Naples Real Estate: The Truth About Median Home Price

Today I was contacted by Bankrate, Inc. for data and to comment about Naples median home prices for an upcoming article they are publishing on median home prices around the United States. For those that don’t know Bankrate is the Web’s leading aggregator of financial rate information. Basically, on their site, Bankrate.com, they provide consumers with the latest rates on mortgages, credit cards, home banking loans and more.

Marbella Lakes Home For Sale $451,900

So, as a respected Naples Realtor and broker, Bankrate calls me to ask about median home prices. They want to know what the median price is now and what it was last August. I punch a few buttons, get some graphs going and voilà, I get the single family, median home price in Naples. Are you ready? Drum-roll……… It’s $175,000. Cross my heart and all that other stuff (I have a 6 month old baby, I’m not promising to keel over for any dollar amount).

$175,000 is for the month ending August 31, 2010. The next question was, “what was it last August?” Funny you should ask. For the month ending August 31, 2009 the median, single family home price in Naples was $170,000. Could it be? The median home price actually went up. It did. The median home price has also jumped up as high as $239,000 for a couple months in-between August 2009 and now.

So, your next question to your local Naples Realtor is where do I get that home on the beach for $175,000? We all want the best deal we can get. We relentless search Google for the best deals on everything from cars to toasters. Why shouldn’t we get the best deal on homes as well?

For your hard earned $175,000 you can get a very nice home in Naples, Florida. A decent looking 3 bedroom home just sold for that median home price of $175,000 in Waterways on July, 21, 2010. It was built in 20o1 and has a lake view. The only problem is the location.

Ahh, that old standby, “location, location, location.” Let’s get one thing straight, I’m not knocking Waterways. It’s a lovely community. The issue is it’s located around the corner from the Collier County fairgrounds and about 35 minutes from the nearest beach. Just to get to Olde Naples, you’re looking at about 45 minutes of driving. It may actually be closer to the city of Immokalee than it is to downtown Naples.

My point is that you can’t get a new, single-family home within a few minutes of downtown Naples and the beaches for this median price of $175,000. In my line of thinking, a median home price should get you a decent location in the suburbs within 15 or 20 minutes of downtown.

Let’s face it, virtually everyone coming to Naples, Florida wants to be as close to the beach as possible. This location 35 minutes away just doesn’t cut it for most people moving to Naples.

So, will the real Naples median home price please stand up. As any statistic, you can manipulate and mold it to your liking. I prefer to look at the Naples median home price in the area of town you want to be in. For example, if you want to be in Olde Naples, the median home price is currently $2,290,000 (click the graph to the right to enlarge). It was $1,597,500 a year ago. It jumps around also, but if you average it out over a couple years it comes close to $1.4 million.

Or if you take the Lely area. The average over 2 years is just over $400,000. The smaller, but newer Marbella Lakes (one of my personal favorites and one of the best deals in all of Florida for the price range) is around $394,000 on average over it’s shorter history.

In the end, the same rule applies. Naples real estate revolves around the beach and Gulf. How close you get to the beach will depend on how new your home must be and what your budget is. It’s that simple.

The reason you need a Naples Realtor is to first listen to your desires and then help match them with a community that fits your needs and budget. A local Realtor will know the area and show you all the facts on home sales in the location you target, whether it’s beachfront or as close to it as you can get.  Finally, they should assist you in negotiating to get the best deal possible on a home you’ll love and enjoy for years to come.