Marco Island Real Estate: May 2018

Monday, May 28, 2018

Marco Island Real Estate Stats and Commentary - April 2018

The following stats compare April 2018 to April 2017.

Sold Single Family Homes UP 7% (47 vs 44)

Sold Condominiums DOWN 2% (56 vs 57)

Sold Single Family Vacant Lots DOWN 23% (10 vs 13)

Pending Single Family Homes UP 8% (64 vs 59)

Pending Condominiums UP 35% (65 vs 48)

Pending Single Family Vacant Lots DOWN 12% (15 vs 17)

(Pending means it went under contract but has not closed yet)

Inventory:

301 Single Family Homes ( DOWN 19% from 2017)

371 Condominiums ( DOWN 7% from 2017)

297 Single Family Vacant Lots (DOWN 6% from 2017)

969 Total

Summary:

A total of $90 Million dollars worth of real estate closed on Marco Island in the Month of April 2018. $69 Million dollars last month and $80 Million in March 2017 (last year).

OMG - $90 Million dollars of sales in 1 single month, that is a lot of money changing hands and it was really focused in the single-family home market, as opposed to condos or lots. As a matter of fact $60 million of the $90 million were single family home sales. Playing a realtor dentist, I decided to drill down into the numbers until I hit a nerve and got a reaction that answered what happened. Here is what I can tell you. In the month of April there were 15 homes sold for over $1 million. Some rich person paid $4,000,000 and came in THIRD place. Yes, there was another sale at $6,325,000 and the winner who brought home the bacon this month and fried it up in a pan paid a whopping $7,225,000 for a beachfront home in Hideaway. (In the Port Royal section of Naples the same home would probably cost $37 Million, so I guess it's a deal in a sense). The $6,325,000 was also in Hideaway. So, if any of you out there are Fuller Brush or Electrolux salesperson's I would suggest you knock on the doors of the Hideaway folks. They have plenty of scratch in there.

When I met my first wife she was pretty normal, nothing special. No money of her own, No dowery, No future prospects, brown mousey hair - like a 5 on scale of 1 to 10. On the upside she had a couple nice attributes and she was very tall and tan ( I used to say "worth the climb") but again, just a plain old Jane (except her name wasn't Jane). Anywho, while we were dating some other loser comes along and shows an interest in wife #1. I'm dating her and I'm scratching my head saying "what's this moron see in her?" I figure I'm missing something and it's making me crazy. I decide to spend more and more time with her, but, nope nothing, just plain old flameless Jane. Loser #2 (I'm #1) keeps sniffing around and it's driving me absolutely insane that I can't see what he sees in her. So, not being one to lose out at anything I slap a ring on her finger and declare myself the big winner and marry her. After a few years of pain and anguish it becomes crystal clear that the other guy really was an idiot because she had nothing to offer. I head for the hills and the rest is history. Recently someone told me she lost a few pounds and became a yoga instructor and still has a miserable very handsome and intelligent husband. Now, my faithful 7.6 readers of this newsletter know there is a moral to this story and are also thinking of old what's her name. Here is the connection. Nancy, my work wife, and I had a condo listed that was gutted to be remodeled and then the owner decided not to move forward with the remodel. So here we are selling a condo with no kitchen or anything in it. An offer came in within minutes of the listing hitting the MLS. Another agent called to show the unit and was told an offer had come in and they quickly wrote up an offer. Then a third agent jumped in with another offer. It's an offer frenzy folks and nobody knows why because we are selling a plain old Jane condo. So, the way we handled that is, we went back to the 3 agents and told them to bring us their best and final offer. The first offer came back at full price, cash as is. The second came back at $27,000 over asking, cash, as is. The third came back at $50,000 over asking cash, as is, close in 14 days. Winner Winner Chicken Dinner! 14 days later we are taking commission checks to the bank. The connection here to wifey #1 is that sometimes when somebody else wants what you want you might get a bit carried away and make a mistake. Or, sometimes you love something so much you just have to have it, no matter what it takes. (either way, you're stuck with it so you might as well enjoy it).

The inquiring 7.6 faithful readers demand to know The High and Low Sales for the month of February, and they are as follows:

Single family home, 1002 Royal Marco Way closed for $7,225,000. Condo, Riviera Four Unit 628 closed for $1,350,000 and a vacant lot at 1628 Mcilvaine Court closed for $1,300,000.

For the bargain hunters, a 2 bedroom home at 1263 North Collier closed for $300,000. A 1 bedroom condo in Wexford Place unit 465, closed for $105,000 and a vacant lot at 393 Century Drive closed for $164,000, yes you can still get a great deal on Marco Island.

The dinner invites have been slow. M&S certainly showed us a good time and they aren't even customers, just folks that enjoy the newsletter and appreciate our company. (Company as in Barb and I, and company as in Berkshire Hathaway Florida Realty Home Services)

And, if you are thinking of using me as your Realtor, keep in mind that I will never be out-thought or out-fought.

Gerry Rosenblum

Broker Associate

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Realty

2013, 2012 & 2007 President Marco Island Area Association of

Realtors

2008 Realtor of The Year - Marco Island

239-450-4770 (cell)
1-888-239-5131 (toll-free e-fax)
1-800-237-8817 (toll-free)
To View the Entire Marco MLS go to: www.viewmarco.com

Saturday, May 5, 2018

Marco Island Real Estate Stats and Commentary - March 2018

The following stats compare March 2018 to March 2017.

Sold Single Family Homes DOWN 31% (29 vs 42)

Sold Condominiums DOWN 5% (56 vs 59)

Sold Single Family Vacant Lots DOWN 11% (16 vs 18)

Pending Single Family Homes UP 6% (67 vs 63)

Pending Condominiums DOWN 4% (69 vs 72)

Pending Single Family Vacant Lots DOWN 11% (16 vs 18)

(Pending means it went under contract but has not closed yet)

Inventory:

326 Single Family Homes ( DOWN 19% from 2017)

381 Condominiums ( DOWN 7% from 2017)

304 Single Family Vacant Lots (DOWN 6% from 2017)

1,011 Total

Summary:

A total of $69 Million dollars worth of real estate closed on Marco Island in the Month of March 2018. $49 Million dollars last month and $79 Million in March 2017 (last year). My finger is on the pulse of the Marco Island Real Estate market and it is beating like crazy, 69 million beats per month is strong, really strong. There is an undeniable sense of positiveness that is circulating allowing Sellers and Buyers to have a meeting of the minds and get things sold. The price reduction trend continues as everyone searches for the magic number. For the month of March, in the single-family home market, there were 101 asking price reductions, 3 increases - Condos saw 92 price reductions and 9 increases - Vacant lots had 41 reductions and 5 price increases. If you combine the price reductions and look at the nice number of pending sales up above, you can deduce that we are moving into a nice rhythm and the market is starting to dance fast like Chubby Checker's Twist, instead of a slow boring Waltz. Things are good in the market, sales are happening across the price spectrum and I think this is a happy time.

On a professional level, I had the craziest week of my 20+ year real estate career this week and my first wife (who still works as my assistant) was there heckling me as usual. I guess she keeps me grounded and reminds me that things really can be worse. People were coming at me with some crazy deals, I learned more than I care to know about Radon, I had multiple offers on one property, I had a Seller withdraw a very expensive property after I had an excellent offer on it, (both sides of a deal is very nice until it blows up, then you are twice as sad). These are just a few of the odd things that happened this week and if you ever want to hear the gory details you would need to read the process, shown further below, to hear them in a restaurant. On a personal level, I had one of the craziest weeks as well because Willy, my youngest, showed me the prom dress that was picked out and it looks like it came from some Hooker catalog. Andy, the eldest is graduating college next month and gave us the graduate school pitch. When I pointed out that I had a Masters degree, Andy stated: "yes, for some it obviously does not translate into success either professionally or personally". I think that was a cheap shot but I was taught never fight a red-haired hillbilly, they're crazy. People tell me I need a hobby. I don't golf, fish, boat, play tennis or pickleball. I think that maybe I just need a tall girlfriend and I am ready to start interviewing candidates.

So what does all this have to do with Real Estate you're wondering? It relates because there are different aspects of the market just like there are parts of your life. And in Real Estate sometimes your personality, both as a Seller, Buyer or Realtor plays a roll, and often the combinations create a chemical reaction that can explode or implode and then you bring me in as I am a great neutralizer just like Pepto Bismal. I had a Seller once remove a $50,000+ painting and replace it with a Walmart special. When confronted with the switch he claimed the inventory simply stated "Picture in Living Room". When the attorney explained that could be considered theft by deception, the painting miraculously reappeared. Countless times I have seen nice flat screen televisions swapped out for some old tube job, furniture dissapear and be told "oh, that old chair, dresser and bed?, well our twin grandsons were bouncing on the bed and when the bed broke one kid flew and hit the dresser and broke it and the other kid flew and hit the chair and it broke, so we did the buyer a favor and threw the furniture away because they were not only broken, they were obviously safety hazzards and we know the new buyers have their own grandchildren, so it is quite obvious we did them a huge favor by removing that furniture and we are sure they would understand and they would have done the same thing if they were us, and we would explain it further but we don't want to be late for Church because the confessional fills up quick when the Real Estate Market gets busier, and we heard from Gerry, as we are one of his 7.6 faithful readers, that the market is strong and as soon as our place closes we are going to buy another place and the Seller there told us" " the A/C was replaced new about 15 years ago" and he said "you know they can last 100 to 150 years if you get them serviced ever 10 years or so, as I diligently have done, and we never changed out the old carpet because styles change so fast it would be a waste of money, and no, the pool doesn't have a leak we keep it half full because it costs less to heat it and since the heater broke we let the sun heat it up and nobody cares if it's cold in the winter because nobody swims then because we go to Stan's on Sunday and do the Buzzard Lope, smell, what smell?"

The above is a partially exaggerated story woven to show you why you need a Realtor like me to guide you through the maze of buying and selling. My Realtor nickname is Tenacious G, I'm no quitter when it comes to business or family. I put everything I have into whatever I'm doing, and since I have no hobbies all I do is Real Estate and admire tall women. I'm not saying everyone is like the characters above, I am just saying that you can't tell what you are getting into and you don't want to bring a knife to a gunfight. Bring along Tenacious G. and you'll never lose.

As always, please reach out and contact me if you have any real estate questions or need any advice which can only be given at dinner. Last month one of my highroller customers and his wife took Barb and I to Da Vinci's Ristorante (eye-talian for restaurant). Those that have never had the pleasure of buying us dinner would not know that I never order, I always let the server choose for me because I like the surprise, it's like opening a Hanukkah present on Christmas morning. Anyway, Mrs. highroller had a couple of those fruity cocktails with beach umbrellas sticking out of them and she decides she will order for me. So I excused myself from the table and stepped away. 35 minutes later I am brought out a bowl of hot water and 2 packs of saltines. Naturally, I get busy dunking those crackers and woofing them down (hey, I'm not paying so it tastes good to me). Suddenly, a huge bowl of Zuppa Di Pesce arrives and you couldn't get the smile off my face. Note to self: don't wear a white shirt while eating Zuppa Di Pesce.

The inquiring 7.6 faithful readers demand to know The High and Low Sales for the month of February, and they are as follows:

Single family home, 813 Giralda Cutler Court closed for $2,250,000. Condo, Belize 802 closed for $1,450,000 and a vacant lot at 1431 Caxambas closed for $2,910,000.

For the bargain hunters, a 2 bedroom home at 2043 Apricot closed for $375,000. A condo in Seabreeze South L8, closed for $122,000 and a vacant lot at 1750 Dogwood closed for $85,000, yes you can get a great deal on Marco Island.

Steven C. you can put down that mouse now.

And, if you are thinking of using me as your Realtor, keep in mind that I will never be out thought or out fought.