Mel's Blog: Buying Real Estate

The statistics of people finding their homes on the internet continues to climb every year and that is the good news. The bad news is that with more and more people using the internet to look for homes, it also is bringing out the scammers in full force preying on those good-intentioned people.

Article after article say that the internet is a great place to begin your research, but you had better not assume that just because of all the power you have at your fingertips, you should attempt to do everything yourself. There have been many fraudulent homes listed for sale on the internet that do not exist and people have sent money to ‘hold’ those homes only to find later that their money is gone. It’s just like the Nigerian email scam, and yet despite all…

After having done real estate for so many years in Naples, Florida, you'd think that it would be easier to accept how quickly life changes, but that's not always the case. Sometimes we get a bit addicted to the fact that we live and work in a world-class destination and just assume life is always good and people will be buying despite the market.

Yes people are buying real estate despite the down economy but the buyer, no matter whether they are interested spending $100,000 or $1,000,000 all say the same thing, they want a deal period. If you say to them that they are getting a great deal in relation to the vertical market experience of '04/'05, they just don't want to hear that...they want a "deal".

In many cases the first words out of their mouths are…

If the first few days of January are any indication, then we at Team Naples International are excited about the prospects for a good selling season. 'High Season' in Naples, Florida generally runs from January through April, although there are some who would argue that it now extends through May.

Traffic at our Prudential Florida Realty 5th Avenue office has been extremely strong for the first few days of the month, so much so, that the broker now insists that each shift be manned by two agents. At any rate, it hopefully will translate into sales as buyers pick through the large inventory looking for the bargains.

We're excited at Team Naples and feel that we have finally turned the corner and look forward to 2009 with great anticipation. We certainly…