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.
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