Cape Coral Fort Myers Real Estate in South West Florida

Cape Coral suspends SW 6/7 utility project at council meeting

At the last minute, Cape Coral pulled the plug on the SW 6/7 utility expansion.

Click here for the article.

SW 6/7 Impact Fees due upfront

South West 6/7 utility owners may realize there is a difference in the way impact fees are handled. Traditionally, in the last few assessment areas, the impact fee was due when an improved property connected to the system. That impact fee is currently $6750. Since this was seen as somewhat of a hardship for home owners to come up with the impact fee, the city decided to roll that impact fee into the assessments on the tax bill. So now, property owners in Southwest 6/7 for a standard lot, will have assessments of $10,291, PLUS the impact fee of $6750. This total of $17,041 can be paid in full or financed. For homeowners, this is nice because they will not have to come up with money at once. This is not such a good deal for lot owners, who will have the extra burden of paying an impact fee, while there is no structure on the property.

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Lee County to expedite foreclosures

Lee County has been turning out 2,000 foreclosures cases per month, however, they are backlogged 29,000 cases, so in December 2008, they are scheduling 6,000 cases.  Click here to read the article.

Question & Answer: Short Sale

Question:

Andy, does a short sale usually end up becoming a bankruptcy, if it doesn't sell as such? There is a house at 15040 Whimbrel Ct, Peppertree Pt, Ft. Myers that I think sounds like a good price and location at $259,900. However, I read that the majority of short sales do not really close for that low price.

Answer:

Great question.  A short doesnt necessarily mean it will turn into a foreclosure. The seller may be just trying to get out from a big loan by doing a short sale, and when they discover they cant, they dont end of up foreclosing, although most short sales do end up foreclosing. Once foreclosed, the house can sell at the court house, and not become a bank owned properrty. If no one buys it at the courthouse, and it becomes a bank owned, the bank can liquidate it in different ways. They may sell them in bulk, sell them to inside folks at the bank, or list it for sale on the market.

The thing to remember about short sales, is the list price for a short sale is a fantasy number. It is a guess by the listing agent at what the bank could agree to, if the bank decides to entertain a short sale. The real number is based on the appraisal done by the bank, months after you submit your offer. Traditionally, listing agents keep this number real low, in order to attract an offer quickly, because an offer is needed in order to start the long process of processing the short sale.

Foreclosures not counted in County Assessments

Wow, I bought a foreclosure at a deep discount, my taxes should go down next year! Not so fast. State regulations bar counties from factoring in foreclosures and other distressed sales in which the seller is forced to accept less money than the market price. Next year, assessed values will be determined by non foreclosed sales, which are currently a very large piece of the overall sales. Short sales are not specified in state laws, so counties can use them for their computations, as Lee County has expressed recently they are going to use them. Assessors across Florida have asked the state Department of Revenue for a clear ruling on how to handle short sales.

Brought to you by the South West Florida Fort Myers Cape Coral Real Estate Blog 

NBC Nightly News Broadcast sparks interest

NBC Nightly News ran a story on foreclosures, and highlighted Cape Coral as an area where prices have caused a frenzy among buyers where properties are getting multiple offers.  Click the link below for the Broadcast:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/vp/27087106#27087106

Southwest 6/7 Utility expansion revving up

Notices of the proposed assessment should reach the 6,200 residents in this area shortly. For a standard lot, the assessments are going to be $10,200 for water, sewer and irrigation lines. Construction should begin in November 2008, and go until June 2010. Owners will also have to pay a $6,750 impact fee and $500 hook-up fee.

 

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