As a home seller, you have choices when deciding how to market your property, including whether you’d like to offer concessions to attract buyers or close a deal. Here’s what you need to know as you consider whether this approach is right for you:

What are seller concessions and why make them?

A concession is when a seller pays for certain costs associated with purchasing a home for the buyer. Concessions could make your property more attractive to buyers or lead to a better or faster offer. Concessions also help make home ownership more accessible for buyers by reducing upfront expenses, so buyers with limited cash reserves may be able to stretch their budget further.

As a home seller, you have a wide range of choices when deciding how to market your property. This includes whether you’d like to offer—or authorize your agent to offer—compensation to a buyer’s agent as a way to attract potential buyers. Here’s what you need to know as you consider your options related to offering compensation:

What is an offer of compensation and why make one?

? An offer of compensation is when you— the seller—or your agent compensate another agent for bringing a buyer to successfully close the transaction. Offers of compensation help reduce out-of-pocket costs for prospective buyers, which in turn may bring more potential buyers for the transaction. These costs can be especially significant for first-time buyers, lower- to middle-income buyers, or those from underserved communities.

When buying or selling a home, your real estate professional may use a Multiple Listing Service (MLS) to find homes for sale or market your property. Here is what you need to know:

What is an MLS?

MLSs provide online platforms that compile home listings from brokerages in a given market. They enable agents to efficiently see available homes for sale and get helpful marketplace data and typically share listing information to national and local websites that advertise property information. There are many MLSs across the U.S., and each has its own rules to make sure its information is complete, accurate, and transparent.

What value does an MLS provide?

MLSs allow real estate professionals to see, share, and promote homes for sale so they can be found by the largest pool of potential buyers. MLSs provide the most accurate, reliable, and detailed information about properties (both that have sold and are for sale), including listing price, address, features, disclosures, and square footage. MLSs also help promote fair housing and equal opportunity by giving real estate professionals and their clients access to consistent information.

Naples, Fla. (July 26, 2024) – Despite a 59% increase in overall inventory during June (compared to June 2023), overall closed sales during the month decreased 17.3 % to 710 closed sales from 859 closed sales in June 2023. Data reflected in the June 2024 Market Report by the Naples Area Board of REALTORS® (NABOR®), which tracks home listings and sales within Collier County (excluding Marco Island), showed the overall median closed price decreased .8 % to $595,000 from $600,000 in June 2023. Broker analysts say a steady number of list price reductions each month coupled with more realistic prices set by sellers will help the Naples market find its new “sweet spot” for home buying.

It needs to be noted that the inventory decreased in June compared to the previous month (May 2024).
4,680 overall inventory in June 2024 - 5,283 in May 2024.

Naples, Fla. (June 28, 2024) – As competition grows in the Naples housing market ­– overall inventory increased 67.1 % in May to 5,019 properties from 3,004 properties in May 2023 –

Monthly closed sales for the month decreased 12.2 % to 907 closed sales from 1,033 closed sales in May 2023. Broker analysts reviewing the May 2024 Market Report by the Naples Area Board of REALTORS® (NABOR®), which tracks home listings and sales within Collier County (excluding Marco Island), are closely monitoring the number of monthly price decreases to see whether it could turn the tide and improve sales this summer. One thing was certain in the May Market Report: summer buyers will have many more options than winter buyers.

The NABOR® May 2024 Market Report provides comparisons of single-family home and condominium sales (via the Southwest Florida MLS), price ranges, and geographic segmentation and includes an overall market summary. NABOR® sales statistics are presented in chart format, including these overall (single-family and condominium) findings for 2024:

Bridgewater Bay - Recently Sold.

We recently sold this turnkey furnished condo in Bridgewater Bay, Naples:

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Bridgewater Bay is a gated community off of Orange Blossom Rd in Naples, developed on 131 acres of lush landscaping, lakes, and preserves. Bridgewater Bay offers 524 residences: Condos (or Garden Homes) , carriage and coach homes, and single-family homes are available in Bridgewater Bay.

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Recently Sold in Bridgewater Bay

Avila at Pelican Preserve - Recently Sold.

We recently sold this beautiful pool villa in the upscale community of Pelican Preserve in Fort Myers:

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Pelican Preserve offers condos, attached villas, coach homes, and single-family homes. Golf membership is not mandatory. Amenities at the Towncenter are outstanding!

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Naples, Fla. (May 31, 2024) – The payoff of months of rising inventory was finally realized in April as closed sales increased by 3.8% to 999 closed sales from 962 closed sales in April 2023.

This is the first month closed sales have exceeded past years’ monthly comparable sales since June 2021. According to the April 2024 Market Report by the Naples Area Board of REALTORS® (NABOR®), which tracks home listings and sales within Collier County (excluding Marco Island), the 2,365 price reductions in April stimulated sales in the right direction.

Growth in inventory does not appear to be slowing down either, as new listings in April increased 16.3% to 1,335 new listings from 1,148 new listings in April 2023.

“Three things could help our market if they trended in the right direction: mother nature, insurance, and interest rates. But those are out of our control.”

Broker analysts believe “Interest rates are likely to stay above 5% for a long time.” But Jeff Jones, Broker at Keller Williams Naples, added that there is good news on the insurance front as “nine new companies have recently entered the Florida market, and 19 others have said they will lower rates or at least not increase them in 2025.”

How ‘Tax-Friendly’ Is Fla. Compared to Other States?

A MoneyGeek study including IRS, state, property, and sales taxes listed Florida. as the No. 4 least-expensive tax state. Total tax costs are about 5.6% of total income.

TAMPA, Fla. – It’s tax filing season and depending on where you live in the U.S., you could be forking over a very different-sized chunk of your income.

An analysis by MoneyGeek ranked every state by how “tax-friendly” it is. The analysts didn’t just look at income tax – they also factored in property taxes, plus state and local sales taxes.

To determine where people pay the highest tax burden, MoneyGeek looked at a hypothetical average family: a married couple with one kid, earning the median national income of $82,852, and owning a $349,400 home. The study breaks down how much this fictional family would pay in taxes in every state.

The states with the lowest tax burden, according to the analysis, were:

New Villas For Sale, in Estero

Construction is well underway in that intimate new community built by DR Horton in Estero, FL. 

Milan Villas will offer forty-four twin villas at completion. Located in the heart of Estero with easy access from Three Oaks Parkway. 

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