Living is easy in this Beautifully built 2-story home with a total of 4,498 sq.ft. The home is loaded with upgrades and amazing features welcoming you to a grand front entrance with 18ft high ceilings. This 5 bedroom, 3.5 bath home is located on a quiet street in Lombard just minutes from Yorktown Mall. Features include HW floors throughout, 3 car heated garage, security system, back-up generator that powers entire home in seconds. Master BR offers large WIC. Master bath features a separate shower and a soaking tub. Custom ceiling fans in all bedrooms. Wood burning FP in the Family Room. Gorgeous eat-in kitchen with large island offers custom cabinetry, New Granite Counter tops throughout the entire home, and New SS appliances. The kitchen has access to the patio with a professionally landscaped, and fenced backyard. Come see for yourself!

  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.

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

• https://m.naplesnews.com/news/2013/jul/04/study-second-best-place-invest-retire-realtytrac/
  

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