The real estate statistics for the Pelican Bay Third Quarter 2009 are out.  Let's take a look how the Third Quarter 2009 statistics compared to the Third Quarter 2008 statistics.

Please remember that where ever you see highlighted text in this entry, you can click on the highlighted text and be taken to more information.

LOW RISES - The good news is that the number of closed sales went from 13 in the 3rd quarter of 2008 to 27 during the same period in 2009.  The percentage of units that failed to sale dropped from 65% in the 3rd quarter 2008 to 52% in the 3rd quarter of 2009.  The average price of a unit that fails to sell is $587,720.00 in 2009.  The number of days on the market fell to 214 days from 294 days. The not so good news is that the average price fell 4.95% to $442,426.00.  Of the 27 closed sales made in the 3rd quarter of 2009, 12 of them were under $399,999.00.  10 of these 27 closed sales were two bedroom units with an average selling price of $348,500.00.  There were no closed sales of any units over $699,999.00.

MID RISES - Closed sales increased to 4 closed sales in the 3rd quarter of 2009 in comparison to only 2 closed sales in the third quarter of 2009.  The average sold price decreased 24.43% in the comparable time frames.  Market time has increased to 237 days from 196 days.  The average price of a unit that fails to sell is $726,333.00 in 2009.  The percentage of units that fail to sell is still holding at 60%.

HIGH RISES - Closed sales decreased to 16 sales in the 3rd quarter of 2009 in comparison to 22 sales in the 3rd quarter of 2008.  The average sales price decreased 16.15% to $1,136,031.00 in the same time frame.  The average price of a unit that fails to sell is $2,020,150.00 in 2009 up from $1,557,136.00 in 2008.  Not surprisingly the days on the market has increased in 2009 to 277 days from 192 days in 2008.  In the 3rd quarter of 2009, 56% of all high rise units failed to sell, up from 50% in the same time frame in 2008.

ATTACHED VILLAS- Closed sales decreased to 2 sales in the 3rd quarter of 2009 from 4 sales in the 3rd quarter of 2008.
The average sales price decreased 25.14%.  The average price of an attached villa that failed to sell in the 3rd quarter of 2009 was $1,055,500.00 .  75% of all attached villas listed failed to sell in the 3rd quarter of 2009.

DETACHED VILLAS- Closed sales stayed the same as the 3rd quarter of 2008 at 2 closed sales.  The number of listings that failed to sell rose from 2 to 5 listings. 

SINGLE FAMILY HOMES- Closed sales increased to 7 in the 3rd quarter of 2009 from 6 closed sales in the 3rd quarter of 2008.  The percentage of single family homes that failed to sell rose to 67% from 45%. 

As of November 13, 2009 there were 348 listings for sale in Pelican Bay.  There have been 202 closed sales since January 1, 2009.  This means that 17.56 units sell per month in Pelican Bay, which leaves us with an inventory of properties that would last 19.8 months. 

Of the 202 closed sales since the beginning of this year, 92 of them were under $599,999.00.  24 of these 202 sales were between $1,000,000.00 - $1,499,999.00.  30 of these 202 sales were between $1,500,000.00 - $2,999,999.00. 

With season just around the corner, you may be thinking of putting your Pelican Bay home on the market.  I would caution you that if you do not really have to sell, DO NOT put your home on the market.  This market is still a price driven market.  Unless you are willing to place your home on the market at market price it will not sell.  There is a great article in the St. Petersburg Times that discusses the market and pricing a home to sell.  If you are thinking of selling this season, you may want to take a moment to read this article.

What's happening in the real estate market outside of Pelican Bay?  Here are the October 2009 statistics for the Naples Florida area.  42% of the Naples market is being driven by the under $300,000.00 market. Based on these statistics, the overall Naples market has an inventory of properties that could last 14.19 months.  The market under $300,000.00 has an inventory that could last 9.56 months.

If you are in town for Thanksgiving and wish to have Thanksgiving dinner down at the beach, it would be a good idea to call the Sandpiper 239-592-5722 to make reservations.  For those of you who wish to have dinner at your home but do not want to cook, both Publix and Whole Foods offer turkey dinners that just need to be heated before serving.

To all my Pelican Bay Blog readers, I'd like to say that where ever you are this Thanksgiving it is my wish that you are surrounded by people you wish to be with and that you are able to enjoy the holiday!

Are you a member of Facebook?  Login in or sign up and join the Pelican Bay in Naples, Florida a Beach Neighborhood Group on Facebook.  Feel free to posts photos, videos and experiences about Pelican Bay. Start discussions on items of importance to you about our community. 

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

Would you like to own home in our unique beach community?  Search here, once at the search page, you can search by development, save your search and new listing updates will be e-mailed to you.

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

Please note that I receive no compensation for mention of any businesses or events.

About the author:

Lynn Wilber is a Real Estate Professional who lives in Pelican Bay.  Her 31 years of real estate experience and her area expertise have been valuable resources for Pelican Bay Sellers and Buyers.  For more information, please contact Lynn Wilber or call 239-594-2780.

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Pelican Bay Sellers
We Have to Talk!

About what you wonder? Your air conditioning system and mold tests! Are our preparing to put your Pelican Bay home on the market this season? Take a moment and read about how mold tests can jeopardize the sale of your home.

As Sofia Petrillo used to say, "Picture this" after being on the market you finally have a Buyer make an offer on your home. Hurray! You think you are on your way to spending the money from the sale of your home but wait; there is a contingency in the contract for a home inspection. Your buyer decides to do a home inspection with a radon and mold test. No problem you think.......until the mold test results come back from the lab.

Unlike radon levels, mold levels have no federal guidelines. If you have over 4 pico curies per liter of radon, you are over the federal guidelines and you will need to re mediate your home for radon. A typical mold test will have a home inspector take an outside sample of air and an indoor sample of air. The samples are then sent to a lab for processing. If the results come back showing a higher amount of mold spores in the indoor air in comparison to the outside air, you will have a problem. One problem could be determining the source of the mold. Do you have a water leak or moisture coming in some where in your home? Another problem could be that the Buyers may be frightened by the high mold spore count and back out of the contract.  A third problem will be now that your home has been determined to have a "higher" mold spore count, you will be forced to disclose this problem to any other buyers.  

Mold remediation is expensive. A search will have to be done to determine where any moisture is coming into the unit and then everything in the unit has to be cleaned and HEPA scrubbed. You can only imagine how time consuming this type of cleaning can be.

If you are preparing to place your Pelican Bay home up for sale, I would suggest that you do the following BEFORE you place your home on the market. I would hope that if you are not in your Pelican Bay home that often, you will pay particular attention to my suggestions.

Here are some things to look for before you put your home on the market. Are there any active water leaks in your unit? The water valve under your bathroom sink which has that slow leak you keep meaning to fix; has the cabinet board under the leak started to bubble up and turn black? Do you have so much "stuff" under your utility sink you can't see if you have a leak? What about the valves for your washer do they leak a "bit"? Has your ice maker or dishwasher ever leaked into surrounding cabinetry? Is your kitchen faucet lose and water dripping down onto your cabinetry. Are sprinkler heads directed  

on your walls or windows?  Note the mold on around the bottom of the window sill in the  photo to the right.  All these things and more can cause mold to form.

I remember when Don and I lived up in Downers Grove, IL and would come down rather infrequently to enjoy the condo we had purchased in Glencove. When we visited we were on vacation and did not want to involve ourselves with condo cleaning. If you are a Pelican Bay owner who rents out their unit and does not come down to stay in your unit that often you may want to do an inventory of cleaning chores. Ask yourself, when was the last time the:

• Fan blades were dusted
  
• Baseboards were dusted around and behind the furniture
  
• Doors were dusted
  
• Air handler door cleaned
  
• Pictures in the unit dusted
  
• Wire shelving racks in the closet been washed so they don't look yellow
  
• Furniture and drapes been vacuumed for dust
  
• Furniture pulled away from the wall and the backs of all the furniture cleaned
  
• Tops of all your cabinetry dusted

Dust left sitting will turn into mold, especially if your air conditioning system is not working properly.

Let's talk about your air conditioning system. Do you leave your fans on in your unit when you are not in residence to circulate the air? If you are not here that often, who changes your air handler filter? Most air conditioning companies will recommended that your filter be changed monthly. When was the last time you had your air handler cleaned? How do the venting slates on the door to your air handler look? Does the door look like the photo below? Is it covered with a dust? Has the dust started turning black? If so, you will have issues with mold. Before you put your home on the market, it might be wise to have your air handler cleaned.

Today's real estate market is a Buyer's market. Sellers should understand that issues such as mold can scare a potential Buyer away from completing a sale. The old adage "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" is certainly true in today's real estate market.

 Are you a member of Facebook?  Login in or sign up and join the Pelican Bay in Naples, Florida a Beach Neighborhood Group on Facebook.  Feel free to posts photos, videos and experiences about Pelican Bay. Start discussions on items of importance to you about our community. 

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

Would you like to own home in our unique beach community?  Search here, once at the search page, you can search by development, save your search and new listing updates will be e-mailed to you.

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

About the author:

Lynn Wilber is a Real Estate Professional who lives in Pelican Bay.  Her 31 years of real estate experience and her area expertise have been valuable resources for Pelican Bay Sellers and Buyers.  For more information, please contact Lynn Wilber or call 239-594-2780.

YouTube | Linkedin | Google | Website | Twitter | Facebook 

After years, and I do mean YEARS, of suggesting to the Sunshine MLS that Realtors need more search fields for pet restrictions, I finally took the ball in my own hands and created a site where all the pet restrictions for Pelican Bay can be found.  I got fed up with having to call every listing agent to find out the exact pet policy for each subdivision whenever I had a Buyer with a pet.  You can find the link to this site on the left hand side of my blog or you can click here on PELICAN BAY PET RESTRICTIONS.

My summertime helper, who is my nephew Adam from Chicago, logged in a lot of man hours calling all the property management companies for the different subdivisions in Pelican Bay.  He complied all the pet information for me.  Now whenever I have a Buyer who has a pet and wants to purchase in Pelican Bay, I can go directly to the site and find out the information in a matter of minutes.  If you have a friend or family member that has a pet and is looking to purchase in Pelican Bay, they will be able to consult this list to know where they can purchase.  Please note that the information on this site can change if subdivisions decide to change their pet policies.  Buyers are advised to verify pet information with current property management companies before making a decision to purchase or rent.  

Friday my husband Don and I were headed down to the Sand Bar beach after work on the Pelican Bay tram.  I recently purchased a Flip video and I had it with me.  I managed to capture this video of an alligator attempting to have an Egret dinner. You can see how big the alligator is in this video. I have NEVER seen an alligator jump such as this one did!  Just click on the white triangle to start the video. 

I am thrilled to be able to take videos and post them to not only this blog but also on Facebook. Speaking of which.........

Are you a member of Facebook?  Login in or sign up and join the Pelican Bay in Naples, Florida a Beach Neighborhood Group on Facebook.  Feel free to posts photos, videos and experiences about Pelican Bay. Start discussions on items of importance to you about our community.

The old Albertson's at the Market Place at Pelican Bay has been sitting vacant since Albertson's closed its doors last year.

The Naples Daily News reported in Tim Aten's In the Know column that Publix plans to open its first hybrid organic supermarket concept in Naples. This new store will combine a Green Wise Market with a traditional Publix grocery store. 

In this new store, there will be a prepared foods and cafe section where shoppers can purchase freshly made selections to take home or eat in the store.  Unfortunately for Pelican Bay residents, the store will not open until the second half of 2010. 

The new Silverspot movie theater opened recently in the Mercato.  I have yet to visit the new theater but from what I have read it sounds like a pretty classy place.  Silverspot has 11 theaters, a restaurant and a lounge.  Its theater's boast leather seats.  Prices of $15.00 for an adult ticket reflect the opulence of the place.  I will have to report back once I actually enjoy an evening there.

The Naples Board of Realtors recently released the home sale statistics for August 2009. Not surprisingly, the HUGE majority of pending and closed sales are all under $300,000.00.

It appears that someone put a screeching halt to real estate activity just before Labor Day.  September is normally a slow month. Now that I have a bit of extra time on my hands, I decided to start exercising again!  Go figure that I decide to start exercising during the time the Fitness Center is closed.  I could have used this as an excuse to postpone my exercise but I decided to use the workout room in my subdivisions until the Fitness Center reopens on September 24th.  Wish me luck!

Do you have a friend who owns a pet and wants to buy in Pelican Bay?  Have them take a look at each subdivision's pet restrictions on this page.

Are you a member of Facebook?  Login in or sign up and join the Pelican Bay in Naples, Florida a Beach Neighborhood Group on Facebook.  Feel free to posts photos, videos and experiences about Pelican Bay. Start discussions on items of importance to you about our community.