Fort Myers Beach,has long been a desirable destination for both tourists and homebuyers seeking the quintessential, laid-back Florida lifestyle. However, when hurricane Ian struck on Sept. 28, 2022, that all changed.
Ian covered the entire island with 15-20 feet of surge for hours and CAT 5 windsSome homes stood up against the wrath of not only a CAT 5 hurricane but also the blanket of 15-20 feet of water, while other homes were destroyed. Make no mistake, every structure was impacted in a negative way and this rewrote our future.
The recent trends in our real estate market have shown a noticeable decline in home prices, marking a shift from previous years of steady appreciation. Recently an article was written about the real estate prices on Fort Myers Beach and claimed that the prices were bouncing back yet we have all seen our home values decline. We have seen a decline in home prices of 4% in just the last 30 days. I am not sure where the data was coming from that indicated prices were rising. This simply is not true.
What has created this buyers market? That is a complicated answer. Today, Friday, July 05, 2024, the current average interest rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage is 7.08%, up 8 basis points since the same time last week.
Too much inventory: Currently looking at the zip code 33931 we can see that there are a total of 336 properties for sale. This is made up of 153 homes, 229 condos, 223 lots and 26 multi-family The average days on the market are 110 which is 11.5 months of inventory. The list to sold ratio is 92.2%. So with that inventory, this is what is called a buyers market.
High insurance costs is another reason for declining prices. Governor DeSantis has signed into law several bills that will help control the cost of insurance for homeowners as well as open the market for additional companies to step into the arena and provide the much needed competition in the insurance industry. Many of those changes we will not see until our next policies are renewed but help is on the way.
Next is the snails pace that the island is moving forward. It has been almost 2 years since Ian hit this island and the signs of it are still everywhere. Every street you drive down you will find damaged homes, debris, dead landscaping and trees that have not been removed.
To potential buyers that come to visit the island, they can see the constant reminders of what Ian did to us. I have had friends that were considering buying and after they visited, they changed their mind because of the condition of the island 22 months after Ian.
While the town does constant interviews and has meeting after meeting to discuss the same topics, they seem to allow the island to just sit in disrepair and not push people to either sell or rebuild. They like to write “strong warning letters” while they discuss turtle lights, workforce housing, sand replenishment, the Times Square clock, the size of the pier and approval for all the mega resorts, nothing is discussed about cleaning things up and the safety of this isand. No one wants to own property in a poorly managed town and the priorities are clearly in the wrong places.
Another reason for the home prices to be coming down is the discrepancy in the estimates of homes. I asked a Realtor to give me an example of price comparisons of a random home on the beach. On the Realtor access MLS the RPR it stated this specific home was worth $1,434,000 and on Zillow it was $949,000. Then to complicate this even more, home owners that sell at times will select a Realtor they know that lives in NJ but has a license in Florida or their niece lives in Ft Lauderdale but is a Realtor. While she can write the contract, she clearly wouldn’t know what the market is like on FMB. Others may be licensed but do not belong to the MLS and will look up the home on Zillow to come up with the price.
You could have one home that is renovated and move-in-ready and the house next door could be fine on the top level but the lower level is still destroyed and yet the next house can be just an empty shell and needs everything. Zillow doesn’t know this and will just show that homes that are 1,500 sq ft. sell on average of “X” amount. That is an inaccurate number yet it is affecting the prices of the homes. That is why it is so important to hire an agent that lives on the island and knows all of these conditions in the market, first hand.
Home owners should start holding the town council accountable and demand that this island starts to speed things up. There is no excuse for homes to still be standing when they are clearly destroyed and there is also no reason for us to still have dead trees, piles of debris and dead landscaping.
There are some things that we do not have control over, like the interest rates, but we can control hiring an agent that lives on the island if we decide to sell and holding the town council accountable for allowing this clean-up/rebuild to be moving at such a ridiculously slow pace. They are affecting the prices of the home values and they need to be making better decisions.