By Dick Hogan News Press

The number of foreclosure lawsuits filed in Lee County in September fell slightly but bit more deeply into the middle class as people started to lose more expensive homes.

There were 1,610 foreclosure lawsuits filed, down slightly from August’s 1,692 and sharply off the near-record 2,462 from September 2008, according to statistics released Thursday by the Southwest Florida Real Estate Investors Association.

But a third of the foreclosures were houses with pools, said Jeff Tumbarello, director of the association.

That’s a big change from past months when foreclosures were largely inexpensive homes and lots let go by investors who bought during the real estate boom and then simply let the properties go after prices started falling in 2006, he said.

“What’s coming in residential real estate is very much the cream,” he said.

As a result, Tumbarello said, “Houses in Fort Myers proper are starting to take over the list” from lower-priced Cape Coral and Lehigh Acres although Lehigh still accounts for 20 percent and Cape Coral for 40 percent.

“It doesn’t surprise me we’re starting to flow into some more expensive housing,” said Michael Timmerman, a Naples-based senior associate with Fishkind & Associates, an Orlando-based economic consulting firm. “Those people were able to hold out for a little longer but now they can’t anymore.”

The steady flow of foreclosed houses back onto the market when lenders get possession of them has made it hard for builders to compete with existing home inventory, he said.

It’s encouraging that the overall number of foreclosures is falling, Timmerman said. “We’re seeing prices start to pick up.”

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News Press

There were 1,610 mortgage foreclosure lawsuits filed in Lee County in September, down slightly from August’s 1,692 and sharply off the near-record 2,462 from September 2008, according to statistics released today by the Southwest Florida Real Estate Investors Association.

Foreclosures spiked sharply higher after the residential real estate boom in Southwest Florida ended in early 2006. For the past several months, foreclosures have been on the decline.

BY DICK HOGAN  News Press

There were 31 single-family-home permits issued by unincorporated Lee County in September, down slightly from 34 in August and 32 in September 2008, according to statistics released today by the county Department of Community Development.

Sanibel and Fort Myers Beach reported no permits issued and there were 18 in Bonita Springs. Those municipalities do their own permitting, as do Fort Myers and Cape Coral where numbers weren’t immediately available.

There were four multi-family units permitted in the unincorporated county during September, compared to 10 the previous month and six in September 2008, the county reported.

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Naples News By LAURA LAYDEN

BONITA SPRINGS — It’s no deal for now for members of the Bonita Bay Club.

David Lucas, chairman of the Bonita Bay Group, has called off talks with a Turnover Committee that has been handling the negotiations for members trying to buy their golf club from the developer.

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Naples News

The Lee Building Industry Association’s Fourth Annual Summit Awards were held at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point on Sept. 18.

The goal of this event is to celebrate success and professionalism within the commercial and remodeling industry.

Created by the Commercial Contractors Council of the Lee BIA, the awards provide an opportunity to recognize excellence in this effort. It allows the Council to give back and support its members.

The 2009 winners are:

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News Press By Dick Hogan

There were 1,252 existing single-family homes sold in August in Lee County with the help of a Realtor, almost twice the 684 from a year earlier, according to statistics released today by the Florida Association of Realtors.

The median price of a house sold was $89,300, off 39 percent from the $146,900 a year earlier.

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News Press By Dick Hogan

Investors also help drive home sales

Mike Lashbrook and his wife, Denise, rented and watched for two years before finally buying a house at today’s bargain prices.
It was well worth it, said Lashbrook, 42, who moved here from Fort Lauderdale to take a job with Gartner Group in Gateway.
He’s one of many first-time buyers who are snapping up homes in Lee County and driving a sales pace close to twice what it was a year ago, experts say.  The Florida Association of Realtors released statistics Thursday showing 1,252 existing single-family homes in the county were sold in August with the help of a Realtor — down from a record 1,570 in July but 83 percent more than the 684 in August 2008.

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Wall Street Journal By William Bulkeley

Bonita Bay Group, once a premier developer of upper-crust golf communities in this upper-crust town, is on the verge of collapse. The company says it will be forced to file for bankruptcy if it has to refund $245 million in golf-club membership fees some homeowners are demanding, in a battle that’s pitting residents against each other and against the company that sold them lavish dream homes during the height of the boom.

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Florida Association of Realtors

Florida’s existing home sales rose in August — marking a full calendar year (12 months) that sales activity increased in the year-to-year comparison, according to the latest housing data released by Florida Realtors®.

Existing home sales rose 28 percent last month with a total of 13,850 homes sold statewide compared to 10,813 homes sold in August 2008, according to Florida Realtors. The state association also reported a 45 percent increase in last month’s statewide sales of existing condos compared to the previous year’s sales figure.

Sixteen of Florida’s metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) reported increased existing home sales in August; 18 MSAs also showed gains in condo sales. A majority of the state’s MSAs have reported increased sales for 14 consecutive months.

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BY NANCI THEORET  Florida Weekly

Realtors and industry experts in Southwest Florida say we may be finally looking in the rear-view mirror as sales numbers rise in Collier, Lee and Charlotte counties and prices continue to plummet to a 10-year low.

H. Shelton Weeks, the Lucas Professor of Real Estate in the Lutgert College of Business at Florida Gulf Coast University, believes the bottom is near — give or take a few thousand dollars.

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