The Ellis Team at RE/MAX Realty Group in Fort Myers moves to Keller Williams after 30 years. Our websites and phone numbers all stay the same, only the name on the door and the location changes.
Our new address is:
Ellis Team Keller Williams Fort Myers & The Islands
12480 University Dr
Fort Myers, FL 33907
Sande and Brett Ellis continue to serve the SW Florida real estate market and look forward to helping you with your real estate needs. Our team remains the same. We have buyer specialists on the team to help you find your property in paradise and Brett and Sande list, sell, and negotiate contracts. The Ellis team are leads in the SW Florida real estate market and employ dynamic and unique ways to get your home sold.
If you’re thinking about selling Always Call the Ellis Team! We have developed a marketing system so unique you have to see it to believe. Our listings are selling 19.7% faster than the average agent and for 3.02% more than the average agent. That’s real money in your pocket at closing.
We can coordinate the sale of your home and help you find a new home if you’re staying in the Lee or Collier County area. We also have a moving truck you can use for free.
If you’re thinking of making a move you might be interested in our Market Reports section on our website. There you will find a list of active properties, pending sales, and sold properties in the last 6 months in your neighborhood. If you don’t see your neighborhood listed you can always do a custom search and save it. The site calculates time on market, average price per square foot, and lets you look at each listing along with a photo gallery of each comparable. Sellers find this tool an invaluable asset.
You can also get a Free online computerized home evaluation of your home. Of course, if you’re serious about selling your home, Sande or Brett will be happy to visit your home and give you a more detailed analysis.
We look forward to serving all your SW Florida real estate needs.
Tomorrow we’ll be releasing some interesting statistics on our Topagent Blog about single family home inventory levels in SW Florida. Basically inventory levels rose in March, April, May and June which allowed pending sales to increase in June and July.
Brett Ellis to Attend CyberStars Conference in Las Vegas
Brett Ellis will be attending the CyberStars conference in Las Vegas next week. The CyberStars are a group of technology focused top agents from across the country that share ideas on improving communication with clients, using technology to market properties, and increasing efficiency in the real estate industry. The CyberStars is an elite group of agents and minimum production standards must be met as well as using technology prominently in the agent’s business.
We welcome your comments and suggestion for news article. Our article are posted online in our Blog and in the News Press Homeseeker each Saturday. Just post a comment on anything you’d like us to cover.
Local numbers were just released and June 2014 single family home sales were up 8.1% over last year with a median sales price of $200,000. That’s up from $185,000 last year and up from $195,000 last month.
SW Florida Real Estate Single Family Home Sales
Average SW Florida home prices have been holding steady all year around $300,000, bouncing between $299,000 and $319,000. Median prices are definitely up for the year while average sale prices are level.
Listing inventory is falling as it usually does this time of year, however it is up from last year about 5%. This is a positive sign and indicative of a healthy market. There will always be a level of homes that never sell because they are priced too high for what they offer. Having more inventory creates visible competition for sellers. When prices outpace the market, buyers shut off like a hose spicket. We have not seen that, but there is invisible competition coming to the market some sellers may not be aware of.
SW Florida Real Estate Market Listing Inventory July 2014
We’ve been warning sellers for months that new home inventory is arriving. Builders have been ramping up and we know of many new homes coming to the market and available starting in September. These new homes will add to the inventory, but they won’t show up in the numbers. Sellers won’t necessarily know about them, but buyers will.
Nationally inventories are at their highest levels in over a year which is tempering price gains. We could see the same here in SW Florida heading into next year. What’s different in SW Florida versus the rest of the country is the economy. Locally we have positive driving forces. Companies are hiring and relocating here. Bringing higher paying jobs to SW Florida helps our median income. Nationwide, wages are stagnant which keeps a lid on rising prices.
Traditionally SW Florida fares well against the national real estate market, although it does affect us to some extent. Some people need to sell up North before buying here. In the past 7 years or so SW Florida trailed the national market, so it’s kind of refreshing to lead again.
Rising inventory is leading to increased sales. We always said if we had more inventory we could surely sell it, assuming it’s fairly priced inventory. If a home is priced over the market then it’s not really on the market. We wish there was an index of inventory levels of correctly priced homes.
Several years ago we invented the Current Market Index which accurately predicts home sales going forward. We’re working on a new index that measures inventory levels by price so we can determine how much of the current available inventory is actually on the market and how much is over the market and not truly available.
Next season buyers will have choices between existing homes and new homes built and ready for delivery. We’ll be watching to see if builders can keep up the pace with delivery homes versus building on contract for a buyer. The bottom line is this will cause sellers who wish to sell an existing home to be competitive.
Builders can offer a new never lived in home with new features, but they can’t always offer the same location. There will always be a premium for location, i.e. west of 41 and closer to the beaches. Many new communities are inland so the land costs will be less.
As always, if you want to sell you’ve got to price it correctly. Many sellers are choosing to sell and purchase something else that fits their needs better today. Interest rates are still low so it makes sense to do it now. When rates change, some sellers may not want to make the move because the new home will cost more to finance.
The bottom line is the SW Florida real estate market is healthy and more balanced and our economy is good. We’ll keep an eye on shifting forces and see which way it directs SW Florida home prices and by how much.
Good luck and Happy House Hunting!
View our July 2014 SW Florida Real Estate Market Update
To view our Listings in Hi Definition, visit www.HomesinHD.TV or click on our playlist below
For Sale By Owners are at a big disadvantage and it’s not really the seller’s fault. There are several reasons why it’s hard to sell a home By Owner. The number one factor is Fear. Buyers have a fear about the process of buying a home and without an agent all those fears bubble up. They fear they don’t know the area as well as the seller. They don’t know the neighbors. Buyers may not know the schools, etc. They don’t usually know how to structure a contract, and they don’t know financing. Buyers have never lived in the home, but the seller has. Buyers feel at a big disadvantage, so their fear leads them to the second biggest issue, which is trust. Buyers become skeptical because they realize they’re not holding many of the knowledge cards; the seller is. The seller knows much more about the home and the neighbors than the buyer. There isn’t an agent as a go-between so there is a lack of trust. This lack of trust is born out of fear.
Pitfalls of Selling By Owner
When you have fear and lack of trust, any potential transaction is shaky at best. The seller has fear and trust issues too. The seller also does not understand financing, insurance, etc. The seller is fearful that the buyer may not be able to qualify or is telling them the whole story. There is no agent to verify certain facts, so the seller must ask the tough questions themselves. Buyers don’t like to divulge confidential financial information to the seller as they would a seasoned professional like an agent. Buyers trust their agent; they don’t trust a seller they don’t know. The seller doesn’t trust a buyer they don’t know, and there begins the cycle of distrust, which elevates fear. Buyers and sellers don’t negotiate with other buyers and sellers everyday, all day long. The questions they do ask come across as personal, so they get evasive answers. Buyers and sellers treat each other at arms length because they know whatever they say could be used against them in the course of negotiation. Some buyers and sellers get cute and try to Buffalo their way with the other side. Even if they are better Buffalos, the other side typically reads they’re not getting the whole story. Complex issues arise in a transaction. Inspection issues can be sticky, not to mention insurance, survey, financing, HOA, and past permit issues, to name just a few.
For Sale By Owners Net Less Money at Closing
Recent studies have shown For Sale By Owners sell on average for 12% less than what a Realtor gets for a home. The only way a buyer would buy a For Sale By Owner is if they can save the commission and buy it under market. If they have to do all the work themselves and face that fear on their own without the help of an agent, they better get a bargain. However, the reason a seller wishes to sell By Owner is to also save the commission. Both the buyer and seller cannot save the same commission. If the seller is going to take the time to show it, advertise it, make signs, place ads, and pre-qualify each buyer they better get more than fair market value for their efforts. They must fight bank appraisers and they have nobody in their corner if they get a bad appraisal. They just lose another deal. So if sellers get on average 12% less for a home, why would they try on their own? A leading For Sale By Owner company CEO recently sold his home through a Realtor. If their company is so great, why did he resort to hiring a Realtor? Every seller wishes to maximize their bottom line but selling By Owner isn’t it. If it was easy everyone would do it. Not only is there a cost to taking less, there’s also a cost for losing deals and selling it over and over. And doing it all yourself can get discouraging. Buyers and sellers are also emotional. They don’t have a 3rd party intermediary keeping things real. Facts and logic get blurred and they can convince themselves of almost anything. If you’re thinking of buying or selling, do yourself a favor and hire a good agent. You can do it right the first time, or do it the hard way and try on your own. Hey, you might get lucky, but then again, it could turn out badly. It’s your choice. We don’t see a lot of FSBO’s today but they will always exist. We hope this article helps you analyze your options. Good luck and Happy House Hunting! View our July 2014 SW Florida Real Estate Market Update To view our Listings in Hi Definition, visit www.HomesinHD.TV or click on our playlist below Visit our Google+ Business Page Feel free to view our Virtual Tours . By Brett Ellis Fort Myers Real Estate Agent 7910 Summerlin Lakes Dr Fort Myers, FL 33907
The Fort Myers real estate market shows continued signs of improvement. Recently we posted an article we write for the Fort Myers News Press over on our Top Agent Blog entitled SW Florida Real Estate Market is an Inventory Driven Market.
We’ve been tracking the months supply if inventory for the Fort Myers and Cape Coral real estate markets and we’re seeing inventory levels declining throughout 2014. This is a good sign for a recovering market, however it is limiting sales.
Sellers Beware:
We’re actually seeing buyers turning off to resales and going with new construction. Fort Myers home prices have rebounded enough such that home builders can now afford to build again. Prices have been rising steadily the past few years. Many SW Florida home sellers don’t realize that home builders will be their new competition.
Single family home inventory stands at 5,540 which is a touch higher than it was in 2013 but is still low. We could sell many more homes if they were on the market right now, especially in the $300,000 range and less.
Fort Myers Real Estate Market:
The Cape Coral and Fort Myers real estate markets are doing substantially better than the Lehigh Acres market, where prices have not risen as much.
If you’d like to view Ellis Team Featured Listings just click on the link. We’re always looking to add more quality listings to the market but it’s difficult to keep them because our marketing generates buyers if they are priced correctly.
We’ve created a special page dedicate to Fort Myers real estate you might find interesting. We’ll be adding to this page on a regular basis as well.
You might find this handy map search helpful searching the MLS.
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