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The Tide Has Turned!
Four years ago, buyers, sellers and Realtors on Sanibel & Captiva didn’t know what had just happened. The real estate bubble had burst, but nobody recognized the signs or wanted to accept a change. We held onto the idea that Sanibel is insulated from the real world by a three mile causeway. Now, entering our fifth year of a declining market, many are wondering when we will hit the bottom.
If we couldn’t recognize the top, chances are we won’t know when we’re at the bottom. However, there are many positive signs out there which indicate we have hit equilibrium through a recent recalibration in values. The number of buyers searching for real estate during our peak season was tremendous and on par with each of the past years since I started in the business in 2001. However, they were searching for those rare deals which they could brag about to their friends. Buyers scoured the listing database looking for foreclosures, short sales and sellers who were just plain ready to move on. Many aggressively low offers written much to the chagrin of the real estate agents were getting favorable responses from the motivated property owners. Sellers had tough decisions to make in this true “Buyers Market”. Who would have ever guessed that an acre of beachfront land on Sanibel would sell for under $2,000,000? If you had known you could have purchased a three bedroom home built on Sanibel in 2002 for under $400,000, would you have jumped in? So as we close out our busy season of 2010, we look back and see that 70 single family homes and 71 condos closed or went under contract on Sanibel and Captiva between January 1st, and April 10th 2010. These numbers represent almost a 50% increase over the same time frame in 2009.
The reality for many is that the average sales price is still in the declining mode. An astute statistician can recognize that this is most likely due to the fact that the lower priced and underpriced listings are actually skewing the average. There are still more than 280 homeowners and 240 condo owners wondering what they need to do to sell their properties currently on the market. “Price, Price, Price” has replaced “Location, Location, Location”. Our current market contains almost a two years inventory of houses for sale and a three year inventory of condos for sale.
As we head into the summer months, many sellers think that buyers from up north will lose their motivation. This will not be the case, as the tide has turned. As the weeks unfold, buyers may find themselves “racing the clock” to purchase one of these great deals available now in what is potentially the best buying opportunity of our lifetime. Everything goes in cycles. Prices will go back up as there is not another place in Florida with such a strict Land Development Code prohibiting development on two-thirds of the island. Interest rates will begin to climb. Hindsight will always be 20-20. However, if you stay focused, you will be able to find a great deal for yourself.
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