Nov

What If The Real Estate Market Really Is Getting Better?

The Bonita Springs Real Estate Market’s Slow & Steady Recovery

After showing property in Gateway, Fort Myers last weekend, I passed Germain Arena in Estero while driving down the interstate. There was an RV show that was in progress and they had filled the lot with campers and RV’s. They were parked everywhere. As I drove by going precisely the speed limit I thought to myself I wonder if RV salespeople get asked how business is.

If I’m at a get together, Rotary meeting or whatever the event may be and someone knows or finds out that I’m a Bonita Springs real estate agent they always ask, “How’s the market?” or “Can people still get loans?” However they phrase the question it is usually punctuated with some sort of tone of pity. They may as well ask, “Is the market so bad that you’re standing in a soup line, yet?”

So as I pass the herd of recreational vehicles patiently waiting for their new owners I wonder what it’s like for the salesmen working that show. I’m sure the recreational vehicle industry took a punch in the gut this year. I mean it has been one of the worst years in American history for fuel prices and with the economy slowing people may be thinking twice before spending their hard earned cash on big ticket items. Everyone has tightened their belt a notch or two, right?

Then again, maybe I’m just using supposition like people do that ask me how business is. Maybe we all watch a little too much television and take the advice of strangers too seriously. We let their opinion and rhetoric determine how our lives and our businesses will unfold instead of just living.

Sheeple. A local restaurant owner I was speaking with called it the Sheeple Syndrome, a condition where people are blindly being herded like sheep. He said people keep hearing the same crappy news and they’ve been influenced into depression or at least a pretty bad case of the Monday’s. They’ve been convinced that things are bad and have forgotten that it won’t be that way forever.

I realized rather quickly that the snap judgment I made about the RV’s was probably Sheeple thinking. Just like real estate I’m sure there have been pricing adjustments and incentives that help people find the value and fuel the desire to own a new RV.

You know, just like real estate, if a person is at a position or an age in their life when they will have the time and means to purchase and enjoy a recreational vehicle shouldn’t they enjoy their life? Tour the country or just the state like they always wanted to do?

It’s the same with real estate. If you’ve worked an entire lifetime with the goal of enjoying retirement in Florida would you not move because everyone says the economy is bad? Probably not. You’d find a deal and “get your retirement on” instead of being miserable and cold somewhere up north wringing your hands over what everyone else is telling you to worry about.

Real estate has been selling and RV’s probably have been too.

Just last week I was listing a home in Estero and told the sellers that there was a little over twelve months of inventory in their neighborhood. Their initial reaction was disappointment. I interrupted that thought right away and told them that twelve months is actually good news. It had been as high as three and a half years. Their neighborhood is balancing out and with their home priced effectively it will likely sell this season.

These sellers had heard so much negative information about the Bonita Springs Florida real estate market that they never considered that it is ever changing and not going to be the same forever. When everyone was being distracted by bad news inventory was selling off and adjusting. There are not fireworks and streamers going off but as a whole things continue to move and improve.

Maybe when you weren’t looking things could have improved a little in your market area, too. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you should fake it till you make it or ignore the struggle if your market is experiencing it. I’m saying that whether you’re a consumer, home owner, buyer or an agent, if you find that you’re being negative you should probably check the facts and figures again to make sure you have current information. It might be time to have your wool sheared.

Real Life in Bonita Springs is a project by Chris Griffith dedicated to writing useful blog posts for consumers about the Bonita Springs, Florida area. Find out what it is really like to live in Bonita Springs, Florida by reading about our fair city. You’ll get the latest in local real estate information, Bonita Springs real estate market reports and a little bit of humor. If you have topic ideas, feel free to request a story about the idea, after all, this site is just for you.

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