I wrote a post prior to season this year in Southwest Florida about how the Luxury Florida real estate market appeared to finally be ready to burst its bubble too. Well, it seems like many high end sellers also came to the realization they would have to give in on price in order to sell their properties.

Let’s take a look at how things have shaken out.

All Property Sales $1 Million – $2 Million

Luxury Home and Condominium Sales:

• 198 Closed Sales (133 in 2009)
• Average Sales Price – $1,389,617
• Median Sales Price – $1,350,000
• Average Days on Market – 231
• Average Sales Price/Square Foot – $448.81
• Average List to Sales Price – 87%

Continue Reading Luxury Florida Real Estate Sales Finally Breaking Out

Tags: Florida, living, luxury, markets, real estate

Mangrove forest is the most extensive natural marine vegetation lining the coastal habitat in Southwest Florida. Most visitors notice them right away – large, green, leafy trees that dominate the shoreline. And, even though many folks consider them undesirable, they are a symbol for the area and are now protected by Florida law.

There are three species that are native to Florida: red, black and white mangroves. Each has adapted uniquely to thrive in and around salt water. Red mangrove is the most common and is easily recognized by its large tangled mass of reddish color roots. They provide necessary support for the tree and along with their sprawling canopies, offer important habitat for numerous birds, fish and invertebrates. Although less common, white and black mangroves distinguish themselves by their massive height, 50 feet or more in many cases. Many impressive strands can be found from Naples south to the Ten Thousand Islands area, known to be one of the few pristine mangrove forested estuaries in the entire county.

Continue Reading Mangrove Forests Line SW Florida Coastal Region

Tags: Florida, living, parks

We are often asked about where our clients can play a round of golf while they are here visiting Southwest Florida. To that end, we are providing the following list of golf courses that are open to the public for play.

A few of them are located in some of our most sought after communities including Lely Resort, Miromar Lakes and Tiburon. In addition, many of the area’s other golf clubs will also allow for play by those individuals interested in purchasing a home within their host community.

Local SW Florida Public Golf Courses:

Bonita Bay East Golf: 239-353-5100

Cypress Woods Golf: 239-592-7860

Heritage Bay Golf: 239-353-2561

Hibiscus Golf Club: 239-596-1000

Lely Flamingo Island Club: 239-793-2223

Continue Reading Local Public Golf Courses

Tags: living, SW Florida

In a recently released 2010 report compiled by PNC Financial Services and IHS Global Insight, the Naples real estate market ranks as the 15th most undervalued housing market in the country. That’s quite a change from just four years ago, when the city had the dubious rank as the No.1 most overvalued market among the nearly 300 reviewed in the study.

According to the report, “Naples real estate now sells at a 29% discount and the median home price is just $165,000, down from more than $390,000″ at its peak, when almost 84% of the homes were considered being valued at above fair market price. Today, Atlantic City, NJ is now ranked No.1 as the most overvalued metro area and Las Vegas is considered the most undervalued, having homes now selling for about 41% below fair market value. Two other Florida cities also made it very close to the top of the list as being undervalued. Vero Beach came in at No. 2 and the Cape Coral real estate market came in ranked No.5.

Continue Reading Naples Real Estate Values – A Tale of Extremes

Tags: living, markets

The Bonita Springs City Council has agreed to keep its tax rate the same as last year. The 2009 tax rate will be 82.73 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. That’s great news for Bonita Springs homeowners, who will likely see a 17% decrease in their property taxes.

When you add in the fact that the Lee County Property Tax Rates are also going to remain unchanged, 2009 is going to bring a welcome relief to area residents stung by recent years rising real estate taxes.

In addition, both the City Council and the County Commissioners reduced spending accordingly in order to make up for the short fall in tax revenues. Fortunately, both groups were able to focus their cuts on areas that will not decrease services or have a major impact on residents in general.

Continue Reading Bonita Springs Property Tax Rate to Remain Unchanged

Tags: living, real estate, taxes