November 2013

Fort Myers Beach hosts the 27th Annual American Sand Sculpting Championship next week. Beginning November 22nd through December 1st, hundreds from around the World will gather at the Holiday Inn on the southern end of the Beach to concoct whimsical, ornate, and just fun designs in this long honored competition.

This year’s theme is “Go Big or Go Home for the Holidays" will feature solo, duos, and singles and doubles divisions – competing for the top performance arts awards. Ten and twenty-two tons of sand will be used by singles and doubles to create the sand sculptures – promising to be HUGE this year!

Next week’s event is a…

When is the best time to Buy in Southwest Florida? We get this question all the time. After struggling with this question for many years, we took a look at the statistics available to us to see just how much we could "glean"  to answer the question. After looking at the year to date information regarding months of inventory, what is our lowest sale price for each month, what is the trend in sales prices, how many homes sold and their median price, how many new listings come on the market each month, and how many days on market (DOM) did property average until selling, we've found that the market is so rapidly moving we may not be…

Well, the sales report for the Naples-Marco Island MSA (metropolitan statistical area) may contain some disheartening news for buyers and some more welcome news for sellers. Comparing year over year for the same time, the data indicates that prices are dramatically rising, inventory is decreasing, and the time on the market is shortening.

In September of 2012 there were 310 closed sales - in September of 2013, there were 402. There were 545 homes that were listed in 2012 (same month) and 588 in September of 2013. Last year there were 3,215 homes for sale on the market while this year there are 2,541. That's a decrease of 21% from…