Since my last blog only a few weeks ago, not much has changed. Prices are not dropping in a concerning way ( yet ). Here and there we see people lowering their asking process, but this has always happened. People under duress don’t have many choices to attract more buyers than lowering the asking price. This happens all the time and is no clear sign the market is going south. Price reductions are still only a few percents off the initial asking price. So people are asking: What can my money buy right now. Let’s take a look:
Less than $100.000:
This is a momentum for only today. Tomorrow’s numbers can be slightly off. But today there are 299 properties for less than $100.000 for sale in Lee County. This is everything in size, age, and building design and it looks like a lot when looking at it from an investor’s standpoint. Let’s break it down:
Single-family homes for less than $100K:
From the 299 properties mentioned above, only 7 are single-family homes in Lee County. A total of 13 are listed, but the other 6 are in Clewiston, La Belle, Moore Haven, and Punta Gorda. For my research, I will limit my data to Lee County only. That means 7 homes for sale below $100K. The cheapest is a 3/2 in North Fort Myers for $70.000 and it needs a lot of repairs. The 1st move-in ready home is a 2/1 with only 672 sqft for $79.000 also in North Fort Myers. This wood-frame home was built in 1944 and could be rented for around $700 / month. All homes for less than $100.000 are listed with fewer than 1.000 sqft and most are older wood-frame constructions. Since Termites are an issue in our area, buyers should be careful checking for pest trouble before investing. But yes: There are homes for less than $100K.
Apartments for less than $100K
134 of the 299 properties are apartments. 130 of the 134 are small 1 – 2 bedroom apartments and most of them are between 600 – 1.000 sqft. About half of them have mandatory Homeowner Associations which leads to additional expenses. For investors, this is important since some of them can’t be forwarded to the tenants. All of them show additional “Condo fees” while some even have Club – and other fees. These expenses lower the ROI. But yes: there are already plenty of apartments for less than $100.000.
My take on properties for less than $100K:
If you know what you are doing and if you are a good handyman yourself to address repairs and TLC jobs, this can be a start as an investment. If you are looking for a second home for the winter season it might work as well, but keep in mind these are either older homes with higher insurance premiums or smaller apartments with often pretty high monthly HOA fees. These fees occur if you use the property or not. I’m not an apartment guy. I hate HOA’s. In my experience jobs at HOA’s are usually filled by people having too much time on their hands. They are coming up with lots of ridiculous ideas that make owners suffer a lot. Been there – done that. No thanks. For sure not at such small apartments. But everyone is different and lots of people have no beef with HOA’s. It’s simply not for me.
Other properties for less than $100.000:
I was honestly amazed to only find 10 manufactured homes in this price range, and they were all freaking small. All between 376 – 960 sqft. But this will get you your own single-family feeling home with often lower HOA fees than at apartment complexes. Based on often higher insurance premiums this might kill your ROI and these properties also often have rental restrictions ( 55 + Communities ) that can make it harder to rent. They are often used as 2nd homes during the winter.
Properties between $101.000 – $200.000:
1.606 properties total pop up in our area in this price range.
- 270 are single-family homes
- 1018 are apartments
- 152 are manufactured homes
- 166 are Villa’s attached or detached and Townhomes
This is the breakdown from above – SFH:
- from the 270 SFH 51 are smaller 1-2 bedroom homes, 182 are 2+ and 3 bedroom homes, 33 are 3+ and 4 be homes and only 4 are bigger.
- 14 of these homes do have a pool. The cheapest is offered in Lehigh for $129.900, built in 1964 with 926 sqft. No HOA fees and it could be rented for about $1.000. The biggest is 3/3 in North Fort Myers with 1,955 sqft from 1954 in good condition which could be rented for about $1,800 and with no HOA fees.
Apartments:
- 1.018 of the 1.606 are apartments.
- 846 have 1 – 2 bedrooms
- 169 are between 2+ and 3 bedrooms
- only 4 have 3+ or 4 bedrooms
- there are no bigger apartments than 4 bedrooms
- The smallest is listed with 327 sqft for $159000 in Naples. It shows $160 monthly HOA fees.
- The biggest is listed with 2.406 sqft for $199.000 in fort Myers and shows NO HOA fees. Wow!! That sound like a rare bargain
All properties between $200 – $350.000:
Now they are coming. There is a total of 3,436 properties listed as of today.
- 1438 are single-family homes – 262 of them do have a pool
- 1449 are apartments – only 41 mention a pool in the community *
- 47 are manufactured homes – none of them mentioned a pool *
- 457 are Villa’s attached or detached and Townhome – 22 of them have a pool
All properties between $350 – $700.000:
Still going strong. The MLS lists 3.240 matches
- 2025 are single-family homes – 1273 of them mention a pool
- 1050 are apartments – only 47 of them mention a pool *
- still, 6 manufactured homes listed in this price range
- 159 are Villa’s attached or detached and Townhome – 48 of them with a pool
* Disclaimer: Apartments in this price range nearly all have access to a community pool. Often Realtors forgot to mention the pool in the listing description.
Let’s go crazy and check expensive homes:
- 1.536 properties are listed for more than $1 Million
- 1.067 of these are single-family homes – 1.014 list a pool
- 409 of these are apartments
- 51 are Townhomes or detached villas – 34 of them with pool
The most expensive:
- SFH: For $65 Million you get this 11.511 sqft home in Naples. I know: You want to see how something like this looks. And you can do this when you go on the “Homebuyer” tab on my site and copy this listing number in 219077095. It’s a freaking big mansion!!
- Apartment: The most expensive apartment is ( who had guessed ) also in Naples. For 16.9 Million you get a not so shabby World Class Oceanfront Beachfront Apartment with over 12.000 sqft. Go check it out with this listing # 220006493
Wow – but let’s get real again:
Suggestions for your own use:
Decent homes with pools start at around $250.000. Yeah, you can get some cheaper, but my emphasis was on DECENT. If you decide to rent this home to vacation guests, the minimum income we produced each year for each owner was enough to at least cover all expenses. Not bad for a start. We don’t know if this will still be the case with all the craziness going on around us, but let’s be honest: People will ALWAYS go on vacation and Florida will ALWAYS be a premium destination. We might have to face a slower time for a while, but I’m confident we will be back once a vaccine was found. Please feel free to read my other BLOG where I talk about this issue in detail
Go check yourself:
Take advantage of the free MLS access I grant all my readers. Click HERE to get life access. This link will give you the same access and information as any Realtor in our area has. Life!! No more BS , no longer false or outdated listings. The moment a listing is entered in our MLS which meets your criteria, you will receive this listing the same minute via email ( Option 2 only ) Start looking at Option 1 without even giving me any personal information. Your access is always free no matter what you are looking for.
Why go with me you might ask!
I’m in this industry since 1984. I’m not saying I’m the best or you won’t find anyone else with my experience. But in my 36 years in business, I’ve seen a lot. I’ve solved a lot of problems and I’ve helped a lot of people to buy or sell their properties. My experience as a builder in Germany and in the US gives you behind the scene knowledge not everyone has. I’m used to telling my buyers and sellers everything even if it sometimes means losing a sale. Happy customers come back and tell their friends. This is and was my motto my whole life. Why don’t you give me a call and find out if we are a good fit working together to make you become a homeowner in sunny Southwest Florida. I’m looking forward to hearing from you soon.
