What's Happening In Paradise?

Things got quiet around here pretty quickly this year...the seasonal snowbirds hung in longer than usual, possibly because of the later than normal Easter, plus the inclement weather up north...but, all of a sudden, in the past week or so, it has gotten very quiet. We didn't 'ease' into summer...it just kinda' happened one day. I found myself driving on an otherwise busy road this morning without another car in sight! Hello, where is everybody? The locals just finished celebrating the annual Naples City Fest which culminated on Saturday with The Great Dock Canoe Race...There are a lot of really neat things to do in Naples this time of year, and the weather is absolutely perfect! The glorious Royal Poinciana trees, the Jacarandas and the Tabebuia [see inset] trees are all in full bloom! People that leave before mid-May never get the treat of viewing these amazing flowering trees in person! I showed property over the weekend to a couple staying at The Residence Inn and they told me they were the only 'non-European' visitors at the hotel! Yes, we Neapolitans are getting ready for summertime...

Here are a few local Naples real estate statistics that I thought you might find interesting:

• Presently there are 6,717 Active Listings in the Naples area MLS. 2,996 of them are priced at or below $300,000. 1,152 are priced at or above $1 million, and only 612 of them are 'short sales'.
• Currently there are 2,359 homes & condos under contract [pending, or active with contingencies].
• There have been 3,438 closed sales year to date. Of those, 295 have been Previews properties: those listed at or above $1 million, and 2,321 of the 3,438 closed sales were listed below $300,000 which is approximately 67% of the closings.
• Short Sales get a lot of press, but only 13% of the total closings year to date were listed in MLS as short sales. In addition, only 11 total closings priced above $1 million were short sales!
• Of the 932 closings last month, nearly 700 were cash buyers!

I suggest you take advantage of this time of year, and come back to Naples to look around. The hotels and restaurants offer some fabulous discounts...the weather is beautiful, and there are some amazing real estate opportunities!

We look forward to hearing from you soon, and hope to earn your business. Make it a great day,

The Naples Real Estate Blogger

*info is derived from the local Naples sunshine MLS and is deemed accurate.