Naples Real Estate Podcast with Vincent Napoleon

The holidays are here and we wanted to give you and your family our best. Here’s our message. Today we’re greeting you on a very balmy day at Mediterra, one of the preeminent golf clubs in Naples. Christmas is coming, and we wanted to wish you all the happiest of holiday seasons this year. If you’re planning a trip down here anytime soon, reach out because we’d love to see you. We’ll even get you a free round of golf (on Kimberly, of course). Happy Holidays!

Thanksgiving is here and we wanted to let you know how grateful we are for you and your support this year and every year. It’s the Thanksgiving season here in Naples and we’re so thankful to be here this year as a team. We’re also very thankful to you for your support for our business. We’ve had an amazing year and it’s all thanks to you. We hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving with friends and family. If you ever have any questions about real estate, please feel free to reach out by phone or email. We would love to help you!

Today we’re sharing some upcoming seasonal events in Naples that you won’t want to miss! The holidays are approaching, so we wanted to share some events happening in Naples this season. Also, welcome back all of you who leave in the summer and come back in the winter—we’re happy to have you! -Naples Boat Parade: The Christmas boat parade is incredible. All the boats are lit up at night, they come through Naples Bay, and they even have a bourbon tasting boat. Don’t miss it on December 14. -Third street Christmas tree lighting ceremony: They make it snow (fake snow) and you can play in the snow in your shorts. “Welcome back all of you who leave in the summer and come back in the winter!” -Night Lights - Naples Botanical Garden: This awesome event runs from November 29 through January 1. They light up everything in the gardens. Bring the family, because it’s one of the loveliest things to see in Naples.  -Venitian Village’s Christmas tree lighting. For the second part of today’s video, starting at 2:02, we filmed our visit to Dolce & Salato—Vincent’s favorite Italian restaurant. Owner Natasha is from the northern part of Italy, her business partner Agostino is from Rome, and they have owned the restaurant for eight years. They try to keep with Italian traditions. They are usually open for breakfast and lunch, but during the holiday season, they’ll be open in the evenings on weekends as well. They are located on the corner of third and fifth. Check it out! If you’ve never been here before, reach out to us and we can let you know what’s going on and where. If you have any questions about real estate, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We would love to help you!  

Today we’re going to discuss bridge loans, a wonderful program that Compass just launched recently. We are not lenders—we are Compass, a nationwide real estate company. We’re currently valued at around $6 billion and we’re debt-free. Because of that, we have some incredible programs that no other real estate companies offer, including bridge loans. A bridge loan bridges the gap between the buyer and the seller. Let’s say you are buying a new home but your current house is for sale and hasn’t received an offer yet. We provide you a bridge loan that allows you to buy the home you want, then we can sell the home that you already own. We also pay all fees and expenses for the first six months, so you don’t have to worry about anything. And usually, your house will sell quicker than six months.  Our new program has launched nationwide. It’s wonderful because many investors come in with cash and buy the homes you may want. This way you have the freedom to sort of buy it with cash, not worry about having to sell your house first, and you can move into your new home immediately.  “We have some incredible programs that no other real estate companies offer.” Currently, inventory across the country is down, and more listings are needed nationwide. We’re heading into a seller’s market, and in that market, you’ve got to act hastily and be the first one with an offer, and this bridge loan allows you to be aggressive.  We have vetted many different lenders so that when someone’s interested in the program we can present them with a group of lenders that they can choose from to work with. You can work with whoever you want, but not everyone does bridge loans. Like any other loan, you have to apply for it and have a decent credit score, much of it will depend on the equity of the home you want to sell and the one you’re moving into. This is a great opportunity! Interest rates are historically low, it looks as though there’s going to be other rate cuts coming soon, and 2020 is an election year, so various things are happening. All the more reason a bridge loan makes sense!  If you have any questions about the Bridge Loan Program or real estate, in general, please don’t hesitate to call or email us. We would love to help you!  

What has our team been doing while Vincent is away? See for yourself with this message. Vincent is away right now on a motorcycle trip; and as the saying goes, “While the cat is away, the mice will play.” Our team works hard and plays hard, and so we wanted to take this opportunity to show you what goes on behind the scenes at our office. Simply put: There’s never a dull moment around here, but you’ll see what we mean when you check out today’s message. Of course, we always have time for you. So if you ever have any questions about real estate or would like more information about how we can help you meet your goals, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon. Join me on Pelaton: KimberlyNaples

Today let’s take a look at how the Naples-area market has changed since last year. In today’s market report for the summer of 2019, we first want to clear up the misconception that summer is a slow time for the Naples market. People tend to believe that nobody buys in the summer and that you can only list your house in the winter months because that’s when everybody is here, but that’s just not true. As of July 2019, our agents have had 17,000 appointments to show various properties in the Naples area, which is fantastic. To dig even deeper into that, we also found that each buyer averaged 17 showings before making a purchase. Keep that in mind if you haven’t found the right home by your fifth or so home tour. For inventory, we had about 5,200 homes on the market in July this year, including condos and single-family homes. Our current list-to-sold ratio in the market is 96%, and our list-to-sales price ratio was 90%. Kimberley and I happen to get an average of 97% of the listing price for our sellers, which is a pretty good market total. “Overall, our market is really on an upswing.” In July, we closed 435 single-family home sales and 394 condo sales. Overall, sellers added 935 new listings to the market. The interesting part about that is that even with 935 new listings, the influx of new buyers entering the market meant that we sold all those homes—inventory simply could not keep up with all those buyers. Needless to say, buyer activity is super strong.  The median sale price for condos in the Naples Beach area increased by 27%, going from $497,000 all the way up to $632,000 in just a year.  In July 2018, we had a total of 774 home sales; this year, however, we had 829 sales, which is a 7.1% increase year over year. On a related note, single-family closed sales increased by 14.5% year over year, but closed condo sales remained flat at 394 both this and last July. So overall, our market is really on an upswing. For the most part, pricing really hasn’t changed much except for the high-end condo segment mentioned earlier. Single-family home sales have either remained steady or have gone up, and because of limitations on the amount of land available, many are knocking down old homes and building new ones in their place. We’re looking forward to a great September market, which is typically the slowest month we experience, but we’ve already got a few closings coming up for the month. If you’re looking to buy or sell in the Naples area, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We hope to hear from you soon!

Today Mayor Bill Barnett joins us for an exclusive interview to discuss some exciting upcoming events this month and a few citywide issues you might find interesting.  Follow along in the video above to see our full discussion. We’ve also provided timestamps so you can skip to various sections at your convenience: 1:04—What’s the status of the Old Naples Hotel?3:02—Has there been a resolution to the halted project in Crayton Cove?4:31—What’s happening right now in Naples that the mayor is most excited about? What’s happening that he’s most concerned about?4:56—A tremendous reconstruction growth spurt, the opening of Baker Park, and the opening of the 8th Street corridor6:04—A timeline of the 8th Street corridor project6:49—An update on the gas line project in Aqualane Shores 7:29—Wrapping things up If you have any questions about anything we talked about or you have any real estate needs we can take care of, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’d love to help you.    

Our team recently put an incredible property under contract for $5.2 million within just eight days of it being on the market, and we see this as a testament to just how effective our approach to real estate truly is.  With that said, allow us to tell you a little more about this great property. 3215 Crayton Road is a 2-story, 5,700-square foot home with plenty of space and amenities both inside and out. You can watch a full tour of this fabulous home in today’s video starting at 2:19. If you have any other questions or would like more information about how we help buyers and sellers achieve their real estate goals, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.   

The Southwest Florida Sizzle is a 14-day, semi-annual, charity-driven event that gives locals (and visitors) the chance to channel their inner foodie and try all the restaurants on their wish list. This year, the Sizzle will be held from May 30 to June 12. During this fantastic event, every restaurant from Cape Coral all the way to Marco Island and everywhere in between will participate in preparing some excellent lunches and dinners for a great cause. For every lunch or dinner purchased through the program, a dollar of the proceeds goes toward a scholarship fund for the Hospitality program at Florida Gulf Coast University. “For every lunch or dinner purchased through the program, a dollar of the proceeds goes toward a scholarship fund for the Hospitality program at Florida Gulf Coast University” The Southwest Florida Sizzle program helps to educate students about the restaurant business, and some of the finest restaurants in Naples are then able to hire locally when they graduate from Florida Gulf Coast University. Click here to see a list of all the participating restaurants; there are almost too many to choose from! Or if you’d like to join us for an outing at one of these great establishments, feel free to give us a call or send an email. We hope to hear from you soon!

When a buyer is interested in a home, they sometimes think that they’ll only have to deal with the agent who is responsible for that listing. We receive calls all the time from clients who only want to speak with the listing agent. In general, buyers need to be better educated about what each agent’s role in their transaction will be. A buyer’s agent is one who works for the buyer, but who gets paid by the seller.  When we take a listing, we’re representing the seller’s interest. Our job for them is to get them the highest possible price in the shortest amount of time. But as a buyer’s agent, our job would be to fight to get you the best price, terms, and conditions. Listing agents can’t, therefore, fill both roles. “You’ll want to speak with someone who is removed from the listing agent, since their job is to represent only the best interests of the seller.” Agents on either side of a transaction have a somewhat adversarial relationship with each other. That’s why we negotiate separately.  So if you’re on the internet to shop for homes, reach out to us. Let us represent you as the buyer, because our job is to get you the lowest possible price, make sure you’re getting the correct inspections, and more. You’ll want to speak with someone who is removed from the listing agent, since their job is to represent only the best interests of the seller. Here in Naples, we often do represent both sides, but this is doable in a team setting—where one of our agents represents the seller, another can represent the buyer. We would be working as what is called a transaction broker, which is something we’ve done in the case of, for example, a divorced couple. Ultimately, if you’re interested in a listing, it’s in your best agent to contact a buyer’s agent before the listing agent. That way, you know that you’re speaking to someone with your best interests at heart. If you have any questions about this or other real estate topics, please feel free to reach out to us. We’d be glad to help you.

Aqualane Shores is in the process of voting for the addition of two great new utilities: gas pipelines and high-speed internet. We’re still stuck with Comcast, but many people need better and faster internet. We’ve negotiated a deal with CenturyLink, who will bring high-speed internet to the entire community. In addition, another company will drill gas pipelines underground. Altogether, the cost would amount to around $1.1 million; however, the internet and gas companies have agreed to pay for almost all of the costs. In the end, our cost will only be about $300,000. This breaks down to $2,693 per single-family home. You can make a one-time payment or have the city of Naples spread it out through your tax bills over four years. If you have a condo, it’d be about $883 altogether. If you have gas already and would just be paying for internet, it’d be $633. If the vote goes through, they’ll be able to start building by fall. “We have high hopes this will be complete by Christmas.” These developments would help incredibly when it comes to resale value, and they would give the community a huge boost. They’ll be very beneficial to you as a homeowner both now and in the future. Naples Council is going through an extensive approval process that we are hoping to be completed by Christmas.  If you have any questions or would like more information, feel free to reach out to us. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

There are plenty of fun things to do here in Naples, and today we just want to share a few local attractions you might enjoy.  Fans of fine dining will find  so many great restaurants here that they’ll never have to visit the same one twice. This past month, for example, a new Rocco’s Tacos opened in Mercato—we went there recently, and it was fantastic. The intersection at 5th Avenue and 3rd Street, in particular, is a hotspot for some great restaurants.  “There are so many great restaurants here that you’ll never have to visit the same one twice.” There are plenty of places for boaters to go, as well. The Hamilton Harbor Yacht Club is a great private club where you can pull your boat into Bay Front. The Dock and The Boathouse are two other great restaurants in that area.  For those looking to move to Naples, our team also has a few great new listings coming on the market soon, including one in Aqualane Shores that’s right on a canal and one on Gordon Street, which is within walking distance to all those great restaurants on 3rd Street.  To learn more about all the great restaurants in our area, I recommend checking out this article from Gulfshore Life.  If you’re interested in our new listings or you have any other questions about our Naples real estate market, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to speak with you.

If you live in Naples or the surrounding area, odds are you’ve been to the Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Club. This resort has been a part of Naples since 1947, and it’s an iconic part of our city.  Last year, though, the Watkins family—the family who had owned the resort since its inception—announced that they were selling the hotel and its surrounding property, including the golf course, to a Phoenix-based development company called The Athens Group, who intended to redevelop it.   Just because we’re in real estate doesn’t mean we’re pro-growth, but we’re very excited about this ongoing project. The Watkins family interviewed hundreds of potential buyers for this property, and we believe The Athens Group is the best candidate possible to update it while maintaining the integrity of historic downtown Naples. Though they’re based in Phoenix, they’ve done some wonderful projects all across the US. “If there is any developer who can come to Naples and do the job that should be done, it’s The Athens Group.” This resort has been here for a long time, and when you’re facing a beach, some wear and tear is inevitable. As of now, there are 319 units, but The Athens Group plans on reducing that to 220, and their new condos will face both the beach side and the golfing side of the hotel. This reduction means that the hotel will be bought by a high-end luxury player. We don’t know who this player is yet, but we think it will be a Four Seasons. Along with restoring the hotel, they plan on preserving the golf course in perpetuity. We’ve spoken to representatives from The Athens Group, and they’re only asking for a couple of building variances, one of which is an 11-foot variance for the ceilings in the condos facing the beach, which we also approve of. On the first floor, they’re building a bowling alley, a kid’s center, and tons of other family-friendly recreational areas.  In addition to the hotel renovation, the landscaping they’re doing throughout the city of Naples and all along the Gulf Shore Boulevard area is second to none. If there is any developer who can come to Naples and do the job that should be done, it’s The Athens Group.  To learn more about this redevelopment project, click here.  If you have any questions about this topic or you have any real estate needs that we can take care of, feel free to call or email us at your leisure. We’d be happy to speak with you.

For many years, I’ve been hosting domicile seminars, which provide information for new residents coming into Florida. I’ve found that there is a misconception that residency in Florida is “six months and one day”—but that’s a fallacy. Your former state probably has a rule that states if you live there for six months and a day, you’ll be considered a full-time resident. But here, residency is about intent, not time spent. Today’s video marks the beginning of a series in which I’d like to clear up these false perceptions about domicile in Florida, starting with a few of the basics. To be considered a full-time resident in Florida, these are a few of the basic things you’ll need to do: Register your automobile Get a Florida driver’s license File a “Declaration of Domicile” form in the county where you’re choosing to live Register to vote in the state of Florida If you’re working, you need to work in the state, or at least establish an office here File for homestead exemption—this is extremely important, and I’ll discuss it in more detail in a future video Enroll your children in a Florida school Pay Florida taxes—the great thing about Florida is that we don’t have any income tax or an estate tax If it’s your intent to make Florida your home, be sure to notify your former state that you’ll no longer be paying taxes in that state, that you’ll be moving to Florida, and that you’ll be filing your next return through Florida. “Today’s video marks the beginning of a series in which I’d like to clear up these false perceptions about domicile in Florida.” Other questions and misconceptions regarding buying or selling a home in Florida, how real estate agents are paid, who gets title insurance, and advanced estate-planning techniques and advanced estate-planning techniques will all addressed in my domicile seminars. I highly encourage you to stay tuned throughout this series, since we’ll go through each topic in detail, some of which will include insight from guest speakers like estate attorneys and lenders. If you have any questions in the meantime, or if you’d like a free copy or PDF of my book, “Declaring Florida Your Domicile: The Dos and Don’ts of Florida Residency”, feel free to reach out to me directly. I’d love to send you a copy.

2018 is finally behind us, which means it’s now time for us to share a quick year-end report on last year’s market trends. Cited below for your convenience are timestamps that will direct you to various points in the video. Feel free to watch the full message or use these timestamps to browse specific topics at your leisure: 0:25 - An introduction to today’s topic 0:40 - Examining total sales for 2018 versus 2017 1:13 - Examining total pending sales and closed sales for 2018 versus 2017 1:31 - Examining the inventory and average days on market for 2018 versus 2017 2:59 - Examining the change in beach property sales from 2018 versus 2017 3:53 - Examining the change in single-family home inventory and sales from 2018 versus 2017 4:36 - Examining the change in condo inventory and sales from 2018 versus 2017 5:55 - Discussing the market’s overall stability 7:14 - Why moving to Naples is more affordable than people may think 7:50 - How past and present market conditions will impact local buyers and sellers If you have any other questions, would like more information, or would like us to send you a hard copy of the statistics we discussed today, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Our company has just begun the bridge loan program—a one-of-a-kind offering and an entirely new and unique service in the real estate industry. If you know anything about financial markets, you know bridge loans are difficult to acquire and are offered by few. If you want to buy a new home and have a home to sell, a bridge loan allows you to purchase the home before selling. Once you move out, we can then take care of the sale. And because we’re using a bridge loan, we have a concierge program we can institute. We take any upfront costs off your hands, covering the painting, cleaning, landscaping, staging, and much more. “A bridge loan allows you to purchase the home before selling.” If you want to learn more about our exciting offer, have any questions, or need more information, feel free to reach out to us. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

We’ve got some really exciting news to share with you today: We have a brand-new concierge program for home sellers. If you want to sell your house, but you think that there’s too much to do in preparation for the sale, we’ll put up the money for it right from the outset. We’ll do all the cleaning, the staging, the lawn care, the painting, and whatever else needs to be done to get your home sold for top dollar. We’re excited to offer this service, and we hope you’ll take advantage of it. To learn more about the program, watch this short video.

The spike in inventory we noticed in October is, I think, a direct reflection of the fact that Hurricane Irma struck last September. Since then, we’ve seen a big shift in our market;  numbers have changed dramatically: Overall inventory is up 20%. We have 5,990 homes currently on the market.  Of those homes, there are about 730 currently pending. Our days on market is down to 93 days, an 11% drop. This is good news for sellers.  For October, we saw 674 overall closed sales. Of those, 366 are single-family homes, and the rest are condominium sales. The median average price of closed sales is about $344,000. Historically in our market, inventory typically spikes in October because most sellers are preparing for what we consider the height of our season, which is right around Thanksgiving. Right after that time is when the most home sales are done, making it a prime time for sellers in Naples. At that point, we’re inundated with the most visitors we’ll have throughout the year. I do, however, see an oversupply of homes, which are basically spec homes (brand-new homes that are completed before they’re sold). The spec home market is geographically specific to the area west of U.S. Route 41 (the Tamiami Trail), which is closest to the Gulf of Mexico. A number of various areas here contain spec homes, including Olde Naples, Aqualane Shore, Port Royal,  and the Moorings in Park Shore and Pelican Bay. The great news is that that market is a $2 million-and-above market. We’ve seen a huge 36% increase in sales there. If you’ve been watching the news, Florida just had an election (like the rest of the country). We now happen to be in the news a little more: Part of our election in Florida included something called Amendment 2, which just passed. “Now sellers in Florida are protected against unchecked tax increases, and people looking for second homes and investment homes can rejoice.” Amendment 2’s passing is great news because it caps the amount of tax that is applied to your home for non-homestead individuals. That means for second-homebuyers, third-homebuyers, and others who aren’t full-time residents won’t have to worry about the taxes for that area going up without an end in sight. Now sellers in Florida are protected against unchecked tax increases, and people looking for second homes and investment homes can rejoice. A really healthy market sits at about 5 to 5.5 months’ worth of homes; we’re currently at 7 to 7.5 months’ worth. As you can see, we’re a little bit higher in terms of inventory. However, some of that is skewed by the fact that there is new development in East Naples and Collier County. Because of that, it would appear we’re moving into a buyer’s market. Now, this can change quickly, as of our year-over-year numbers have gotten significantly better since Hurricane Irma. It took us months to clean up after that, and even today I’m seeing homes that are just now finishing their new roofs and other interior remodeling. In the end, increasing inventory is good, since it means increased sales. If you’re looking for an agent who knows the market in our area, I would love to help you out. Reach out to us here at Napoleon Luxury Real Estate or visit our website to search for homes in the area just like the pros do. I look forward to hearing from you soon!