Fort Myers Housing Market Nearing Bottom, according to Zillow.com

We have great news that hit USA Today's front page today for Fort Myers Real Estate. According to the article in USA Today, Fort Myers Real Estate is one of six cities in America that have gone through the worst part of the foreclosure and mortgage crisis that took America by surprise in 2006 through today. The foreclosure filings in Lee County have dropped some 28% in a year and the inventory available to purchase has decreased by 52%, according to the article. What does that mean for Suzy Q HomeOwner and Joe Smith Home buyer? If Joe is an end user who will move into the property as his primary residence and stay in the home for years to come, then his choices for availability are limited. It used to be that Joe Smith Home Buyer could see 20 homes in a day and love 2 or 3 of them put an offer in and purchase it that day. Today if Joe Smith Home Buyer is able to see 5 homes a day or 10 in a month, because inventory is so low and one of them he sees hits 7 out of 10 wishes on his wish list, well then he better pick it up. If he doesn't he is likely to purchase something with only 6 out of 10 items on his wish list or worse yet, might only get 50% of his wishes. When searching for your dream house there are many things to consider so please buyer, visit my son's blog finding that Dream House. Now, if you are Suzy Q Home Seller, today's news couldn't be better!! For sellers who have tried to compete with the REO market only to learn that lenders hate real estate and they hate not selling it in under 30 days and they are motivated beyond all reason to lower the price to get it sold, well that price competition is moving out of the way for Suzy Q Home Seller. If you considered selling your home this past year but thought better to wait, I commend you and say your wait could soon be over. Does this mean Fort Myers Real Estate is going to rebound and recover in the next 12 months? I predict it will "recover" in that people who want to sell can sell and people who want to buy will still be out there, but in terms of gaining prices back that we say in the 2005, that will still be years down the road, in fact my son wrote a blog on that as well.

Real Estate Investor Round Table Discussion

The other night Entrust Freedom had a great after hours meeting at their new location 1520 Royal Palm Sq #320 Fort Myers FL. By the way, I must say; beautiful new offices in Fort Myers, congrats on the upgrade. Entrust had a half dozen real estate experts present reasons why now is a good time to buy and invest in Southwest Florida. Entrust Freedom offers a self-direct IRA which allow you to invest your IRA money into real estate essentially tax free. Opps, I better say, “I am not a tax advisor, nor is any info in my blog tax advice, you should consult your accountant.” However I am a client of Entrust Freedom and have been purchasing real estate with my IRA for a couple years now. What a growth in assets I have seen even in this difficult market we are in. The meeting was amazing, there were well over 30 folks around the conference table from a vast array of knowledge bases, in real estate. At the table there were investors, contractors, realtors, and financers all who are very successful in their own rights. What I thought was amazing, besides the presentations by Ravenwood Homes, Great job guys, was the articles Dave had printed off that night from WSJ.

One article, “Home Affordability Returns to Pre-Bubble Levels, if you want more, read my son’s opinion. The other article was “Cash Buyers Lift Housing.” It was amazing that Nationally all cash transactions hit 28% in 2010. This goes to say that people are out there buying and they have the ability to purchase like no other time before. Many of these cash buyers were taking money out of their stock portfolio and looking for gains from rents collected on real estate. Rent prices have not dropped too far in Cape Coral and Fort Myers and Lehigh Acres, so a purchaser can often get returns greater than 12%, for me that is great. I am one of the many baby boomers that have seen my stock portfolio take a huge hit, so I too have chosen real estate as a safer investment with a better ROI than I have seen in stocks. If you are considering like the 30 plus professionals in the room to invest in real estate in 2011 and want some good advice, good service, and someone with a keen eye on details email me today. My son and I are working as a team researching great foreclosure opportunities for rent and hold, and every now and then buy and flip. Long term the hold will prove to be more profitable is my opinion.

PREPARING YOUR HOME FOR SALE

With our market slowly coming out of its slump, it is time for you to start thinking about the preparation of your home if you wish to sell it without a short sale or foreclosure.

Hire an Agent.

Now is not the time to try to sell your home on your own. You need a real estate professional like Just Right Realty Company to help you price your house, do open houses; we hire the professional photographer for you and also for us for brochures.

Curb Appeal.

Make sure your house looks excellent from the outside as well as from the inside. Drive by your home a couple of times, stop and view it to make sure it looks excellent from the curb. Landscaping is a very cost effective way of making a property look fantastic from the curb. If your buyer does not like the looks of it from the outside, they will not even enter the inside to take a look at it.

Clean the Area.

One of the easiest ways to have your house looking great from the curb is to haul away all of the trash. The trash also includes any material left over from anything you built or whatever is lying around your yard. Get rid of all of the old swings etc. that you are not going to be using. In this same vein, get rid of all of the excess clutter in your house and make it as appealing as possible. A clean house sells.

Fix everything.

You need to repair any broken joints or cracks in the walls. If there is anything that needs fixing, be sure you have a handyman or you; yourself fix all that is necessary to be fixed. Painting is one of the least expensive and best ways to make a house look bright and shiny. If you are an excellent painter, you can do it yourself but if you are like me, it would be important for you to hire a professional to paint your home. Painting the interior will dramatically increase the value of your home and if the exterior needs it, it will be necessary to paint that as well.

Home Staging.

Last, but not least, maybe it’s time to hire a professional stager to really increase the value of your home. It is hard for the individual who has lived in that house a while to see it and they sometimes need a stranger to help them see it. This stranger should be a professional re-stager.

Be sure to hire professionally licensed contractors etc. to help you make your home stand out. You can check with the Better Business Bureau and call references before hiring anyone to do any of the work in your home. Just Right Realty Company has a list of these contractors that we have used before and can help you with the hiring of anyone you need. We have an “in house” handyman who we guarantee his work and can get him to your property at the time you want him there. The timing certainly seems to be a factor in Southwest Florida. While you are getting the work done and re-staging the home for the sale, we can take a ride out on Revelry to catch fish, dive, or just have a great day of a beautiful boat ride.

Have a great day in Paradise!

Jerry Ruzicka, Broker

Southwest Florida Housing Market Has Bottomed Out!!

I have great news to share...Everywhere on national news you hear about the housing market taking another dip in the year 2011, as high as an additional 15%. That does not appear to be the case in Southwest Florida. The prices in our market have actually shown an increase for the last 1 ½ years. National articles show that prices in all the major markets are declining except in Southwest Florida. NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY! Our inventory of foreclosures and short sales is decreasing, therefore investors and first time homebuyers should be taking advantage of the existing inventory of homes for sale that are all below replacement cost. The actual median home prices rose 3.65% from 2009 to 2010. Unfortunately the area is perceived as still being depressed. This is because we were in the top 5 of foreclosure sales for such a long period of time. That number has risen from being in 4^th place to now being in 54^th place in foreclosure sales. This area is a HOT REAL ESTATE MARKET. Our single family housing permits increased by 23% in 2010. Another great showing of positive activity is that we have steadily decreasing unemployment rates in the area. Also, for January 2011 our foreclosure numbers fell significantly. Lee County has dropped to 19^th in the state for foreclosure filings. One home of every 428 borrowers were foreclosed, a decrease of 35.4% from December 2010 and a decrease of 71.74% when compared to January 2010. Collier County had a decrease of 37.99% compared to December 2010 and a decrease of 72.6% from January 2010.

You all come on down and take advantage of the existing inventory of low priced homes. After you get through looking for your dream home, or your second vacation home, we can take a ride on “Revelry” and catch some fish or do a great dive.

It’s a great day in “Paradise”.

CITY OF CAPE CORAL CODE ENFORCEMENT OVERVIEW

I feel very fortunate to have been able to attend a Code Enforcement overview given by Frank Cassidy. Frank has been the Division Manager for the City of Cape Coral’s Code Compliance Division since February 2007. Frank holds many certifications as well as being

a former law enforcement officer in Southern California and he also holds a Bachelors Degree with Honors from Florida Gulf Coast University. The meeting with Frank was held on Tuesday, February 15, 2011.

Code Enforcement stands for voluntary compliance to our rules and regulations. Code Enforcement does have the power to levy fines but it is non productive. Their entire purpose is to have the City of Cape Coral community work together so that we can all live in the “Paradise” that we have come to know as Cape Coral. The staff and organization of Code Enforcement today is 34 officers. Their goal is to have us work together for the betterment for the community. They have a huge task as a result of the short sales and foreclosures. There are 65,000 housing units in Cape Coral and thus far, 40,000 of them have been in foreclosure or short sale. Code Enforcement must strive to get the community to maintain these properties so we do not have blight overlooking our city.

The following are some of the common violations that can occur:

· You are allowed to store a boat in your back yard as long as it is licensed and operable. The boat must be stored between the end of your building structure and your lot line.

· If you own the vacant lot next to you and you strap that vacant lot to your property, you are allowed to use that vacant lot for storage as well.·

You are allowed to get a permit to park your RV for 3 days if you are the owner of the RV.

· You are allowed to get a permit for 10 days which is owned by an out of town guest.

· There are no costs for either of these permits.

· There are no rules or regulations regarding parked cars. Cars are allowed to be parked anywhere on your property.

· Utility trailers are not allowed to be parked anywhere on your property or on the vacant lots.

· A-Frame signs and realtor signs are allowed but there is a size limit.

· You are allowed to plant in right of ways as long as you contact the City of Cape Coral and get approval on what you wish to plant in that right of way.

The distressed sales have declined to 62% of the total. 35% of the totals are short sales and foreclosures so far in 2011. This compares with 2009 where 73% were short sales and foreclosures. By

getting these properties sold and in the hands of owners, it helps Code Enforcement because the owners will take care of their properties.

Just Right Realty Company will be happy to help you with your short sales and foreclosures. We have a very good history of receiving waivers for judgment deficiencies on our client’s short sales. Please contact Jerry if we can be of any help to you in selling or buying real estate.

HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Jerry Ruzicka

jerry@jrrc1.com

239-337-7387

http://www.justrightrealtyco.com/

http://www.capecoral.net/