The Bonita Bay Group’s decision to cut 30 positions is the latest in a series of terminations and layoffs by developers and builders sparked by the sluggish Florida real estate market.
Builders in unincorporated Lee County, Bonita Springs and Fort Myers Beach pulled 318 permits for single-family houses in March, about 6 percent more than in February and 62 percent less than in March 2006, the county Department of Community Development reported Monday.
When Susie Bellina arrived in Bonita Springs in 1979, she never envisioned this pit stop between Naples and Fort Myers would one day become such a hot spot for Florida home mortgage activity.
“I came down for a visit and I remember that Bonita Springs was this quaint little place with homes really spread out,” said Bellina. “It was completely different than it is today.”
Fresh out of college and armed with a master’s degree in biology from Montclair State College, Bellina came from New Jersey to stay with her parents. In sleepy, little Bonita Springs, Bellina had no idea how she was going to put her degree to work.
“So I started clearing tables at the (Naples-Fort Myers) Greyhound Track for $2.01 an hour,” she said. “I did that for two years until I got a job as a cocktail waitress at The Rooftop Restaurant.”
It was there that Bellina’s no-nonsense attitude attracted Jim Newton - the Fort Myers real estate mogul. “I used to wait on Jim and Ellie all the time and he was the one that encouraged me to get into [Florida real estate].”
In only a few short years, Bellina would become Bonita Springs’ top real estate agent producer. As of this year, her total sales are $379 million.
GETTING STARTED
When Bellina first began working in real estate, an average lot on Bonita Beach was $8,000.
“I remember my mom trying to get my dad to buy a pre-construction condo at the Beach & Tennis Club for $27,000 and he thought that was too expensive. We listed one today at $329,000,” she said.
While Bellina continued working nights at The Rooftop, her days were filled with meeting people and trying to make a name for herself.
“I was selling condos from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and then selling cocktails at The Rooftop from 6 p.m. to midnight,” Bellina said from her office in the back of Hickory Boulevard’s ResortQuest Realty.
Bellina’s first Florida home sale was worth $52,000 and soon she left the restaurant business for good.
KEYS TO SUCCESS
Bellina maintains that there are no keys to success - just hard work and making sure people never forget you.
“I have no secret,” she said. “I worked 16 hours a day during season.”
She also developed a monthly newsletter that she mailed out to the first eight families living on Barefoot Beach. Her newsletter now reaches 1,358 families, all considering a Florida mortgage loan. “I make sure they never forget me.”
Unlike a lot of fields, Bellina embraces competition. “It’s healthy and I don’t think it’s cutthroat at all,” she said of her Bonita Beach and Barefoot Beach competitors. “We don’t step on each other’s toes. I really think there’s a mutual respect. My ace in the hole has always been the newsletter.”
Bellina also said that it’s her no (baloney) attitude that attract buyers and sellers.
“I tell it like it is,” said Bellina, who was Bluebill Properties top-producer for 16 straight years and the Bonita Springs Board of Realtors top producer for 11 straight years. “I’m honest and consistent and I really think people like to deal with other people who are successful.”
THE BOOM
From 2002 to 2005, it was a very good time to sell real estate in Bonita Springs. For example, Bellina’s sales in 1990 were $2 million. In 2005, her sales figures were $47 million. Florida home loan applications surged.
Even after Hurricane Charley ripped through Southwest Florida, Bellina and others didn’t have a hard time finding property to sell.
“I figured that when Charley came through that was gonna be it — the end of my career,” she said. “But people came back and bought more.”
But the hurricanes kept coming and — at least for Bellina — the home sales didn’t stop. Last year, it wasn’t uncommon to get a listing on Barefoot Beach in the morning and have that house sold by the afternoon, Bellina said.
It’s a different story this year. “In 2005, there were 39 closed sales at the Beach & Tennis Club,” Bellina said. “This year, there was one and it just happened this week.”
According to Bellina, the softening of the Bonita Springs real-estate market began around June 2005.
“The prices kept going up and up,” she said. “I think a lot of people saw how well the sellers were doing (often selling their homes for more than the list price) and they wanted to see if they could do the same this year.”
Bellina also explained that rising property insurance costs and condo maintenance costs have also played a role in the market’s dip.
“A lot of the older people who bought here years ago can no longer afford the cost of living here,” she said.
While Bellina believes that the softening won’t last and that home prices won’t dip below their current figures, she said there hasn’t been a better time to be a buyer than now.
“There’s so much availability,” she said. “It’s really a buyers market.”
It’s been 16 years since Susan Bellina - a Bonita Beach Realtor - didn’t have a closing in sight. And she isn’t alone, as the two-mile stretch down Hickory Boulevard has at least 26 homes for sale at the moment.
“I’ve been with Susie for six years and this is the most I’ve seen in any area,” said Christi Bacon, a licensed real estate assistant to Resort Quest Real Estate’s Bellina.
Bacon said that properties remained on the market for less than a week, and that was just two years ago. A house would go up for sale and be grabbed up the following day. As Florida housing markets weaken, however, Lee County is experiencing similar slow downs at the rest of the state.
For the first time in seven years, the median price of an existing home sold with the help of a Realtor was lower in June than it was a year earlier — $268,000 compared to $281,000 in June 2005, according to data released last week by the Florida Association of Realtors.
Meanwhile, the number of homes for sale in the county has risen dramatically over the past year to more than 12,000 — about three times what it was a year ago. The demand for Florida home loans simply isn’t there, as buyers continue to wait and hope prices drop even further.
According to Wes Brodersen, president of the Bonita Springs Board of Realtors, there is a variety of reasons why so many homes in the Bonita housing market are for sale.
“We were invaded by investors who raised the prices and then left,” he said. The result? A significant buyer’s market.
Bacon believes the main reason people on Bonita Beach are trying to sell their homes is because of property taxes. “There’s a lot of people who have lived there for a long time and they can no longer afford the taxes,” she said.
Other reasons for some of the listings include the recent onslaught of hurricanes, children who have inherited the properties from their parents and now want to sell and rising insurance rates, Bacon said.
Brodersen, however, isn’t so sure.
“I don’t think they are selling them over hurricanes and insurance,” he said. “[Florida home loan rates] are going up and the first of the baby boomers just turned 60. Real estate is always a good investment in the long-term. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the market. It should be more stable in the next six months.”
This is a common view - and it’s one anyone searching for a Florida home loan should find comfort in. No matter how the market appears at the moment, this is one state where purchasing a home is almost always worth the investment.
Jerry Starkey, president and CEO of WCI Communications, spoke on just the popularity of condominum and apartment living at this week’s International Builder’s Show.
“Condos have been the big story in multifamily housing in the past year, representing half the new multifamily units built. They’re likely to continue to be a major factor in many markets.”
For the year ahead, Starkey predicts more and more competition in this part of the industry. An increasing number of condominums is expected to be built and to go onto the market, meaning a substantial increase in inventory.
The focus on Florida
The real estate market of Bonita Springs, Florida, has been just a beautiful as the area itself, with appreciation rates in the double digits for all of last year.
According the Florida Association of Realtors, the selling price of single family homes rose 24 percent in the first quarter of 2005 alone. The median price of a home in May 2005 was $468,000. The average sales price was $693,158, an increase in average selling price over May 2004 of 70 percent.
This, along with the gorgeous climate, has been a draw for many investors.
There is currently a larger inventory of homes for sale than last year at this time, though experts note this is no reason for concern. A rise in inventory is due to several one time factors, including Hurricane Wilma, which came ashore in October. The hurricane’s effects on the market were minimal, however, there was a two-four week period where travel to the area and inquiries certainly slowed. Most experts feel that the hurricane had nominal effects.
Another reason for the rise in inventory: sellers taking advantage of the demand for homes. Early in 2005, the demand for homes strongly outweighed the supply. This is longer the case in areas such as Sarasota.
Overall, the Florida home loan market for condo development has hit some snags recently. More and more lenders have been cutting back on financing for these projects.
