Foreclosures Are Expensive In Lee County

Any expensive house that you want to own may not remain so pricey after a few months. These are the high-end foreclosures and the fillings for these foreclosures have a possibility of increasing in number. In Lee County, all these are pulling down the prices in the property market and according to Jeff Tumbarello, the Southwest Florida Real Estate Investment Association director, “The cream is coming.”

In the month of October, approximately 1,628 foreclosures were filed, this is down by 40% since the record of October 2008, which were 2,665. However, in the recent months, foreclosures though lesser, are showing signs of loss of houses by the middle class. Tumbarello explained that at least one third of houses going in for foreclosures within the last six months were mainly pool homes.

According to a real estate agent with Re/Max Realty Group based in Fort Myers, Brett Ellis, these are mostly high-end foreclosures. The homes those are moderately expensive are already within a demand and supply balance. However, the costlier houses comprise of the market demand and supply more with above $100,000 in Lehigh Acres and $200,000 in Fort Myers.

Kerry Collier, being a real estate investor and broker, commented that she and her business partners purchased a home in Estero. This home was foreclosed and closed at $285,000, which was quite close to their asking price. She further emphasized that, “If you look at the MLS (multiple listing service), there’s a lot out there,” New construction in Lee County is maintaining a pace with the usual pattern of foreclosures according to Brad Hunter, Metrostudy’s market research operations in Southwest Florida director.

According to a Metrostudy report in third quarter, subdivisions for detached single-family homes rose to 194 from 91 during the previous quarter. Simultaneously, the range of vacant inventory increased from 703 homes to 728. According to Hunter, over the past few year the builders prioritized on reducing the inventories. But now the scenario is different the builder has to build a house just to sell a house.

However, the houses that have been built recently will surely face a great amount of competition from those houses that have come back into the foreclosure market. According to Hunter, initially there were only subprime mortgages meant for the reasonably priced houses but presently the prime loan mortgages have also surfaced.

Hunter emphasized that, “There’s still another wave of foreclosures coming and that will bring another round of price declines. Those homes will be a greater competitive threat to the homebuilders than the first wave.”

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