What are buyers looking for in Cape Coral? (Lee: sales, foreclosure)

[SellinginFL]

Have had our house on the market for almost 3 months with less than a handful of showings, even over the course of two price drops. I understand that it's summer and our agent most likely priced us too high to begin with but are people from out of town just not looking because of the red tide and blue-green algae issues affecting the area? Our agent claims we're priced right (now, thanks lady!), that it's just slow because of summer but still buyers must certainly exist? Buyers, if you're out there, what are you looking for? Are you looking for a certain number of bedrooms? Pool, no pool? A certain section of town (we're NW Cape)? A certain price range? And when it comes to price, are you looking at all houses up to a certain amount or plugging in your lowest and highest values and not considering things under a certain amount (i.e., you only look for houses over $300k)? What about signs of pets? Is seeing pictures of pets on the walls in a house off-putting and assume that since a pet lived there at some point that the house must smell of said pet? Really just trying to get a better idea of what people are actually looking for in the market today to see where we might be able to improve. Thanks!

[Billy32]

I am looking but I am also in no hurry. I want a 3 bed/2-2.5 bath plus den pool home on a canal. The biggest thing for me is the prices. Everyone is pricing in their profit. The only problem is that you can go to any number of builders and build for less than most people are asking. There are still a lot of sub 100k lots in the NW. I see houses listed for over 600k and have a quote from a builder for that exact house, all in for under 500k.

The other thing that gives me pause is property taxes and the valuations I see out there. It is a totally voluntary tax. I have seen some houses with 8-10k in taxes. I really don't want to pay that much. I can afford it but it is just the principle. I can semi-justify it though because it would save me 5k a year in marina fees.

I am going to wait out the fall and see what the annual influx does. If sales are still slow I will wait for the prices to drop. If movement picks up I will buy a lot and build sometime next year. If interest rates continue to rise I expect a further softening so I am not to worried about missing the lower rates. Make it up with lower prices or more builder incentives. From what I have read foreclosure starts are up, inventory is rising in general, and mortgage applications are down. I think we are at a top and although I don't think we will crash I do think there is room for prices to come down. Honestly, there is one with no dock that sold last August for 368k and now they want 450k. 22% in one year. Somebody might be a sucker but it ain't me. And if I'm wrong I will just rent.

[chiluvr1228]

My concern in the NW part of the Cape is whether or not the utility expansion had already been done. Also between some seawalls collapsing after Irma and the algae and red tide I don't think I would be buying on a canal.


Billy are you serious with taxes of $8-10K? Is that the assessment added in there because I can't imagine any house in Lee County with taxes that high unless maybe you had an acre on the Caloosahatchee.

[SellinginFL]

Thanks for the insight, Billy. With regard to the taxes, there are a variety of things that impact the property tax valuation, namely price which translates a lot of times to location in Cape Coral. And, as Chiluvr pointed out, there's the added UEP assessment that often factors in if people have elected to roll the cost into their property taxes rather than fork over $20k. Another factor is that the property tax listed might not be the one you yourself would be paying as the buyer because full-time residents are eligible for homestead exemptions and if they previously had another homesteaded property and moved somewhere else in FL, they could have been eligible for portability (Save Our Homes benefit) which would further lower what they pay over what the next buyer would ever pay.

For example, I just looked up one property in the SW Cape that is on a canal and owned by an out-of-state party with taxes of almost $8K and looked around my neighborhood where we have one full-time resident with portability and homestead who only pays $2k/yr off-canal and another neighbor on a canal with homestead and portability that pays $2500/yr in property taxes. We also do not expect UEP in our area until roughly 2028 last I heard.

And I agree that people are just trying to price in their profit. As we're selling, I've been keeping an eye on the market and noticed one house that was just bought in May 2017 now being sold for $50k more than they paid for it. And it certainly didn't look like they put in any work over the past year to justify that price.

[Beak Boater]

Usually if its priced right....it sells......and quickly. Have had two sets of friends who built new homes and sold existing homes on dry lots. The longest either was on the market was 3 weeks. Summer is slower, snowbirds will start showing up soon. Sit on it and wait until then...maybe you will have more interest. Sales are driven by Comparable homes in your area and what they sold for. If you are priced a lot higher than a the comps. it may take a while.

[Marc Middleton]

Guys, taxes are based on what you pay. Disregard what ever the current owner is paying, it doesn't apply to you.

If you're eliminating homes because of high taxes then you are eliminating homes for no reason. Sure there could be special assessment taxes/CDD fees, but the 'property tax' bill is not really relevant to you.

In SW Florida, taxes are about 1.5%-1.7% of the sales price if you homestead and about 1.9%-2% if you do not homestead. (investors/2nd homes).

So that $10k tax bill is probably on a $500k house from an investor.

[Taratova]

Originally Posted by chiluvr1228

My concern in the NW part of the Cape is whether or not the utility expansion had already been done. Also between some seawalls collapsing after Irma and the algae and red tide I don't think I would be buying on a canal.


Billy are you serious with taxes of $8-10K? Is that the assessment added in there because I can't imagine any house in Lee County with taxes that high unless maybe you had an acre on the Caloosahatchee.

Tax Office said that having the water pipes done will add another $25,000 assessment value for the improvement to all homes which will be pushing up the tax bill . We have to pay for the pipes and then pay for the value of that improvement in our taxes.. they get us coming and going. We have no choice , it is mandated.

[FLHfan]

Originally Posted by Marc Middleton

Guys, taxes are based on what you pay. Disregard what ever the current owner is paying, it doesn't apply to you.

If you're eliminating homes because of high taxes then you are eliminating homes for no reason. Sure there could be special assessment taxes/CDD fees, but the 'property tax' bill is not really relevant to you.

In SW Florida, taxes are about 1.5%-1.7% of the sales price if you homestead and about 1.9%-2% if you do not homestead. (investors/2nd homes).

So that $10k tax bill is probably on a $500k house from an investor.

All true. Most people I know in Florida can multiply the sale price of their house X .015 (homesteaded - no special assessments) to get a really close estimate of their taxes. This can fluctuate some with location. I know this works on houses priced 250K to 450K. I haven't been able to test it with more expensive homes.

[Billy32]

Originally Posted by FLHfan

All true. Most people I know in Florida can multiply the sale price of their house X .015 (homesteaded - no special assessments) to get a really close estimate of their taxes. This can fluctuate some with location. I know this works on houses priced 250K to 450K. I haven't been able to test it with more expensive homes.

It is even easier than that. Go to leepa.org, type in the property address you are considering, and then hit the tax estimator button. Anything over 500k or so comes up to 8-10k in property taxes, even with homestead.

[Marc Middleton]

Originally Posted by Billy32

It is even easier than that. Go to leepa.org, type in the property address you are considering, and then hit the tax estimator button. Anything over 500k or so comes up to 8-10k in property taxes, even with homestead.

Right, 1.7% is about $8500 on a $500k place :-) So if no homestead, they'd be at around 10k/year in property taxes.

About middle of the road in this country.