Naples FL Home Buyers – Seller’s Market, Buyer’s Market or Transitional

tran·si·tion/tranˈziSHən

The process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another.

Is our Naples area real estate market in transition? Lots of people toss around catch phrases like “shrinking inventory”, we see listing price increases in certain select situations and there are anecdotal stories of multiple offers which may or may not enlighten the buyers that our market has changed over the last year.  Real estate is not “rocket science”, as they say – however, our market area is different in several significant ways from real estate markets up north.  The simple answer to the question is, “Yes. The real estate market is in transition.”

Our real estate market area is hyper localized and there are areas, pockets and communities which are separated just slightly geographically but, vary greatly in market conditions.  Currently, we have areas which are transitioning to more of a seller’s market while other areas might still be suffering.  There are some constants regardless of which way the pendulum is swinging – towards the buyers or in the favor of the sellers.  Let’s consider some facts to help weave through a market in transition:

• The real estate market is quite different west of Route 41 (which are homes within 2 miles to beach).
• The market is different for single family homes versus condominiums.
• Supply and demand is the most important factor in any real estate market and is different from one community to another.  So the term localised applies more than anywhere else.
• The motivation of many sellers in the Naples and Bonita Springs real estate market is not what the buyers might have  experienced up north.  Over 60% of homes are owned clear and free, and many bring a considerable rental income as a vacation rental for its owners, so seller’s motivation varies dramatically from one seller to another. dramatically.
• Only written offers are meaningful.  Verbal offers are worthless.
• Prices are down from the two bubble years of 2004 & 2005.  However, the days of “stealing property” are gone.
• Cash is king when it comes to negotiation. Also, regardless of price range, our real estate market area sees more than 50% of closed sales settled in cash.
• There has been a dramatic decrease of homes on the market for sale.  Although at lower average prices, there were more real estate transactions in 2011 than either one of the bubble years.

Buyers and sellers have more access to real estate information than ever before through the internet. If they care to become educated in a particular neighborhood, the data is there to be knowledgeable. Particularly in a transitional real estate market, it’s the interpretation of the information that becomes critical and the guidance of an expert is important. On either side of the fence, you need a Realtor® who has a finger on the pulse of the market at any given moment. When the market heavily favors the buyers or the sellers, it’s much easier to gauge things and much more obvious that the pendulum has swung in one direction or another. In our real estate market area, too many factors influence the sales activity and sale prices.we have enough factors that influence things – geographic and otherwise – to demand expert advice without the added dimension of a transitional market.