Looking Ahead to 2011

I recently handled a transaction in Fort Myers that I think is very interesting. I had a client with a limited budget that needed to purchase a home for herself. We spent several weeks (4) sorting through the myriad of short sales & Foreclosures and ended up making an offer on a 3/2 1400 sq. ft. Short Sale. What was interesting that while we were waiting to close on the short sale (nearly 2 months) I watched the Lee County market change drastically. What was once an abundant short sale & foreclosure market dried up and supply became minimal. Investors & First Time Buyers were gobbling up property like pop corn. Now I am watching property values there recovering. Lee County started the trend in Florida and I look for it to start spreading as the market is showing signs of recovery on pre-owned homes. In Polk County the signs are there for a marked recovery in 2011. I plan to monitor this progress. Since I now write these articles on a weekly basis I am now posting them regularly on my blog at AdvantageRECInc.com. Feel free to sign in as a follower and I would welcome your thoughts and comments. Also the articles appear ahead of publication in the Ledger.

Polk County Expected to Grow!

I hope you all enjoyed our Thanksgiving Holiday. I thought you might want to have some positive news to help you digest all that turkey! I just came away from our monthly company meeting with an air of optimism. In our meeting it was discussed about the large number of job creation projects that are upcoming for the year 2011. Mosaic’s recent announcement of their resort in the south side of Polk County (already under construction), USF Poly Tech moving ahead with their development as well as some other major projects in the planning stages that soon will be announced to the public. The key to growth is job creation and that really seems to be the direction that Polk County is going. In the last 2 weeks I have seen renewed interest in Commercial Sites that have languished on the market for the last 2 years! It appears that the pent up demand (at least on the commercial side) is being released and that is great news. I for one am looking forward to 2011! This Commercial growth will in turn feed the residential growth as well.

A New Home for the Holidays!

Would you like to treat yourself to a new home for Christmas? I have noticed that phone traffic has slowed down a bit. Most people I talk to are winding down focusing on the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday and looking beyond toward the rest of the Holiday Season. One of my luxury home listing clients even withdrew their listing until after the first of the year. This probably wasn’t a great idea. The fact is the holiday season is a great time to sell your home. There is an abundance of out of state and even out of country buyers who want to spend the holidays in Florida. Once they enjoy our sunny skies and warm temperatures they think strongly about relocating here or at least having a vacation home here. I know it is inconvenient to schedule showings during the Holidays but isn’t selling your home the goal? If you are on the buying side there are some fantastic deals to be had!

Take Advantage of Investment Opportunity

There has been a great deal of concern among Real Estate Investors about properties that were acquired back in 2004 to 2006 and the fact that the values have diminished significantly since they were acquired. In some cases the Rental Rates have declined as well and they are not able to get enough Rent from them to make the payments on the properties. There are some that are considering strategic default but there are others that are taking a much wiser approach. It is not unlike investing in the stock market. If stock prices decline you can either sell your stock and take a loss or you can buy more of the same stock at the reduced rate and blend your losses. Things will not stay bad forever. The same goes for Real Estate. There are many excellent buys in today’s market that you can make a great deal of profit renting them at current market prices and help you “blend” your losses on the properties you already own. It is definitely something to consider. Riding this market out takes guts but rest assured it will recover. Riding it out will have it's rewards.