It’s Snowbird Season in Southwest Florida!

Whenever I see local residents while out and about, I always get asked, “How’s the market doing?” Well, it is still a seller’s market and with snowbirds in town, I’ve been showing a lot of homes. The next thing I usually get asked is if the buyers are local or from out-of-state?

The answer to this question is a bit complex and may surprise some people. It seems that the world knows that Florida and U.S. housing is for sale at a discount. In August 2012, an anonymous Russian buyer purchased 3 Indian Creek Island Road in Miami for $47 million in Miami痴 most expensive sale ever. Russians, it appears, have been buying up some of the most affluent properties across the U.S. and making headlines. Quoting a Forbes magazine article by writer Morgan Brennan, “The reason the Russians get so much attention is that they buy the highest ticket trophy properties,” says Jacky Teplitzky, a managing director at Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate, who represents sellers in New York City and South Florida. “But if you go by number of buyers, you have much more activity coming from places like Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela.”

Have you noticed the increase in traffic in Lehigh Acres and Lee County? It’s snowbird season once again. Some are Foreign Buyers coming to take a look at us. Foreign buyers have been flooding the United States housing market since the housing bust. They are here to take advantage of favorable exchange rates, low-mortgage rates, and weaker prices versus their own respective housing markets. Foreign nationals accounted for $82.5 billion, or 8.9%, of the $928 billion spent on U.S. residential real estate from April 2011 through March 2012, according to a June survey from the National Association of Realtors. That was up 24% from $66.4 billion the previous year. More than 50% of sales over the past year occurred in just five states: Florida, California, Texas, Arizona and New York. To watch the video: http://www.realtor.org/videos/international-home-buying-activity-2012 .

Have you been undecided about selling your home? All the statistics say that the end of 2012 is a prime time for sellers! Don’t be afraid to make your home inviting for the holidays. Curb appeal is important any time of year but we have more people in the area right now than at any other time of year. This means you have the greatest possibility of selling RIGHT NOW. Just contact me to find out how and we can create a selling strategy to get your home sold quickly.

Florida has always been and always will be a major draw. The majority of Foreign National Buyers are purchasing existing properties for investment now and are planning to retire here later. Residents here in Lehigh Acres can expect after a couple of years to see new construction underway at a steady pace once again as well. After all, Lee County has temperate winters, 50 miles of beautiful beaches between Boca Grande and Bonita Springs, and many parks and recreation areas. And what’s so great about Lehigh Acres is that we can just jump on the right highway and be there in minutes without giving up our Lehigh Acres small town and country living atmosphere.