Homes sales up over 100 percent in Fort Myers area

The bidding wars are on.

Single-family home resales continued their climb in May in the Fort Myers area.

They increased more than 100 percent compared to the same month a year ago.

There were 1,456 existing single-family homes sold, up from 719 a year ago, according to a monthly report by the Realtor Association of Greater Fort Myers and the Beach Inc.

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Pending sales — sales that have yet to close — were up nearly 40 percent from a year ago. There were 1,980, and that was up from 1,429 last May, but down 16.4 percent from April, which Realtors attributed to seasonality.

The association estimates the supply of single-family homes at 3.8 months, down from 8.1 months a year ago.

At the end of May, there were 7,477 active listings of single-family homes on the association’s Multiple Listing Service, or MLS. That compared to 11,634 a year ago, a 35.7 percent decline.

Listings were down 13.7 percent from a month ago.

The median price is hovering at about $80,000.

“That median price hearkens back to the late 1990s and it’s really amazing,” said Jim Woodard, listing and selling broker for Re/Max Realty Group in Fort Myers. “Who would have thought it?”

Foreclosures and short sales — sales made for less than the bank is owed — continue to keep the median price low. But the lowest priced homes are bringing multiple offers, and more offers above what they’re actually listed for.

“It’s hard to buy these things. You have to offer a substantial amount over the list price to be in the game,” Woodard said.

“You might see a home listed for $35,000 or $40,000,” he said. “If it’s in good condition chances are it already has multiple offers on it. Buyers’ agents have to be very creative.”

In some cases, creative means waiving an inspection and the ability to cancel the contract based on the inspection.

“I suppose there is a certain risk,” Woodard said. “Some of these buyers are contractors. So they don’t care about inspections.”

Many of the homes are new so inspections aren’t as big of a concern, except in the case of those that might have Chinese drywall, he said.

For the year to date, 66 percent of all single-family homes sold through the MLS in the Fort Myers area were bank owned. Of those, 64 percent were cash deals. Banks appear to be favoring cash offers when there are multiple bids.

“This situation is causing many potential buyers, who live and work in our community, to become frustrated, as it is getting harder to get the home they want,” said Suzanne Sherer, association president, in a statement. “To reduce neighborhood blight and stabilize housing in our community, our work force needs to be able to purchase these bank-owned properties, not investors. Hopefully, we can work with Lee County to utilize Neighborhood Stabilization Program funds to help our workforce attain homeownership.”

Through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, Lee County last year received $18,243,867 in federal money to buy foreclosed homes to provide affordable housing. The program is being overseen by the county’s Department of Human Services.

Courtesy of the Naples Daily News