What drew you to purchase in Pelican Bay?  My husband, Don and I were attracted to the gorgeous beaches here.  The minute the tram rounded the corner down at the Sandpiper and we saw the beach, we knew we wanted to live here.  It was 1992, Hurricane Andrew had struck a few weeks earlier and interest rates were relatively low for that time.  I felt that it was a great time to purchase a home in Naples. (I had been selling real estate in Chicagoland for 14 years by then.)  Don's Mom lived out in Golden Gate and we had been coming down to Naples for years to visit her.

Don, I, my sister and now ex-brother-in-law wanted to purchase a place together.  We had originally started out looking for a condo under a certain amount.  One day everyone in the family decided to go to Jungle Larry's (now the Naples Zoo) except me.  I stayed in the hotel and poured over the MLS book and found some listings in Pelican Bay that were higher than we originally wanted to spend but I thought that if the sellers were motivated we may find a decent buy.  Besides, I had heard good things about Pelican Bay. 

Our Realtor® had the good sense to show us the beach in Pelican Bay because she knew that the beach was important to us.  Once we saw the beach set up here in Pelican Bay, it was all over for us.  We wanted to buy here.  We ended up purchasing a turnkey furnished unit in Glencove. 

My nephew, Adam, was 4 years old at the time the four of us purchased the Glencove condo.  Adam enjoyed looking for alligators, seashells and birds along the berm in Pelican Bay.  He also loved to play in the sand.  He learned to swim in the Glencove pool and in the Gulf of Mexico.

As you can see, Adam enjoyed the Gulf of Mexico!  When Don and I moved full time to Pelican Bay 13 years ago, Adam would still come down to visit us over the summer. Years later in high school, Adam joined the swim team.  I wonder if all those summers in the Gulf contributed to his love of the water and swimming? 

Four years before we moved full time to Pelican Bay, I had cut out a section of the Pelican Bay Post that had a picture of the shoreline of Pelican Bay.  I pinned this picture to the bulletin board that hung on the wall over the desk from where I made my real estate cold calls. (Yes, I made cold calls.)  Every call I made helped me get closer to our goal of moving to Pelican Bay full time.

So, what brought you to Pelican Bay?  Was it the beach?  Was it the tennis community?  Was it the golf course?  Was it the restaurants on the beach?  Was it the Pelican Bay community center?  Something attracted you to Pelican Bay.  Why don't you take a few moments and share what that special feature of Pelican Bay was to you?  Just click on  ADD COMMENT  to tell us what brought you to Pelican Bay!

Should you be thinking of selling your Pelican Bay home and would like a candid assessment of what it would take to sell your home in today’s market, I would be happy to help. Feel free to give me a call at 239-594-2780 or E-mail me at Lynn@NaplesBuys.com

Looking for a home in our unique beach community? Search here, once at the search page, you can search by development, save your search and I will send you out new listings to you daily. 

L'Ambiance Price Reduction!

My sellers at 2100 Lambiance CIR #101 have instructed me to reduce the price on their home from $639,900.00 to $599,900.00.  If you have been looking for a larger residence in Pelican Bay, this unit affords a good value.

If you are out and about in Pelican Bay today, you'll be able to smell the smoke from the wild fire in Big Cypress.  The Naples Daily News reported that as of 10:23 AM today, Alligator Alley was still closed.  Should you be traveling today, it would be a good idea to check on road conditions before leaving your residence.

The high winds we have been experiencing the last few days have been great for windsurfers but miserable for our fire fighters.  It was reported that lightening started this fire.  Collier County is in its' dry season.  How dry are we do you ask?  VERY DRY!  Since the beginning of the year, we have only had 1.38 INCHES of rainfall.  Full time residents are all waiting for rainy season, which will be starting soon.  I am sure that rainy season won't be starting soon enough as far as our fire fighters are concerned.

Car carrier have been sighted up and down Pelican Bay recently.  Just from the looks of our beaches, many of our snow birds have flown the coop!

Our Gulf water temperature is starting to warm up.  Today's temperature is reported to be 82.4 degrees.  The Gulf is finally getting to a temperature that I enjoy.  As soon as I am finished with work today, I intend to head down to the beach with my husband Don and enjoy some time in the waves.  I also hope to see some of our friends down at the beach.  Usually by the time Don and I arrive at the beach, most of our friends have left to go home and have dinner. 

The National Association of Realtors® recently released their Second Home Owners report that showed sales of vacation and investment homes fell 22% from last year.  NAR stated that economic conditions and tighter lending requirements held back buyers.  The profiles of these buyers showed nearly half of the vacation home buyers and two-fifths of the investment home buyers had house-hold incomes of more than $100,000.00.  The median age for a vacation home buyer was 46.  Regionally, the South saw the highest percentage of vacation home and investment property sales.

Memorial Day is almost around the corner!  Will you be joining us in Pelican Bay for the Memorial Day holiday?  Hopefully I'll be in the Gulf over the Memorial Day weekend!

Looking for a home in our unique beach community? Search here, once at the search page, you can search by development, save your search and I will send you out new listings to you daily.

Care to share a comment with us?  Just click on the comment link at the bottom of this blog entry. Comments are always welcome!

Absorption rates have nothing to do with sun screen but they do tell us how many months it will take to "absorb" all the units for sale in Pelican Bay.  The formal definition of Absorption Rate is: The ratio of the number of properties in an area that have been sold against the number available. Used to show the volatility of a market.

As of April 8, 2009, Pelican Bay has a total of 443 properties for sale.  April 8, 2008 - April 8, 2009 saw 206 closed sales in Pelican Bay.  During this period of time, we had an average of 17 sales a month.  As of April 8th, we  have 443 units for sale. If we divide this number of units available for sale by the 17 sales a month, we have an inventory that could last for 26 months.  A "normal" market is said to have an inventory of 6 months.

My last blog entry talked about taking your home off the market if you really did not have to sell it.  I keep harping on this because I follow the market and I know our inventory will take at least 26 months to deplete.  Why place your home on the market if you really do not have to sell?  Even with all the beauty that Pelican Bay has to offer, we are still in a price driven market.  Roughly 66% of all listings are currently failing to sell in Pelican Bay.  A listing coming on the market today in Pelican Bay has less than a one in three chance of selling.

If you scroll down this blog, you'll see some opinion boxes on the left hand side.  It is interesting to note that people responding to the Home Seller question, Is your home sold because it is over priced?  44% of the 91 people who responded said "Probably!"  I am curious if these people really don't have to sell their homes or if their Realtor® has not been communicating with them about the market. 

We live in an incredibily wonderful area.  I have tremendous joy each time I introduce a new buyer to Pelican Bay and they purchase a home here.  I always hope they will enjoy this community as much as my husband, Don, and I enjoy it.  Not much beats having dinner down at the Sandpiper Restaurant on the beach and watching gorgeous sunsets.

Looking for a home in our unique beach community? Search here, once at the search page, you can search by development, save your search and I will send you out new listings to you daily.

Care to share a comment with us?  Just click on the comment link at the bottom of this blog entry.  Comments are always welcome.