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Single Family Home Inventory Rises
Naples, Fla. (November 20, 2015) - Inventory rose 4 percent in the single-family home resale market during October according to the October 2015 Market Report released by the Naples Area Board of REALTORS® (NABOR®), which tracks home listings and sales within Collier County (excluding Marco Island). This rise in single-family home inventory is needed to meet seasonal demand. Broker analysts reviewing the report said it displayed familiar trends that - historically speaking - will set the stage for what is expected to be a busy winter season in real estate. Unlike the condominium market inventory, which dropped 7 percent, inventory in the single-family home market increased 4 percent overall in October from 2,128 single-family homes in October 2014 to 2,210 single-family homes in October 2015. In North Naples the the single-family home inventory rose 14 percent from 571 single-family homes in October 2014 to 650 single-family homes in October 2015. Single-family home inventory in the $500,000 to $1 million price segment rose 20 percent from 531 single-family homes in October 2014 to 637 single-family homes in October 2015. A balanced market occurs when there is between five to seven months of inventory. A seller's market occurs when there is less than five months of inventory. A buyer's market occurs when there is more than seven months of inventory. The NABOR® October 2015 Market Report provides comparisons of single-family home and condominium sales (via the Southwest Florida MLS), price ranges, and geographic segmentation and includes an overall market summary. The NABOR® October 2015 sales statistics are presented in chart format, including these overall (single-family and condominium) findings: Overall pending sales decreased 11 percent from 911 homes in October 2014 to 807 homes in October 2015. Overall closed sales increased 1 percent from 9,746 homes in the 12-months ending October 2014 to 9,828 in the 12-months ending October 2015. Overall median closed price increased 14 percent from $265,000 in the 12-months ending October 2014 to $302,000 in the 12-months ending October 2015. Overall median closed price for homes over $300,000 decreased 4 percent from $542,000 in the 12-months ending October 2014 to $520,000 in the 12-months ending October 2015. Overall inventory decreased 1 percent from 3,939 in October 2014 to 3,903 in October 2015. Single-family home inventory increased 4 percent from 2,128 single-family homes in October 2014 to 2,210 single-family homes in October 2015. Condominium inventory decreased 7 percent from 1,811 condominiums in October 2014 to 1,693 condominiums in October 2015. There is a 4.63 months supply of inventory. Average days on market increased 3 percent from 71 days in October 2014 to 73 days in October 2015. The Naples Area Board of REALTORS® (NABOR®) is an established organization (Chartered in 1949) whose members have a positive and progressive impact on the Naples Community. NABOR® is a local board of REALTORS® and real estate professionals with a legacy of nearly 60 years serving 5,000 plus members. NABOR® is a member of the Florida Realtors and the National Association of REALTORS®, which is the largest association in the United States with more than 1.3 million members and over 1,400 local board of REALTORS® nationwide. NABOR® is structured to provide programs and services to its membership through various committees and the NABOR® Board of Directors, all of whose members are non-paid volunteers. The term REALTOR® is a registered collective membership mark which identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of REALTORS® and who subscribe to its strict Code of Ethics. 9 Reasons Why Investing in Real Estate is Awesome (And Better Than Stocks!) by Mark Ferguson on November 10, 2013 · 119 comments
Great Article By: Bigger Pockets 9 Reasons Why Investing in Real Estate is Awesome 1.) No Retirement Calculators For Me! I used to plug in my savings and estimated returns into those retirement calculators all the online trading companies have. I always became dejected when looking at those, because at my current savings rate and an aggressive yearly growth interest rate, I was not retiring for about 20 years if I was lucky. Part of calculating this number, was deciding how long I was going to live. How depressing is trying to figure out how long you will live to make sure you don’t run out of retirement money! One of the huge advantages of investing in Real Estate was I would not need a retirement calculator or decide when I wanted to die. With rental properties I could buy properties with positive cash flow and never have to sell them if I did not want too. If I bought enough positive cash-flowing properties I would have a nice monthly income until I died on my own terms. 2.) Cash Flow Creates Income Right Away I am not a stock broker or an expert on the stock market, but I have done a little research on stock dividends. Correct me if I am wrong, but the highest dividend paying stocks seemed to pay 4% or less annually. That is not a bad return compared to a .002% bank account, but it is also barely above inflation. It is true that stock could rise in value increasing the value of your investment, but that money is not realized until you sell the stock. Many Real Estate investors would not touch a property if it had 4% annual cash flow, they would want 15 percent, 20 percent or more in cash on cash returns. The best part is that 20 percent return is realized immediately and the property may still appreciate on top of that return. That 20 percent return can be reinvested into the property by way of paying down the mortgage, adding value through expandability or you could buy more rental properties. The beauty in investing in Real Estate is the cash flow it produces and the many options that cash flow gives you. 3.) There is Too Much Real Estate for Everyone to Be an Expert Look around you, I don’t care if you are in the middle of Kansas you are surrounded by Real Estate. Single family, duplexes, multifamily, commercial, vacant land; Real Estate is everywhere! The individual has a huge advantage when they invest in Real Estate, because they can invest locally. The stock market is a global system, everyone has the same information and knows exactly what the prices are. There are some exceptions to this rule; insider trading. It is illegal to use insider knowledge to profit in the stock market. It is not illegal to use insider knowledge to make money in Real Estate! I know my market like the back of my hand, I know prices, I know neighborhoods, I know rents, I know lenders. I would estimate there are less than 500 people who know close to what I know about my local market. Out of those 500 people, I bet less than 10 percent are actively investing and using that knowledge. When I invest in the stock market I am competing with thousands, maybe even millions of people with the same or more knowledge than I have. We all have pretty much the same information and prices are based on this information and all these people in the market. In Real Estate I may be competing with 50 people or less and at any one time most of them probably aren’t in the market to buy. This smaller buyer pool gives a huge advantage to the individual Real Estate investor. 4.) Anyone Can Be a Local Expert on Real Estate It is not easy, but you do not need a degree to become an expert in your local market. You need to do a lot of research, look at a lot of homes and talk to a lot of people, but you can become an expert fairly quickly. What you need to know is the value of homes, the market rents, market conditions and economic conditions that exist in communities. Once you know these indicators it is easy to spot a bargain. 5.) Real Estate Easy to Value Compared to other investments Real Estate is easy to value. Even if you have no idea how to value a property, you can find a Realtor who can value it for you for free. There are so many houses and pieces of real estate out there, there are a lot of comparables to use to value properties. Those sold comparable properties may not be perfect, but they will give a good basic idea of what Real Estate is worth. With stocks or other investments it is much more difficult to value. How can the everyday Joe value a multi million or billion dollar company? Even the experts can’t agree on exactly what these large publically traded companies are worth. The only people who truly know everything that is going in with a stock or company are the managers and owners of that company. They are doing everything they can to make it look as good as possible. You aren’t really buying a company, you are buying the people who run it and hoping they aren’t fudging the numbers and hoping they are smart enough to make a profit in the future. 6.) You Can Inspect Real Estate When you buy a piece of Real Estate there is not too much that can be hidden unless you are buying large projects. You are able to do an inspections on the property before you buy in most cases and thoroughly evaluate Real estate before you buy it. Try asking to inspect a corporation to see how they are really run, before you buy their stock! 7.) You Can Buy Real Estate Below Market Value There are many ways to buy Real Estate below market value. I buy properties off the MLS all the time that are price below market value. I can make a low offer or be the first one to make an offer on a property. This is when being a Real Estate agent gives me a huge advantage. Property can also be purchase at the trustees sale or off market. Off market properties create a huge advantage for the individual investor, because they can buy property well below market value without out much competition. I do not know of a way to buy stocks below market value. There may be under valued stocks, but the price is still available to everyone in the market. 8.) You Can Add Value to Real Estate Not only can you buy Real Estate below market value, but you can add value to it after you purchase it. One reason I can buy properties below market value is they need repairs. Investors typically get a discount when they buy a property that needs repairs because it decreases the buyer pool. Not everyone can buy property that needs repairs, because they may not be able to get a loan on those houses. I can buy a house below market value, put $20,000 of repairs into it and have a house worth $50,000 more than I bought it for a couple of months after I bought it. You can also add bedrooms, add bathrooms, finish a basement or do many other things to increase value on Real Estate. It simply is not possible for an individual investor to add a bedroom onto a stock. 9.) Leverage Multiplies Returns When You Invest in Real Estate When you buy stocks it is possible to buy on margin, which is a type of leverage. I did some research and what I found said can up to buy 50% more stock then cash you invest. I heard in a recent article you can buy 70% more stock, but I couldn’t find that info. Either way, that is not as advantageous as Real Estate for a number of reasons. If you want $100,000 in stock, you need $50,000 cash to buy it. That assumes you have the financial means to qualify for the margin account. However, if that stock loses value the trading company can call your margin due, meaning you have to put more money in the position. The trading company can even sell your stock for you if the stock price drops too low. With Real Estate you can get started for much less money than stocks. As an owner occupant you can buy a home for 3.5% down or even $0 down with a VA or USDA loan. You could buy a $100,000 worth of house for $0 out of pocket cash. Now, you would have to live in the home at least a year before you could rent it and you can’t have more than one VA or USDA loan, but you could get another owner occupied loan at 5% down. If you don’t want to move every year, you can get an investor loan with 20% down. Conclusion There are many other reason why investing in Real Estate is my investment choice; tax advantages, equity pay down, appreciation, serving your community by providing housing are a few others. The biggest advantage investing in Real Estate gives you is you can buy below market, add value and rent for positive cash flow. If you buy properties right you can make more than your initial investment back before you even rent the home. Your cash flow can provide you lifetime income with no retirement calculators and you have control over your investment to increase its value.  The Top Skills Every Entrepreneur Needs! What does it take to be successful starting your own small business? Here are the 8 skills every successful entrepreneur has in common:
Resiliency. The ability to weather the ups and downs of any business since it never goes exactly the way the business plan described it. This skill enables the entrepreneur to keep going when the outlook is bleak. Focus. After setting a long term vision, knowing how to “laser focus” on the very next step to get closer to the ultimate goal. There are so many distracting forces when trying to build a business that this skill is not easy to master. Invest for the long-term. Most entrepreneurs are not patient and focus only on what comes next, rather than where the company needs to go. Overnight success may take 7 to 10 years. Entrepreneurs need to stop, pause and plan on a quarterly basis. Find and manage people. Only by learning to leverage employees, vendors and other resources will an entrepreneur build a scalable company. They need to learn to network to meet the right people. Entrepreneurs strive to guarantee they will get honest and timely feedback from all these sources. Sell. Every entrepreneur is a sales person whether they want to be or not. They are either selling their ideas, products or services to customers, investors or employees. They work to be there when customers are ready to buy. Alternately, they know how to let go and move on when they are not. Learn. Successful entrepreneurs realize they don’t know everything and the market is constantly changing. They stay up to date on new systems, technology, and industry trends. Self-reflection. Allow downtime to reflect on the past and plan for the future. Always working only leads to burnout physically and emotionally. Self-reliance: While there is a lot of help for the entrepreneur, in the end, they need to be resourceful enough to depend on themselves. 
Florida's modern architecture has taken on many different forms - from the minimalist houses of the Sarasota School of Architecture, to the deconstructionist Broward County Public Library, which challenges the very notion of constructed space. Perhaps the most extraordinary of Florida's contemporary architecture seems remarkably familiar. New Urbanism harkens back to sweeter days, and the planned development in Northwest Florida, called simply Seaside, is this style's purest expression. The town gained a wide audience by playing as the backdrop in the 1998 movie, The Truman Show, starring Jim Carrey and Ed Harris. This architectural style is an idyllic ode to the human scale. Every spot in town is a nice walk from every other, and neighborliness is a cherished value of the design.
Downtown Naples, redesigned by Seaside's designer Andrés Duany, also demonstrates the principles of New Urbanism, but without the advantage of a from-the-ground-up design. The same principles of scale and human connection were applied to a living and growing city district, and to great effect. With large cities and quaint small towns, coastal villages and vast resorts, tradition and innovation, Florida is architecturally rich and represents diverse swaths of taste, culture and history. NAPLES — With baby boomers retiring and moving in droves, real estate investors are increasingly looking to go where the greybeards go. According to a new report by Irvine, Calif.-based data firm RealtyTrac, Naples is No. 2 on its list of 15 “retirement hot spots” — that is, cities that are likely to grow over the next few years that have at least a third of the population age 65 or older. The company looked at 40 cities across the U.S. and based its ranking primarily on year-over-year price increases of single-family detached and attached homes as of May. By that measure, Naples — with an average annual increase of 26.8 percent — was bested by Dunnellon (between Tampa and Gainesville), where prices rose 31.4 percent. Another factor that the company considered was each city’s average capitalization rate. The capitalization or “cap” rate is a measure that investors use to determine their return on investment. It’s the ratio of a property’s yearly income divided by its total value. By this metric, Dunnellon again beat Naples, with a 10.3 percent cap rate, compared to Naples’ modest cap rate of 3.8 percent. “With that sort of return you get in Naples, you might do better putting your money in another investment, like the stock market,” RealtyTrac vice president Daren Blomquist said. However, he added that the reason the cap rate was lower was because Naples’ home prices are relatively high compared to the rents that can be commanded. Blomquist cautioned that while Naples’ fast appreciation rate earned it a top spot on the list, it would be better both for residents and outside investors if prices simmer down. “This was a good shot in the arm for Naples, but it’s not healthy for that to continue,” he said. “That would mean that the city is in full speculation mode.” Besides Naples and Dunnellon, five other Florida cities made the hot spots list: North Fort Myers, Punta Gorda, Sun City Center, Venice and Orange City. Blomquist pointed out that North Fort Myers might be a better choice for investors looking purely for a rental investment, both because the average price is lower — $84,500 — and the cap rate of 9.4 percent is better. But some investors are attracted to Naples for more than just rental returns. Lorraine Walls, 57, a retired director of nursing who lives in Midlothian, Va., owns 10 modestly priced houses in Lehigh Acres. But some have been expensively trashed by tenants — one even took an ax to the walls and a sledgehammer to the kitchen and bath. So she’s looking for homes to buy in the $500,000 to $800,000 range in Naples that she can fix up and flip. “There’s a better profit margin there,” she said. Besides Florida, six other states were represented in the top hot spots list. The other cities mentioned were, in order of ranking: Hot Springs Village, Ark.; Douglassville, Pa.; Sun City, Ariz.; Rancho Mirage, Calif.; Florence, Ore.; Green Valley, Ariz.; Seal Beach, Calif.; and East Hampton, N.Y. RealtyTrac also compiled statistics on the cities’ costs of living, average temperature and annual chance of sunshine, although those factors didn’t affect the rankings. Significantly, though, for retirees’ aching bones, all of the places on the list had average annual temperatures of 51 degrees or higher. -Naples Daily News
 The Naples luxury real estate market is striving to hit a record sales price with a home in the Port Royal - Aqualane neighborhood. The home is listed at a historic price of $49 million dollars! The Naples Mansion sits on over 2.5 acres. The mansion itself has over 14,500 sq.ft. in the living area alone. The home has 5 bedrooms along with a total of 10 bathrooms. The mansion has incredible views looking over Buccaneers Bay.from every angle along with the privacy you expect at this price tag. The exclusive property was listed on February, 12 2014.
 10th ANNUAL ‘CARS ON 5TH – February 15th, 2014 The Naples Chapter of the Ferrari Club of America is proud to announce the 10th Annual ‘Cars on 5th’ show in Naples. Set for Saturday February 15th, 2014, on Fifth Avenue South, the tenth annual show will be better than ever.
The Ferrari Club of America is the largest Ferrari club in the world with over 5,000 members that benefit from its activities, events and enthusiast camaraderie. The 2013 show broke all previous attendance records, and with over 470 private entries and dealer cars the displays on the street were outstanding. Rarely can such a superb collection of exotics and collector cars be found in one location, and there were plenty of enthusiasts on hand to enjoy the show. The attendance estimates numbered nearly 40,000, and there was lots to see and enjoy in the lovely Naples weather. The ‘Cars on 5th’ show is also about helping the community and giving to those in need. Donations from the attendees and individual contributions to our featured charities have raised over $300,000 over the past nine years. The 2014 10th Annual Cars on 5th will benefit our featured charity, the Special Needs Children’s Fund of Collier County, which helps families cope with children suffering from autism. The fund assists with medical needs and procedures, summer camps for the kids and in many other ways to support the parents and children that are affected by autism. Come show your support!  Port Royal has some of the most prestigious homes in the entire world... Here is some of the history of the land and the creators of the famous neighborhood. The history of Port Royal is colorful and genius all rolled into one. Everyone from US presidents to foreign dignitaries have rested their heads here, ether as guests or owners. It all began with an idea. In the late 1940′s, John Glen Sample, the reveled real estate developer, began shaping man-made peninsulas into the property at the Southern most end of Naples, Florida we know today. His ambition – as he put it to Miami Herald staffer Nixon Smiley as they toured the neighborhood in Sample’s pewter gray Rolls Royce – was, ” to make Port Royal the finest place in the world to live. And I believe I’m succeeding.” Sample named his most ambitious venture after the infamous 17th Century Jamaican city where “privateers” and smugglers spent their spoils. Although nothing like it’s namesake in looks or pedigree, the streets continue the pirate theme with names like Galleon Drive, Rum Row and Buccaneers Roost. In the early 1950′s, heavy equipment was brought in to help fill-in the wetlands and create the long, finger-like streets separating the deep water bays and waterways—ideal homesites for the luxurious homes Sample envisioned building on them. This was quite an engineering feat given the amount of dirt it required to make solid land on top of lose sediment trapped by the roots of mangroves. A feat, although admired for it’s ambition at the time, that would never be allowed today by the state of Florida or opposing environmental groups. The first residents moved into homes in 1952. Today, over 50 years after Mr. Sample’s vision became a reality, Port Royal and it’s homes have become some of the most prestigious properties in the entire world. I want to welcome all of my new followers, and make sure that everyone is aware of my new career. I am a licensed Realtor in the area of Naples, Florida. I can however work on deals throughout the state of Florida. I will be working full time with my clients to satisfy their needs. I am also pursuing my license in Illinois at the moment as well. I will keep this blog up to date with some interesting facts of the markets, and also keep my followers educated on decisions when it comes to buying, selling, leasing, or investing in the real estate market. I am apart of a good team that can assist you with one of the biggest financial decisions you will ever make in your life. Any questions please comment below!
Scott Birkeland scott@birkelandhomes.com |
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BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY HOME SERVICES | 210 N YORK STREET, SUITE 101, ELMHURST, IL 60126 | 621 5TH AVE SOUTH, NAPLES, FL 34102
This site is not the official Web site of Berkshire Hathaway Home Services. Berkshire Hathaway Home Services does not make any representation or warranty regarding any information, including without limitation its accuracy or completeness, contained on this site. The information on this site is deemed reliable and I have no reason to doubt its accuracy, but it is not guaranteed.
This site is not the official Web site of Berkshire Hathaway Home Services. Berkshire Hathaway Home Services does not make any representation or warranty regarding any information, including without limitation its accuracy or completeness, contained on this site. The information on this site is deemed reliable and I have no reason to doubt its accuracy, but it is not guaranteed.