Posted in September 13, 2009 ¬ 9:11 amh.admin
Contributed by Tani Hurley Public Relations Naples News
ESTERO — As the new Estero Parkway extension nears completion, residents in neighborhoods along the Parkway will find themselves minutes away from entertainment, education and shopping — all without the hassle of crossing Interstate 75.
“The new extension of Estero Parkway provides an overpass that links the road from Three Oaks Parkway to Ben Hill Griffin Parkway, allowing easy access to Germain Arena, Florida Gulf Coast University and Gulf Coast Town Center,” said Ken Thirtyacre, president of Toll Brothers’ Florida West Division.
Two Toll Brothers communities, Belle Lago and The Reserve at Estero, are on Estero Parkway.
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Posted in September 13, 2009 ¬ 9:08 amh.admin
By LAURA LAYDEN Naples News
Summer has been hot for Naples Realtors.
August brought another busy month, with home and condo resales up nearly 40 percent.
A monthly report by the Naples Area Board of Realtors shows 545 total sales in August, up from 395 in the same month a year ago.
The report tracks Realtor sales made through the SunshineMLS, or multiple listing service, in Collier County, excluding Marco Island.
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Posted in September 11, 2009 ¬ 8:56 amh.admin
By LAURA LAYDEN Naples News
Members are calling off an agreement to buy the Shadow Wood and Commons clubs from the Bonita Bay Group for $8.3 million.
New demands from the developer have killed the deal, said David English, president of the Shadow Wood Country Club in Estero. On Sept. 8, Tim Boates, Bonita Bay Group’s restructuring officer, met with members to discuss the liability of deposits for resigned members.
The developer abruptly stopped honoring its 30-day policy to refund deposits to resigning members late last year. Based on that policy about $4 million is owed to members of both clubs who have either resigned or downgraded their memberships.
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Posted in September 11, 2009 ¬ 8:40 amh.admin
By LUKE MULLINS US News
As the housing market shows signs of stabilization, home buyers are seeing their leverage over sellers dissipate, according to a new report from Zillow, a real estate information service. The report found that, nationally, buyers paid an average of 3.3 percent—or about $7,000—less than final listing prices in July, which is a substantially smaller bargain than the 4.6 percent—or $10,260—discounts they landed in January. “The strong summer selling season in 2009 has led to a decreasing difference between the last listing price and final sale price,” Stan Humphries, Zillow’s chief economist, said in a news release issued Wednesday. (more…)
Posted in September 11, 2009 ¬ 8:38 amh.admin
By ELIZABETH KELLAR Naples News
NAPLES — Some things don’t change. For example, many men don’t like to go shopping. “As far as we can tell, men haven’t shopped for 4,000 years,” joked Robert J. Gibbs, president of Gibbs Planning Group, during a Thursday morning presentation to Fifth Avenue South about 50 business owners.
But some things do change, and one of them might be the look and feel of Naples’ celebrated main street. Fifth Avenue South property owners hired Gibbs’ group to conduct a study about how to energize their area, which is struggling in the sluggish economy and in the face of increased local competition. The study results are expected to be released in late September.
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Posted in September 10, 2009 ¬ 8:40 amh.admin
By LAURA LAYDEN Naples News
NAPLES — It was a bang up month for single-family home resales in Lee County in July.
Sales once again rose by more than 100 percent last month.
There were 1,570 sales, up from 768 in the same month a year ago, according to a report by the Florida Association of Realtors.
“This is not a new phenomenon. We have been over 100 percent for many months in a row,” said Brett Ellis, a Realtor with the Ellis Team RE/MAX Realty Group in Fort Myers.
Monthly numbers for Naples and Marco Island aren’t included in the statewide report.
Of all the metro areas tracked in the report, Fort Myers-Cape Coral saw the biggest percentage increase in singlefamily resales. But it also had the largest drop in home prices.
The median home price fell 43 percent to $89,000, down from $154,900 a year ago.
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Posted in September 10, 2009 ¬ 8:36 amh.admin
By LAURA LAYDEN Naples News
Foreclosure activity slowed in Lee County in August. In Collier County, it increased a bit.
A report by Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac shows 4,133 foreclosure related filings — or one for every 88 households _ last month in Lee. That was down more than 26 percent from July.
In Collier, there were 1,137 filings, or one for every 169 households. That was up 3.08 percent from July.
The report tracks default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions. Default notices are new filings. There were 791 of them in Collier last month and 1,799 in Lee last month, according to RealtyTrac.
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Posted in September 8, 2009 ¬ 12:56 pmh.admin
Naples News
There was a good condominium bill coming out of the 2009 legislative session that would have cleaned up some ambiguous insurance language contained in Chapter 718, Florida Statutes (the Condominium Act).
The bill (Senate Bill 714) passed 38 to 0 in the Florida Senate and 114 to 2 in the Florida House but was vetoed by the governor. The portion of the bill the governor had a problem with leading to his veto had nothing to do with cleaning up the insurance language. Rather, his concern was with the simple proposed changing of a date from 2014 to 2025 that was added in as amendment to the original bill.
The date change was to be to Section 718.112(2)(l), Florida Statutes, which says that an association’s bylaws shall provide, or deem to include if they do not provide, a provision that a high-rise condominium building has to retrofit common areas with code compliant sprinkler systems before the end of 2014 if the common areas are not already sprinkled. Buildings that are not high-rise can vote out of retrofitting with a two-thirds vote of the voting interests before 2014.
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Posted in September 8, 2009 ¬ 12:51 pmh.admin
BY DICK HOGAN News Press
The number of foreclosures filed in Lee County in August fell to 1,692, down from 1,877 in July and 2,156 in August 2008, according to a report released today by the Southwest Florida Real Estate Investment Association.
In a separate report, permits were issued in August for 34 single-family homes in unincorporated Lee County, up slightly from 33 in July but down from 37 in August 2008, according to statistics released today by Lee’s Department of Community Development.
The foreclosures happening now are largely the second wave in the economic downturn that started in early 2006, after home prices started to fall from their peak in 2005, said Jeff Tumbarello, director of the real estate investment association.
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Posted in September 8, 2009 ¬ 12:48 pmh.admin
BY DON MANLEY News Press
Even a recession can be the right time to build if a project is sufficiently unique and has location on its side.
It’s that mindset that’s resulted in Ravenna, the newest neighborhood in the upscale Miromar Lakes Beach & Golf Club community in Miromar Lakes, near Estero.
Developer and builder Gulfshore Homes will complete construction this month on Ravenna’s first building. Long-range plans call for 10 of the three-story, Venetian-styled buildings on a roughly 12-acre parcel bounded on three sides by Miromar’s lakes Como and Maggiore.
Each floor will have two residences and at each building’s base will be boat houses for each home capable of accommodating vessels up to 23 feet long. Each unit will have a private elevator.
Realtors, the developer and a Miromar official say boat houses are rare for inland developments.
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