Positive Signs in the Naples Housing Market

Roads are less crowded. So are restaurants, hotels and beaches. But Florida real estate agents say their calls and showings have picked up since Easter, the traditional end to the busy winter season.

Some buyers who have waited on the sidelines are ready to make a deal.

At Amerivest Realty in North Naples, agents have seen some of their busiest weekends for showings in the past few weeks.

“We may not have as many tourists here, but we certainly have people looking to buy here in town,” said Joe Ballarino, Amerivest’s president and chief executive. “We are now running at the same number of sales as last year and what that means to me is that the market is no longer going down. It’s now going sideways.”

Some Florida mortgage borrowers are just tired of waiting, while others feel there are good deals to be had in a slower market that has seen asking prices drop by $50,000 or more since the start of season in November.

“I don’t see as many buyers complaining about the price,” said Tom Doyle, a Realtor with Naples Realty Services. “They are just concerned that pricing has not settled in.”

At the end of April, he made three sales in a week.

“I don’t know what it is,” Doyle said. “I’ve been really busy lately.”

Some agents believe the market hit bottom during season and that it’s on its way back up with buyers feeling a little less anxious.

“It’s still a long haul,” said Chris Elizabeth Griffith, a new home specialist with Keller Williams Elite Realty in Bonita Springs. “But things are already looking good.”

More inventory, more choices
In Naples, there’s still a nearly three-year supply of homes on the market. Last week, there were 11,800 single-family homes and condominiums in the Multiple Listing Service. That’s down from 12,123 active listings on April 1.

In the past year, about 4,000 homes sold in Naples.

“There is more inventory every place. But I don’t know a community to especially pick and say, ‘OK that one is really struggling,” said Spencer Haynes, president of the Naples Area Board of Realtors.

In Lee County, there are more than 15,000 single-family homes and another 9,600 condominiums on the market, said Brett Ellis, a partner with The Ellis Team at RE/MAX Realty Group in Fort Myers.

“What’s good for buyers right now is that they have excellent selection and they still have some negotiating leverage,” he said. “They have affordability over years past and low interest rates.”

In March, the number of homes sold in Lee County spiked up and prices increased slightly. The median price rose to $268,000, up from $256,100 in February, according to the Florida Association of Realtors.

A stable market
Haynes, with John R. Wood Realtors Inc., describes the Naples market as stable. Though first-quarter sales were down from a year ago in Naples, they were up from the fourth quarter of 2006. Pending sales are growing and new listings are leveling off, which local Realtors say point to an improving Florida housing market.

In the first quarter, there were 939 closed sales reported in Naples. That was down from 1,250 in the same months a year ago. The median home price in Naples was $399,512 in the first quarter, down from $443,950 a year ago, but up from $375,000 in the fourth quarter of 2006.

“In areas where there is a tremendous amount of inventory the competition is quite stiff,” Haynes said. “Above a million dollars it’s been a very good market.”

Particularly tough is the $500,000 and under market, where there is a “ton of inventory” because investors overbought in 2004 and 2005, hoping to take advantage of rising Florida home prices, he said.

Wheelin’ and dealing
Competition had sellers and builders dropping prices and offering a variety of incentives to lure Florida home mortgage loan shoppers in season.

Sellers’ offers included everything from parking a Jaguar in the garage with a signed contract to paying the first year of association dues. Builders have paid closing costs and even covered some mortgage payments for buyers to get homes sold.

In season, developers slashed prices during weekend sales and offered higher commissions, trips and even Rolex watches to real estate agents to encourage them to sell homes in their communities. Some developers put off or even canceled projects this season because of the competition.

“Developers don’t want to keep feeding the pipeline when they’ve got inventory standing there,” said Michele Harrison, president of the Collier Building Industry Association and a vice president of sales for Gates McVey in North Naples.

Builders and developers have been forced to lay off employees this year because the market has been so slow.

A season of ups and downs
Local agents describe the season as mixed.

“January was terrible,” Amerivest’s Ballarino said. “But each month we got a little bit closer to the same month in the prior year.”

At his company, April sales were about the same as they were last year.

“We have just seen a steady improvement all season,” Ballarino said. “If things continue as they are I would say that December we’ll look back on and call that the bottom.”

From talking to other agents, he believes there are still many buyers out there waiting to see the overall market strengthen. Others are holding out for lower prices.

“It’s still more of a buyer’s market than a seller’s market,” Ballarino said. “What we are seeing is that the smart buyers are going ahead and making offers and getting deals put together.”

Griffith, with Keller Williams Elite Realty, described the season as odd and unpredictable. She had some unusual phone calls, many from buyers looking to get out of their contracts. Some buyers ended up renegotiating their contracts for a lower price, while others walked away from contracts at closing because the homes were valued at less than they agreed to pay, she said.

During the season, Griffith saw sellers get really low offers and she warned her clients to expect that in a down market. The season was more typical of what agents experienced before the Southwest Florida housing market saw a buying frenzy that pushed home prices to historic highs, said Doyle, with Naples Realty Services.

“It varies by agent,” he said. “It was a pretty busy season for me. But it wasn’t gangbusters.”

SOURCE: Naples News