It was another good real estate week on Sanibel Island and SanibelSusan was lucky on Sunday to get a call from prospective buyers wanting to look at one of my listings. “Sure I work on Sunday”, was the answer to their first question. The showing turned out well, with them under contract within hours to purchase the property. That doesn’t happen very often, but it sure is fun when it does!
Island Weather
We got a chance to pull out our Florida sweaters yesterday, when evening temperatures dropped into the low 60’s on island, the 50’s across the pond. The cool front began on Wednesday with some heavy breezes, which prompted our local TV weatherman to call these “wind chill” temperatures. That terminology gave me a chuckle. We Maine girls know all about wind chill! It is back into the low 80’s this afternoon, so was a short-lived cool front.
Here are a couple of photos taken at Mariner Pointe by our photographer, Jim Anderson with JMA Photography, www.ImagesforSuccess.com.
Mariner Pointe’s private fishing pier
Mariner Pointe dockage, near Sanibel Marina
Thursday Realtor Caravan
The Sanibel and Captiva Islands Association of Realtors® Caravan meeting yesterday was well attended with more new listings and sales announced, as the below report describes. Here’s a Sanibel market summary, which continues to illustrate that real estate continues to rebound, mostly with homes, but condos are finally moving better too.
Notice how the days-on-market (“DOM”) are lowest for the properties that are under contract (or “Closings pending”). That indicates that the newer more correctly priced listings are selling.
SANIBEL Condos Homes Lots
No. Avg Price DOM No. Avg Price DOM No. Avg Price DOM
For sale 138 728,783 444 165 1,267,300 365 83 691,519 856
Closings pending: 11 569,082 148 20 809,640 195 4 295,639 352
Sold & closed:
2013 thru 11/15 149 572,002 337 182 918,509 288 22 449,730 464
2012 151 551,244 407 183 823,598 289 33 487,687 521
2011 142 591,861 325 179 826,130 369 19 363,729 491
Note: “For sale” & “Closings pending” prices are asking prices.
Jumbo Mortgages Get Cheaper Than Other Mortgages
The article below was posted Wed on “Daily Real Estate News”. It is sourced to CNNMoney, “Rich people are getting mortgages cheaper than you.”
“In an unusual move, jumbo mortgages are becoming a bigger bargain over conforming loans.
Lenders are offering jumbo mortgages at lower rates — more than a quarter of a percentage point — than conforming loans that are backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, CNNMoney reports. “The government-run agencies require conforming loans to be below $417,000, unless they are for homes in high-cost areas like New York or Los Angeles, where the limit is $625,500,” CNNMoney reports. Generally, banks charge higher rates on jumbo mortgages, typically about a quarter of a percentage point more than conforming loans, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. But recently that has reversed.
“For example, Wells Fargo is offering a 30-year jumbo mortgage rate this week at 4.125%. In comparison, it is offering a 30-year fixed-rate conforming mortgage at 4.5%. US Bank is offering a jumbo mortgage rate for 3.875%, compared with 4.25% for a conforming loan. “Never in my memory have jumbos been such a bargain,” Peter Grabel, a loan officer at Luxury Mortgage Corp. in Stamford, Ct., told CNNMoney.”
Florida’s Foreclosure Rate Again No. 1, But That’s OK
FloridaRealtors® on-line posted this article yesterday, sourced to the “Tampa Tribune”. I didn’t like the title much, but after reading the article, it makes sense.
“Florida reclaimed the title of America’s foreclosure capital last month, but it’s partly because of a positive development: Lenders are taking more homes to foreclosure auctions, the real estate analytics firm RealtyTrac says.
“A rush of home investors has created a strong market for foreclosed homes, which is encouraging lenders to sell them through clerk of court auctions, RealtyTrac says. Eventually that should help lenders clear out their huge backlog of homes in foreclosure and those banks already have repossessed.
Florida previously ranked second to Nevada in foreclosures, but the Sunshine State pulled ahead of Nevada in October, according to RealtyTrac, which lists foreclosed homes for sale. One in every 332 homes in Florida last month received some type of foreclosure filing, whether it was an initial foreclosure notice, a notice of court auction or repossession by a lender. Nevada’s foreclosure rate was 1 in 407 homes.
“The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area ranked fifth in the country in foreclosures among large metropolitan areas last month, with 1 in 302 homes getting some kind of foreclosure filing.
“Things might not be as bad locally as those national rankings suggest.
“First, Florida always looks bad in foreclosure rankings because foreclosures here have to wind their way through the court system; some other states have speedier, nonjudicial foreclosures. Those states have cleared their backlog of foreclosures, RealtyTrac Vice President Daren Blomquist said.
“Lenders also seem to be more willing to sell homes in foreclosure lately instead of allowing foreclosures to linger in the court system. In Florida, the number of notices of foreclosure sale – in which lenders schedule a foreclosure auction through the clerk of court – reached a three-year high in October, Blomquist said. Lenders filed 11,606 notices of foreclosure sale in Florida last month.”
Sanibel & Captiva Islands Multiple Listing Service Activity from November 8-15
Sanibel
CONDOS
7 new listings: Sundial #H203 2/2 $475K, Sunset South #6A 2/2 $520K, Sandalfoot #4D2 2/2 $649K, Sunset South #14A 2/2 $729K, Pointe Santo #C25 3/2 $895K, By-the-Sea #102 2/2 $1.295M, Seascape #204 3/3.5 $1.995M.
3 price changes: Spanish Cay #A6 1/1 now $274.9K, Sanibel Arms West #G7 2/2 now $525K, Pointe Santo #B45 2/2 now $749K.
1 new sale: Mariner Pointe #1013 2/2 listed for $399K.
3 closed sales: Blind Pass #E207 2/2.5 $350K, Mariner Pointe #733 2/2 $350K, Sunward #301 3/2 $1.79.5M.
HOMES
3 new listings: 977 Black Skimmer Way 3/2 $599.9K, 475 Sea Oats Dr 3/3 $875K, 836 Birdie View Pt 3/3 $1.189M.
4 price changes: 617 East Rocks Dr 3/2 now $609.9K, 450 Leather Fern Pl 3/2 now $629K, 1444 Causey Ct 4/4 now $1.1M, 1349 Eagle Run Dr 3/2.5 now $1.245M.
5 new sales: 659 Donax St 2/2 listed for $449K (our listing), 1655 Sand Castle Rd 2/3 listed for $449K, 9405 Beverly Ln 3/2 listed for $695K, 991 Whelk Dr 4/3 listed for $1.195M. Without contingencies: 340 Cowry Ct 5/3.5 listed for $1.079M.
2 closed sales: 470 Lake Murex Cir 3/2 $485K, 1014 S Yachtsman Dr 3/2 $542.5K.
LOTS
No new listings.
1 price change: 3351 Saint Kilda Rd now $349,555.
1 new sale: 1402 Middle Gulf Dr listed for $349K.
1 closed sale: 1307 Par View Dr $230K.
Captiva
CONDOS
1 new listing: Bayside Villas #4114 1/2 $275K.
No price changes.
1 new sale: Tennis Villas #3121 1/1 listed for $225K.
No closed sales.
HOMES
Nothing to report.
LOTS
Nothing to report.
This representation is based in whole or in part on data supplied by the Sanibel & Captiva Islands Association of Realtors or its Multiple Listing Service. Neither the association nor its MLS guarantees or is in any way responsible for its accuracy. Data maintained by the association or its MLS may not reflect all real estate activity in the market. The information provided represents the general real estate activity in the community and does not imply that SanibelSusan Realty Associates is participating or participated in these transactions. If your property currently is listed with another broker, this is not intended as a solicitation of that listing.
Island wishes for a weekend of sunny days! SanibelSusan