Life In Bonita Springs

Guess Where I am Going Today?

1. Grouper fishing off of the coast of Bonita Beach.
2. Canoeing the Blue Way starting in Estero Bay?
3. Airboat Ride in The Everglades

PS This photo is irrelevant to the event.

PPS It is way to early to be up on a Saturday.

PPPS  This better be worth it.

Photo Courtesy Jeff Turner

The Never Ending Guessing Game

The public has gotten fed up watching professional economists stab and miss repeatedly with their predictions over the last few years. If I got a dollar for every time I heard a nationally recognized, and one would assume, college education economist declare the bottom was here, the worst was over and green shoots were sprouting up, I would have packed my bags and be on my way to a resort with the guys from AIG.

What is most perplexing about the “guess and be wrong game” of economic recovery is that it seems as if not one person that’s doing the predicting is using numbers or even a history book. I wonder if any of them ever heard of a little party, back in the day, called the Roaring Twenties. It was kind of followed by a hang over called the Great Depression and a whole bunch of unpleasantness that nobody ever wanted to relive ever again.

Don’t you wonder how is it that when our country is basically in the throws of reliving a new and improved version of economic mayhem and financial disaster, none of the powers that be are smart enough to crack a book or use some facts and figures to determine where the next field of land mines will be found. Color me crazy but history usually repeats itself and it might be repeating itself right now.

Maybe nobody is recognizing what’s going on because we’ve disguised ourselves with better clothes, hybrid cars and iPhones. Maybe they’re trying to fake it ‘til the make it. It’s falling short and this whole country has become numb, victims to the propaganda.

The latest reports show that real estate sales remained steady and housing starts went up a tad for one month nationally. There was a rush to tout the news, in spite of the fact that one month does not make a trend and that summer is traditionally a busy season for real estate. On top of that, there is a slowly lowering, bladed guillotine called the adjustable rate mortgage that will reset on homes nationwide effecting up to one million residences.

While I’d agree that there is growth, recovery and good real estate deals in some locations there is still more hurt and suffering in other places on the way. It’s a matter of statistics and data collected by those in charge of understanding economics presenting it to you, the consumer, in an understandable fashion without lying, or worse, guessing.

A while back I was asked when I thought things would be getting better. I figured since “the suits” had been so off base I could break the world’s economy down to something everyone understands; morning coffee. I’ve got one lonely little coffee cup left in my cupboard with a developers name on it. It had been years since the big boy builders peddled branded coffee cups and bagels and my supply has dwindled.

Last week, a developer put a promotional coffee cup in my hot little hands. One coffee cup does not make a trend, but what if it was a start? Heck, even if it isn’t a trend I have dozens of other false economic recovery declarations I could make before I even catch up to the starched shirt, pro’s shining us all on.

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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 left 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.

Florida Mortgage Rates

It looks like rates have pretty much held steady this past week. But how much longer will it hold out?

Apply now to lock in your rate. The application only takes about 5 minutes to complete.

*The rates published on this page are applicable only to requests received from this site or by calling 352-308-7219. Mortgage rates published on this page are the current rates for a single-family, primary residence based on a 30-day lock period and are subject to change without notice. In order to receive a guaranteed rate, you must have applied for an application through Knightlines Mortgage Services, LLC and received a verbal confirmation from a mortgage broker that your desired rate is locked. Your guaranteed mortgage rate will depend on factors such as current market conditions, loan product, occupancy, property type and your credit profile.

Loan Product and APR Information

• Conforming rates are for loan amounts not exceeding $417,000 ($625,500 in AK and HI)

• Jumbo rates are for loan amounts exceeding $417,000 ($625,500 in AK and HI)

• Adjustable-rate loans and rates are subject to change during the loan term. That change can increase or decrease your monthly payment.

• Additional loan products, rates and lock periods are available.

Conforming Fixed, ARM APR calculation assumes a $150,000 loan amount with a 20% down payment, estimated borrower paid finance charges of .75% of the loan amount plus discount and origination if applicable. If the down payment is less than 20%, mortgage insurance may be needed on the loan. This could increase the monthly payment and the APR.

Jumbo Fixed APR calculation assumes a $500,000 loan amount with a 20% down payment, estimated borrower paid finance charges of .75% of the loan amount plus discount and origination if applicable. If the down payment is less than 20%, mortgage insurance may be needed on the loan. This could increase the monthly payment and the APR.

Bonita Beach Shadow People

 Bonita Springs Real Estate Myths

1. There are homes for sale on the Imperial River for sale for $100,000.  No.  There are barely any homes available at that price, let alone on the river.  That price is a ridiculous stretch for gulf access real estate in Bonita Springs.  There are more bar stool stories about fabulous real estate deals that someone claims they scored.  Show me a title to the property and I’ll believe it.

2.  A buyers market means real estate waits around for you to make your offer.   It depends.  If you’re looking in the $200,000 and under market you need to strike like lightening.  Under $400,000 you have to move fairly fast on real estate.  Check out this graph showing real estate sales by price point:  SW Florida Real Estate Sales June 2009

3.  Just because prices have decreased doesn’t mean real estate hasn’t picked up.   In the month of June single family homes accounted for 74 closed sale real estate transactions compared to 63 in 2008 and 56 in 2007. 

4.  Banks quit loaning money on Florida real estate.  They’ve always been lending, it’s just that they’re requiring borrowers to have decent credit, a job and income to cover the dept.   Weird, huh?

5.  Foreclosure real estate is the best deal.  There are other properties, often in far better condition, that can be a great value.  Short sale real estate transactions take longer sometimes but they’re often in better condition.  Plus, there are also homes for sale that are just for sale at a good price.  They’re not bank owned and they’re not short sales so they’re well cared for and close fast.

Parlor Tricks & Online Home Valuation Models

If you have ever toyed with selling your home or even if you’ve thought of buying one you have probably run across a web site or two that estimates housing values. It’s a nifty gimmick. You put the property address in the search bar of the valuation site and presto, it tells you what the home is worth.

Home valuation sites are certainly not new. They’ve been around for a couple of years. Through volatile years of prices going up and the equally volatile years of home values falling, tainted by short sales and foreclosures. In all those years, the accuracy of the reports has always been an issue.

I’ll be the first to acknowledge that they’re only an estimate and a more or less a parlor trick. Mention the name of any of the sites in online print and someone with a throwing stars and nun chucks will come tumbling out of the bushes to defend their estimate and remind you “that it’s only an estimate; we disclose that in the fine print”.

Do consumers really know that it’s only an estimate? Not even an estimate in some instances, just a guess on whatever number they’re able to collect, allowed to collect from the county clerk or bothered to collect at all. There are monkey’s throwing darts at the stock pages of the newspaper with far greater accuracy in some instances.

The last time I tried to find the disclaimer or accuracy claim on one of the sites I was unable to find it due to the small print and had to use “Control+F” on my computer to automatically find the text. I guess it is technically there so it counts whether you find or not or whether you and read it or not.

Periodically, I throw my own address in the search to see what my home is really worth and to keep up touch with their version of the real estate market. Yes, that was sarcasm if you were wondering. Today, my house was worth about $100,000 more than it would probably appraise for on a good day, without the HVCC - home valuation code of conduct miring it up. They’ve compared my home to sales of both single family homes on gulf access canals and condos in a bundled golf course community. Neither are remotely close comparables.

While I’m researching I usually check my parent’s home, too. This week I found out my parents home is so valuable that they should sell it, bank the cash and live off of the interest. It turns out that the data collected for their home valuation indicates the home next door is incorrectly valued at $1.4 million dollars in a neighborhood of modest homes ranging in price from $200-300,000.

Online home value guesstimate services are simply an entertainment gimmick to get people to the website to convert to leads and make money on ad clicks. So, what’s the big deal? Well, it may surprise you to learn that there have been loss mitigation departments discovered using these sites to approve or rather not approve sort sales.

I don’t know about you but it makes me wonder if those loss mitigation departments weren’t able to find the small print, too.

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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 left 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 Real Estate Units Sold

This is another month of Bonita Springs “units sold” market reporting.  I’ve skipped the real estate absorption rate because there are a fair share of pending and active/contingent real estate skewing the figures.  Hopefully by the end of summer we’ll have closed out those sales and get back to business as usual and factual, accurate sales figures.

These are the units sold.  Units sold = real estate properties closed sale and recorded.  As usual, I’ve included the June sales figures for the two years prior so you can measure real estate sales over a period of time.

This data was collected from the Sunshine MLS on 7/13/2009.   All information is deemed accurate, not guaranteed.  That means you probably shouldn’t get a tattoo of it on your back or something.

• Bonita Springs Real Estate Market Report – May 2009
• Bonita Springs Real Estate Market Report – April 2009
• Bonita Springs Real Estate Market Report – March 2009
• Bonita Springs Real Estate Market Report - February 2009
• Bonita Springs Real Estate Market Report - January 2009
• Bonita Springs Real Estate Market Report - December 2008
• Bonita Springs Real Estate Market Report - November 2008
• Bonita Springs Real Estate Market Report - October 2008
• Bonita Springs Real Estate Market Report - September 2008
• Bonita Springs Real Estate Market Report - August 2008
• Bonita Springs Real Estate Market Report - July 2008
• Bonita Springs Real Estate Market Report - June 2008
• Bonita Springs Real Estate Market Report May 2008
• Bonita Springs Real Estate Market Report April 2008
• Bonita Springs Market Conditions - March 2008

Real Estate Sales By Price Point

Real estate sales have maintained the hot streaks in the same price ranges for the last few months.  True to form the hottest selling segment of the real estate market is the $200,000 and under price point, followed by the $200,000 to $400,000 price point.

The remaining real estate sectors keep wrestling for their share of the market.  The $600,000 to $800,000 priced real estate continues to be the most challenged segment to sell accounting for only 5% of all of the real estate sold in Southwest Florida during the month of June 2009.

To see last month’s graph read also:

SW Florida Real Estate Sales May 2009

Bonita Springs Real Estate & Mortgages

The Mortgage Loan Interest Rates Report for Bonita Springs, Florida. Rates as of July 14, 2009.

You hemmed and hawed when rates went back over 5%.  You even promised yourself that if they dropped back down into the 4% range, you would act.  The mortgage gods listened to your prayers and dropped rates back to below 5% last week.  You thought maybe it will go down just a little more.  And now…

Apply now to lock in your rate. The application only takes about 5 minutes to complete.

Jason Price

Owner/Principal Broker

(352) 308-7219 Phone

For some time now, Knightlines Mortgage Services has been offering the people of Florida a convenient way to finance and re-finance their residential property.

But that isn’t the entire story - we are also doing commercial lending in all 50 states.  AND - now we can offer commercial financing OUTSIDE of the country as well.  Caribbean, South America, etc - just call for the details.