Editor's Letter

More choices. better values. purchase incentives. Negotiating power. Could we possibly be talking about buying a home in Southwest Florida? Yes, and while some in the industry look at the cooling housing market as a time for panic, buyers who are seeking permanent residence in Lee and Collier counties have the advantage for the first time since the real estate boom of 2005.

At that time, investors swooped in and bought Southwest Florida homes at preconstruction prices and then flipped them for a nice profit when they sold the homes shortly after they were built. These stealth investors scooped up the majority of the supply.

"The investors really did raise the demand and raise the prices," says Krista Goede, a real estate agent with Amerivest Realty of Naples, who has been selling in Naples for six years.

So builders responded with more supply, but the demanding investors are done buying, says Stock Development's Lindsey Owen, director of marketing and public relations. "Those investors have invested, and now they're gone," she says. "It's absolutely a buyer's market right now."

Sales this summer may have slowed about 30 percent in Lee County and about 50 percent in Collier, but today's buyers have "an awesome amount of property available in Naples," says Goede. "If you went into a community a year ago, there may have been only five houses available. Now there are 40."

Prices slowly began dropping in Lee and Collier this summer, prompting developers, builders and sellers of all types to start offering incentives to entice buyers.

"I've seen sellers offering to pay closing costs; some developments are offering too-good-to-be-true interest rates (Lennar offered 1.25 percent for 12 months for homes purchased in August); and they're offering lots of free upgrades-like $10,000 worth of upgrades," says Goede. "I've also seen vacations and other giveaways."

Companies like Stock Development are building communities that offer more amenities and choices. Paseo in Fort Myers includes a town center with an Irish pub, an Internet café and a spa. The Stock community will also include a variety of home styles, such as condos, townhomes, single-family houses and estates.

"Everybody's doing what they can to get the end user," Owen says. "The end user will get more attention, a better price-a fair market-value price."

In this issue of Gulfshore Life's Homebuyer, you'll find lots of options in our Community Listings (p. 116), with details on homes in more than 150 Lee and Collier communities. You'll also find the most beautifully designed homes in our region, with our annual list of award winners, and our favorite picks out of that lot: The Ultimate Rooms (p. 60).

In this gorgeous region of the county, with its continued emphasis on high-end design and lots of motivated sellers, now's the time to get serious about buying. "Get out there and dig in," Goede says. "Hit the ground and look. There are some excellent buys out there."

We couldn't have said it better. Happy hunting.

-Shellie Benson