Charlotte Katz

I thought readers might be interested in how the Bonita Springs and Estero area is doing with respect to the number of foreclosures and short sales on the market.  Actually, I was interested myself so I did a little research today, May 10, 2010.  (I will try to  get this information and publish it once a week, so watch this space, probably on Mondays.)

Right now there are well over 2,000 homes listed for sale in all of Bonita Springs and Estero.  I am happy to see and report that only 67 of them are foreclosures and 272 are potential short sales.  From a price standpoint, the foreclosures range from almost $2,000,000 to less than $40,000.  Many of our larger gated communities do not have any foreclosed property on the market: Bonita Bay, Shadowwood, Lighthouse Bay, Spring Run.  In Pelican Landing there is one villa property and one condo for sale.

The price range for potential short sales is a bit wider, no surprise since it’s the sellers who set those prices, not the lender.  (It is a short sale when the lender permits it to sell for less than the seller owes on the note.)  The highest priced home is $2,775,000 and is not in a gated community.  The least expensive home, a one bedroom condo, is listed at $25,000.  Most of the potential short sales are not in the higher end gated communities, although quite a few of them have at least a few.  They can be found at prices well over $1,000,000 in Quail West, Solenzara on the beach, West Bay Club, The Colony at Pelican Landing, and Wildcat Run.  At Palmira four single family homes and one condo are potential short sales, but at less than $1,00,000.  Similarly, the single family  home and the condo at Bonita Bay are less expensive properties.  At The Brooks, there are no potential short sales reported in Shadowwood or in Spring Run, but there are three each in Copperleaf and Lighthouse Bay.

Purchasing a foreclosed property is a lot easier and quicker than purchasing a home that’s a potential short sale.  In the first case, the lender already has possession of the property and the process is relatively straight forward.  The property is sold “as is” and you may find work to be done and missing appliances, but it will usually be a very good deal.  Although we read a lot about federally-mandated improvements in the short sale process I’m hearing that nothing much has changed to speed up the process and acceptance or rejection of offers by the lenders.  I read the other day about a home that was foreclosed on just as an offer to purchase it in a short sale was accepted by the same lender – obviously with different people acting for the lender but not speaking to each other.

Let’s see what this market looks like next week.

Charlotte Katz