide another node park or grand entrance to Island Park when developed.

For those who would like to know more about what is happening in the downtown area we encourage you to join our community forum on Facebook. We also invite you to get involved with the Downtown Alliance by subscribing to their newsletter at www.BonitaDowntownAlliance.com or by attending their monthly meetings at the Shangri-La Hotel. The City of Bonita Springs also has a newsletter you can sign up for at www.CityOfBonitaSprings.org.  City council meetings are live streamed on YouTube so residents can keep up with the latest events and developments in and around the city.

From our Feb 2022 Newsletter which is snail-mailed to past clients and to those who request. This information is provided as part of an awareness campaign about the downtown Bonita Springs, Florida area. Business owners and community leaders in Southwest Florida are quietly investing in your community. We invite you to remember and support downtown attractions and businesses when you are choosing to spend your time and shared interests with friends and family. ###

Reflecting on the year - I'm not sure if I mentioned it on here but I wrote a book this year. It's quite a departure from the real estate world. It's a slim novel called It Started With a Helmet. If you are from #NYC or have a first responder in your family they may find it interesting. It's a fast read, two hours or less; available on kindle, too. #FDNY #neverforget #firstresponders . It's actually been a best seller. You can read the reviews on Amazon by clicking the image of the cover.  There's over 200 reviews so far. 

This just proves how wildly unpredictable life is. I'm just some random Realtor from Bonita Springs, Florida who wrote about about New York City and a terrorist attack and it garnered popular appeal. I can barely believe it. It also opened me up to the wonderful world of first responders, firefighters and especially the FDNY.  Hearts of gold, they all have!

Anywho,  if you've read this far, here is the summary about the book.

This is the summary: This is the amazing, true story of Gerald Sanford, a former New York City police officer and FDNY firefighter who retired and moved to Naples, Florida. Retirement didn’t take, and he found himself working at North Naples Fire Control and Rescue District, which is how he stumbled on an early 1900s antique fire helmet. He instantly knew the helmet was from New York City. By an amazing coincidence, Sanford presented the fire helmet back to the FDNY firehouse in the Bronx the day before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. With the city in ruins, Sanford volunteered to serve the FDNY in one of his former roles-press secretary. In this memoir, he recalls volunteering after 9/11 as well as his earlier years working for the NYPD and FDNY, including his observations of political figures such as Mayor Ed Koch, Mayor David Dinkins, Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and others. Join Sanford as he shares an incredible story about Sept. 11 and how an antique leather helmet led two fire departments to forge a lasting bond.  If you care to order it or read on kindle here is a link to It Started With a Helmet.

Never forget!  Especially those 343 heroes from FDNY who ran into those burning towers to save civilians.

The Housing Plight of the SWFL Workforce – The State of Bonita Springs/Estero Florida Real Estate

Southwest Florida has not felt such a hard pinch in local housing since the early 2000’s. Entry level buyers and consumers who are in the work force are feeling the change more so than others searching for housing. What’s causing the change is a variety of aspects, some of which were not predictable or even unimaginable. The end result is massive demographic changes and explosive population growth felt throughout southwest Florida. Here are some points to ponder:

• Both Lee and Collier Counties were already feeling the pressure of the retiring Baby Boomer migration for years. Many worked their whole lives with a dream of a Florida retirement. The current rate of those turning 65 in the United States is about 8,000 per day. It’s a trend that will continue for years. 

• Florida is not only been feeling the effects of the Boomer shift but also of the millennials beginning to settle into careers, marriages and growing families. 

• In spring of 2020 the most unexpected catalyst for growth were the northern covid refugees who decided that if they had to work from home, they would pick a home in a more amiable environment with a better climate. Simply put, Florida was open for business, America was watching and decided to relocate to more favorable quality of life and economic conditions.

• The home builders, in a reflex to the housing crisis after “the boom”, built fewer homes in the decade between 2009-2019. Housing starts fell short by about 20 million front doors. Typically, 25 million +/- homes are built during a decade of measure. 

• As northern residents moved into their second homes it often removed a rental from the market. It wasn’t long before Southwest Florida had a rental inventory crisis brewing.

• Those who couldn’t find rentals began purchasing “affordable” housing when they couldn’t find a rental and helped put entry level pricing up.

The American dream of home ownership is quite a challenge for anyone who would like to live in the area but particularly the local work force such as teachers and first responders. Those of us in the real estate industry have steadily watched entry level prices advance upward and the trend is expected to continue. 

At the time of this article there were only six properties for sale in Bonita Springs priced under $200,000. Some of them are not habitable or questionably habitable and do not even qualify for financing. Of the properties that may potential qualify for financing there are hidden pitfalls that most inexperienced buyers and many real estate agents won’t realize until they are well under contract.  

• The more affordable properties are generally older and require costly flood insurance due to their elevation.

• The properties may have cast plumbing, cloth wiring or need a roof which often disqualifies them from insurance. No insurance = no mortgage.

• Government backed FHA and VA mortgages, which allow for less money down, do not often work for a myriad of underwriting reasons.

• These properties are often in flood prone areas that may flood again.

• If the property is a condo there are maintenance fees of $300 or more dollars per month which put borrowers over the debt-to-income ratio.

• Property taxes will be reassessed and recaptured at a premium rate putting borrowers over the debt-to-income ratio.

• Inflation is going make the consumer dollar stretch even less and further widen the affordability gap for homeowners.

This information is provided as part of an awareness campaign about housing scarcity and the rising prices of real estate in Bonita Springs, Florida. Business owners and community leaders in Southwest Florida may not realize the magnitude of the current housing shortage and how it has impacted the affordability for the work force, first responders, teachers and first-time home buyers. 

The current absorption rate for Bonita Springs homes/condos priced under $400,000 is 1.3 months. Six months is considered balanced. This “seller’s market” is extreme and we are only entering our winter season that ushers in a new wave of buyers. Relief for the average home buyer, especially a financing buyer, is not a projected at this time.

This special column was written by Chris Griffith to present to local leaders at the city, chambers of commerce and economic development council. It was also mailed to past and present clients of The Griffith Group. If you did not receive yours you can update your mailing address by sending it to lifeinbonitasprings@gmail.com

Purchasing a Bonita Springs Home to Rent Seasonally

So you want to AirBnB’it with a home in Bonita Springs, Florida? Here are a few things to consider that may interfere with your  plans for your Bonita Springs real estate empire. Locally there are a few rules regarding rentals in SWFL so before you get throw a plan into motion consider this:

There are rental restrictions by HOA in most circumstances. 30 Day minimum leases are the most common but some are longer.

Tenants usually have to fill out an application to join the HOA and that requires a 30 day lead time and anywhere from $50 to $150 plus back ground checks.

Many HOA’s do not allow tenants to have pets.  Worth mentioning because it can scuttle a rental when the tenants have pets.

Our peak rent prices are only during the winter months. Many homes do not rent year round for premium rent.

Most properties will not cash flow so do not assume you can earn enough rent to cover the expenses.

Taxes are charged and due by the seller on short term rentals. Failure to do so can cause stiff fines.

If your Bonita Springs home is homestead exempt you can not rent it or be subject to huge fines. 

If your dream is to own and manage short term rentals and “AirBnB it” in Bonita Springs you would have to purchase outside of a gated community without rules/regulations which means outside of a homeowner association.  Also, just because there aren’t gates doesn’t mean that there isn’t an HOA.  Sometimes there is a mild HOA in what appears to be a non-gated area. Be sure to be up front with your buyers agent about your plans after you purchase your Bonita Springs home.

If we can help you buy or sell real estate in Bonita Springs call or text 239-273-7430.

Bunche Beach Kayak Rental Fort Myers Florida Things to Do

We have enjoyed Bunche Beach, for years. No loud bars in the background, not many spring breakers, just a quiet space between Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel Island, with a more natural beach area. This is a short drive from Bonita Springs or Estero Florida and very doable for a half day or a full day adventure.

Several years ago, the county built a structure at Bunche Beach for bathrooms and a parking area with kayak launches. We have seen the Kayak Excursions people and even talked to them, but never jumped at the chance. My daughter has begged me to go kayaking for a couple of years, so I thought, "Why not check them out?"

Today, I decided was the day. We drove to Bunche Beach and parked (I was so excited, I forgot to pay my parking fee.) and headed over to the launch area. Three hours of kayak rental for less than $60! They gave us map and directions...oohhh directions? I thought we kayaked to the left and out to the beach...but there is so much more!

The route they suggested took us through an extended mangrove tunnel, so peaceful and calming. Exiting the tunnel, you can steer left and see manatees, steering right takes you past some beautiful homes and the southern end of Bunche Beach, which we have never been to. After 20 years visiting this beach and we didn't know there was more.

Sand bars and shallow waters allow for littles to safely search for hermit crabs and conch, wading in the water, and serene surroundings for this momma bear.

It takes about 20 minutes to leisurely paddle out to the beach, then today, we had the wind to our backs for the return trip.

This kayak adventure is definitely worth the time and and the price is right!

PS: the gentlemen at the Bunche Beach Kayak rental prefer you have reservations, although we did not.

Written by Tess Brennan and CLB, special to Life In Bonita Springs.

The Bonita Springs Sellers Market - Tips for Home Sellers

Even before the pandemic, there were more people who wanted to buy a home in Bonita Springs than there were sellers. 8,000 Americans turn 65 every. dang. day.

You can watch the full video here: https://youtu.be/ebwd9B1mmG8

Main things have driven the shortage of homes for sale in Bonita Springs:

• The economy -a record long expansion and low unemployment, pre-COVID-19
• Home owners caught in the last big short have licked their wounds and are ready to try home ownership again.
• historically low interest rates that give people more buying power – could purchase more expensive homes because their interest portion of their home loan was so much smaller.
• Two new sizable new generations of home shoppers entering the real estate market. Millennials as first time and boomers planning their future are both purchasing homes.
• There was a sharp drop in new home construction over the past decade which was reignited – Think DR Horton and Lennar Homes.

· 30 day lock down – Shortly thereafter Florida was open for business – Covid escapees from NY NJ IL CT Etc.

• Retirement – Many Bonita Springs home owners moved into their second home removing surplus home rentals from the real estate market.
• More buyers than sellers. Now home seller are trapped in their homes because they have no where to go if they did sell their home or condo.

Bonita Springs Snow Birds Become Sun Birds

A significant lifestyle shift has occurred in American culture and Bonita Springs has felt the evolution of the boomer population.  Our Bonita Springs ‘snow bird’ population has shifted from snowbirds to sunbirds.  So what is a sunbird?  Sunbirds are seasonal residents who were former snowbirds but have actually flipped their migration pattern. They have relocated to Bonita Springs from all over the country and officially declaring residency - purchasing a primary residence rather than a second home or seasonal rental.

Domiciling in Florida has existed as a means of reducing tax liabilities for decades, and the infamous 183 days or six months and a day, is a necessary legality for that to occur. 

Read also: Bonita Springs Florida Tax Haven High Net Worth Residents

Yet the more recent explosion of sunbirds is driven by lifestyle choice, with the desire to enjoy all the benefits of living in the Bonita Springs climate most of the year. They only venturing up north during the heat of summer. This movement has been amplified by COVID due to Florida remaining open while many northern states have severely restricted residence, forcing businesses to remain closed and schools to teach remotely.  It made Bonita Springs, Florida the easy choice for an enjoyable lifestyle.

The sunbird’s residence up north often remains a cottage on a lake, their motor coach or an apartment/basement room or cottage in or on premise of a family members home. In different times, the ability to travel abroad for one or two months or embark on an extended cruise were popular options but  in today’s COVID environment travel has been curtailed. 

This change in lifestyle and declaring residency in Bonita Springs has also contributed to the extremely low inventory of homes for sale in Bonita Springs in spring of 2021 through summer 2021.

Read also: Bonita Springs Residency, Domicile, Declaration Domicile

Part Two of five "must haves" if you live in Bonita Springs, Florida or SWFL.  It’s allergy season in Bonita Springs.  What is causing the itchy eyes, sneezing and runny noses?  Well, in February it’s slash pines and the oak trees.  Spring is in February here.  Surviving SWFL Allergy Season is tough but there are some healthy remedies.

Whether it's Oak Trees and Slash Pines in February or Rag Week and Melaleuca Trees that chronically pollinate, a medication free treatment for allergies and hay fever is sinus flushing with a neti pot. I am not going to show you how to use one but it's really not that hard to do. It's a great, natural way to help reduce symptoms of allergies. It's part of my daily routine and it has helped with sneezing and headaches due to pollen/dust/histamines dramatically.

I've tried a few brands and have liked the Neilmed Neti Pot the best because of the lid and it is plastic so if/when you drop it, it doesn't break. You can also order replacement saline packets on Amazon. I found it challenging to just find the packets so I order them online to avoid the stores. Here's a link to the video about the neti pot and the link to it is in the comments of the video here: https://youtu.be/swgvlgXV_pk

We’ve started a for the home channel on YouTube so you can see other helpful healthy and beauty aids that are beneficial for SWFL home owners and visitors.

Bonita Springs Florida Home Owner Essentials 1 of 5

Part one of five "must haves" if you live in Bonita Springs, Florida or SWFL. First, you should have a manual can opener (think no electricity during hurricane season) and second, you should have a GOOD can opener that makes it easy to open the cans. I'm in the 'over 50 crowd' and I was having trouble opening cans with the cheapie can openers that are readily available for sale. They don't last and they rust and break easily. Every home in Bonita Springs should be outfitted with this can opener. It's easy peasy lemon squeezie! I even bought one for The Sprite who at the age of 92 could use an easier can opener for her ‘chicken and stars’ soup. 

You can see the video of the Zyliss can opener in process here:

https://youtu.be/e2iR0hrTpOg and a link if you’d like to pick one up for your house or your hurricane kit.  Speaking of hurricanes, read also:

https://www.lifeinbonitasprings.com/blog/post-hurricane-irma-wish-list-bonita-springs-florida/  this is a list of items that many Bonita Springs residents wished they had at home after Hurricane Irma hit.  Many of us stayed for the storm and learned some practical lessons that you can benefit from. Including get a manual can opener if you’re going to depend upon canned goods. ;-)