I just read an article from the NY Times on how awful the Lee County housing market is. This article listed detailed personal experiences of individuals who have lost their homes along with the terrible condition of the abandoned properties scattered through out the area; Cape Coral was the primary target of the reporters opinion. I AM SO TIRED OF THE CONSTANT NEGATIVE CRAP being written in the news; not only by the national media but by our local media. Its like they want to perpetuate this "self full filling prophecy". Have we been hit hard by the economy? YES. Are there many heart wrenching stories in this area? YES. In the early 2000s Cape Coral was one of the fastest growing communities in the country; it was The place to move to; building was everywhere. Like everything that goes up it had to come down, we did and it was a very hard fast drop. So what do you do about it, constantly focus on how terrible everything is? I don't have my head in the sand, I know we have serious issues and I know we are working hard to come out of this situation, but come on guys, don't you have anything encouraging to write about us? Would you want to move to an area where you only hear negative reports about it? This NY Times artical made it appear the only people buying property here are investors looking to flip or be renter barons. Yes there are investors taking advantage of this market, but most of what I see are out of state Baby Boomers seeing the values down here and buying second homes to get ready for their retirement. They are fixing up these homes an using them as vacation homes until retirement time. First time buyers, excited about the tax credit, are also quite active. Last year I had several parents purchase homes for their children. After showing property in the Cape I drive my clients to the Yatch Club, which is open to the public and is a great family place - marina - small beach - pool - play area - beautiful fishing pier and a food hut. I tell them about our Saturday farmers market and the art shows down the center of Cape Coral Pkwy; we drive by Tarpon Point and Rumrunners to show dinning and shopping along the water. What I am saying is STOP BASHING MY TOWN and focus on reasons FOR people to live here. How can we grow if the national media and our own city paper can't find anything good to say about us.
the media does such an injustice to our industry.....they keep pounding away.....
Hi Barb - I am just sick of the whole thing - what is worse is when its your own town paper!
Good morning Frank , no I do not read the Times, but this article was e-mailed to agents around the area and was online; no hiding from the internet.
It sounds like you do what you can when given the opportunity when showing potential buyers what your area has to offer. A large part of our job has become overcoming the media's focus on the negatives. I just wonder when the public is going to stop buying into this stuff.
Hi Susan - I think the public will continue to buy into what the media is saying about the housing market. The old saying "bad news sells"; the media is playing into their fears. If we want things to turn around we have to dig deep and start focusing on the positive, and there are some, than some of the fears will start to die down and we can move ahead.
Lois, I emailed the guy who wrote it, called him and very nicely asked him to call me back. Never heard from him. I hope he takes me up on my offer to show him around when he decides to come back again and realizes that what he could have bought today for $85,000 is going to be much, much higher next year.
Doom and Gloom sells Newspapers, makes me sick.
Come by and say hi sometime would ya...
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