Cape Coral Real Estate

Cape Coral, Florida – update on the current real estate market

Cape Coral residential property update

Cape Coral is a city located in SW Florida. You may already be familiar with the city, even live here but if you are not from the area you may have heard of the city but were not quite for sure what is actually going on there an what it is like.

Cape Coral is often times called a ‘waterfront wonderland’ due to the miles and miles of navigable canals. The city of Cape Coral contains nearly as many canals as it has roadways! Many homeowners keep their boats at their own private docks right in their own backyard!

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In the early 2000s property values really started to increase in Cape Coral. There was great growth and new development in the area. Values were literally increasing 20-40% year over year in 2003-2005.

Today the values are back down considerably. There are areas that are distressed. We have quite a few short sales and foreclosures here in Cape Coral. This makes for a great opportunity for home buyers and investors alike.

Are properties selling? YES! Most of the houses listed below $100,000 that are priced right are going under contract (pending sale) within 30 days. If it is a bank owned or regular sale it usually closes within 30-45 days. If it is a short sale it could be anywhere from 60-180 days – sometimes even longer! Some houses are listed at market value, some are listed too high and some are even listed too low. When houses here are listed too low they end up selling for more than the list price with a multiple offer / bidding situation. The ones that are listed too high can sit on the market unnoticed for many months.

Buyers are looking for great deals right now and don’t usually look much higher than their budgets. At times a great home can be purchased for lower than market value if you can find something that others aren’t seeing. Maybe it has high days on market, maybe it was over priced, maybe it needs work, etc.  Having an experienced real estate agent to help you through this process is critical. In most cases it does not cost the buyer anything to have a real estate working with them.

I created the following video recently to go over the different price points for houses in Cape Coral to give you an idea of what the current Cape Coral real estate market value truly has to offer!

Are you a buyer looking for a house or an investor wondering what real property makes sense for your portfolio? You can always reach us directly at (239) 542-8521 or email me at Susan@SusanMilner.com. But if you want to look at properties right now from your own computer you can visit our free online search.

Cape Coral real estate search

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Cape Coral Gulf Access

Cape Coral Gulf Access homes make great second homes.

What will a second home in SW Florida cost?

As the prices of homes in SW Florida are, can we say, more than affordable, many people across the U.S. and abroad (especially Europe and Canada) are entertaining the possibility of a second home. The biggest question on everyone’s mind is “What will it cost me?” Obviously it is pretty easy to find the listing prices of Cape Coral homes online but to truly understand what the ‘cost’ will be can take doing some research. In this article I will go over the basic costs you can expect to pay when investing in a second home here in beautiful Cape Coral or Ft. Myers, Florida.

First to consider: Cost of Money

Are you planning to pay cash or do you plan to get a mortgage for some of the purchase price? If you plan to pay cash make sure that you are comfortable with the rate of return on your investment. You may wish to consider getting a loan for some of the purchase to keep more capital for other investments (more houses, or?).

If you are going to obtain financing make sure you determine which loan is best for you and your needs. Most investment properties will require 20-25% down. If you are Foreign National you must be prepared to put down at least 30% in most cases. You can also attempt to receive a loan from your country as well. The rates will be lower but you may have to put up your current home as collateral (borrow against your equity). Some second homes may be purchased with less money down. But your payments will be much lower with the more money you put down on your purchase.

For comparison purposes here let’s look at a sample waterfront listing. The current asking price is $375,000. Let’s assume that you plan to put down 25%. This means that you will be putting a down payment of $93,750. Here is an estimate of closing costs:

Taxes: $ 6,422.24*

Loan fees: $3,846
Prepaid taxes & insurance: $5,778

Total costs to close: $103,374.

• from current 2009 tax bill – properties are reassessed every year here so this could change. Currently this home is assessed at $374,230. Please also note that taxes are NOT higher for non-residents. But full time residents are eligible for exemptions.

To find insurance companies who are still readily writing homeowners insurance in the state of Florida visit www.ShopandCompareRates.com

You can verify tax information online at www.LeePA.org

Next we need to figure maintenance. You will have an electric charge and probably a water bill as well. Let’s assume that you are not here full time and so we’ll estimate these charges on the ‘low’ side.

Monthly Bills
Electricity $200-400
Water $ 50-150
Lawn $ 75-100
Pool $ 75-100
Alarm $ 20-50

You may also wish to hire a maintenance company to handle all of this. They will have their own crews to handle lawn, pool, cleaning, repairs, etc. They charge anywhere from $50-500 per month above the charges listed above.

You can also have the property rented out during the months you will not be visiting if you’d like to offset the costs. Rental rates very depending upon location and whether we are talking about in or out of ‘season’. You can pay anywhere from 5-15% for property management assistance. This fee is generally deducted directly from your monthly rental income.

Keep in mind that these are estimates and that the real charges could be higher or lower.

Our professional real estate agents can walk you through this process and assist you in determining what makes sense for your needs and wants.

Ready to search for available homes now? Visit our Cape Coral real estate source!

We look forward to hearing from you! If you have any questions at all give us a call!

(239) 542-8521

Susan@SusanMilner.com

Cape Coral residents could possibly get another property tax
decrease this year, if the proposed budget is adopted.  The city
council has promised along with the decrease in taxes no services will
be eliminated, or no layoffs expected.  Cape Coral experienced a
15% decrease last year because of falling home prices.  The home
values have continued to drop this year so we are expecting once again,
another decrease in taxes. The millage rate could be changed accordingly
though.

The Cape Coral city council will set a maximum tax rate on July 26^th
2010 further tax cuts may be adopted before the final budget decision
in September 2010, and become effective October 1, 2010.  We are
hopeful that this new budget will help our Cape Coral residents in an
unstable economy.

This new budget comes as relief to home owners who can not afford
higher monthly payouts, or prospective home buyers needing to stay
within a specific budget.

Cape Coral is a wonderful and affordable place to live and work, we
hope that the low taxes and beautiful surroundings will continue to
attract people to our area.

Yours in Success,

The Florida Future Realty Team

Florida Future Realty, Inc

Search Cape Coral real estate

Florida real estate agents

www.SusanMilner.com

(239) 542-8521

copyright 2010  Florida Future Realty, Inc.

Here in Cape Coral FL, we have many homes for sale, whether it is a
traditional sale due to relocation, upgrading, or downsizing, or the
many being sold due to foreclosure, or short sale.   Has the
economy influenced the rate at which homes are selling, as portrayed by
the media? Or, are more people buying because home prices continue to be
discounted, and offered much more economically than in past
years?  Here are the statistics below:

Homes priced from
$0 to $150,000

1^st and 2^nd quarter of 09′ combined, the number
of sold properties were 3,159.

1^st and 2^nd quarter of 10′ combined, the number
of sold properties were 2,778.

Homes priced from
$150,000 and above

1^st and 2^nd quarter of 09′ combined, the number
of sold properties were 868.

1^st and 2^nd quarter of 10′ combined, the number
of sold properties were 806.

What we can gather from this information, is that home sales have
remained virtually unchanged from this year to last.  The media
likes to negatively portray our areas real estate market as being on a
downward cycle, but the reality is that we are selling homes.  The
very slight decrease from last year’s is most likely due to the slightly
longer than normal negotiation times associated with bank owned
properties and short sales.

It is certainly a great time to buy, homes are offered at huge
discounts from the preceding years, interest rates continue to be at
some of the lowest levels ever offered, and financial institutions are
loaning money more freely again.

If you thought living in Florida was just a pipe dream, it could be
your reality.  If you are interested in searching for a new home
take advantage of our user-friendly home search.

<a href=”http://www.florida-future-realty.com/real-estate-home-search”>Cape Coral real estate </a> search.
or call us to speak with one of our knowledgeable agents.  We look
forward to helping you with your real estate needs.

Yours in Success,

The Florida Future Realty Team

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real estate </a>

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inquiry@FloridaFutureAgents.com

Congress just passed yet again another extension to the first time
and repeat home buyer tax credits.  The tax credits allow up to
8,000 to new home buyers and up to 6,500 to repeat home buyers.
The former bill stated that a valid contract must be entered into by
April 30, 2010 and closed on or before June 30, 2010.

The new bill allows for a little breathing room to buyers who are
involved with the arduous process of short sales and banked owned
foreclosures, there are many of these properties available in today’s
market and are offered at a discounted rates which makes them a
desirable.  These types of transactions are known to take quite a
bit longer than traditional real estate sales transactions to
complete.

This new bill allows for all contracts entered into by April 30, 2010
can now be closed on or before September 30, 2010 and still be eligible
for the tax credits.  The new bill
doesn’t grant any new tax credits it
only extends the deadline in which the transaction can be closed.

Home buyers and investors that have been involved in long
bank negotiations can still reap the benefits of these generous tax
incentives.  This extension will allow buyers the opportunity to
purchase a home or investment property they may have not been able to
otherwise.

If you would like more information about the first time and repeat
home buyers tax incentives please follow this link : Cape Coral tax credits

If we can help in anyway please don’t hesitate to call.

Yours in Success,

The Florida Future Realty Team

Florida Future Realty, Inc

Search Cape Coral real estate

Florida real estate agents

(239) 542-8521

copyright 2010  Florida Future Realty, Inc.