In the Know: Zillow's out but others buying land like crazy; SWFL on more national 'best' lists
Phil FernandezYet more honors have come for Southwest Florida even as international travelers set foot in earnest today locally for the first time in 20 months.
Bienvenidos. Welkom. Herzlich willkommen. Karibu. Wamukelekile. Benvenuto.
You've come to the right place. Once again, the region is at the top of the heap for the best places to retire, this time coming from WalletHub's financial analysts, which used dozens of metrics to reach the determination among the state's cities.
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Driven in part by the highest rating on most health care places per capita, Fort Myers landed second behind Sarasota, which also did well in that category and was ahead on activities, such as most fishing facilities per capita.
WalletHub, which released the new community data this past week and named Florida as the best state to retire earlier this year, relies on a panel of experts to advise it including sociology professor Dawn C. Carr, co-director of Florida State University's Aging Research on Contexts, Health and Inequalities.
"Because Florida is a draw for older retirees, we typically import wealthier, healthier older people from other parts of the country," Carr said. "If anything, older Floridians provide a critical ingredient for our state's economic vibrancy."
Just before WalletHub reached its conclusions, online platform StorageCafé also put Southwest Florida at the top of its compilation of best places for snowbirds after an analysis of several factors including health care, parks, golf courses, internet speeds and crime. Venice and Naples claimed the No. 1 and 2 slots, respectively.
The latest comes on the heels of Southwest Florida receiving similar recognition last month from U.S. News & World Report on places for retirees. In a separate study, that magazine also found the area to be one of the best places to live overall.
The SWFL's crowded trophy case
It's been quite a year, well, decade, for national recognition for the various communities in the region including:
• Best beach town from Travel + Leisure magazine and WalletHub, which has bestowed this multiple times here;
• Best vacation spot for working remotely, based on Allconnect's study of high-speed internet connections and other factors;
• Among the Top 5 for senior health by a cancer-fighting organization;
• Annually, at or near the top of well-being indexes put together by several groups although the rest of Florida lost ground on that this year;
• 2020's No. 2 of the Best Small Cities by Resonance Consultancy, a specialist in the destination-branding industry; and
• One of a dozen "Great Places to Retire for Your Good Health" by Kiplinger magazine in 2016.
Not that Florida is perfect.
In fact, WalletHub, in its new report said the Sunshine State may not be the ideal spot at this moment due to COVID-19 and how recently it was leading or near the worst in a lot of unfortunate categories related to coronavirus.
But it projects that once COVID is under control, the Peninsula should continue on its perch.
The circumstances aren't slowing today's new international arrivals, which all had essentially been shut down since the start of the pandemic.
Of the many Europeans expected to hit the skies in the next three months, most have Florida in their sights, according to Research Data Services.
More:In the Know: Three Florida areas, including Naples, rated among USA's best for senior health
Plus:In the Know: Naples-Marco Island area plummets from top to No. 43 on Community Well-Being Index
Fast internet speeds:In the Know: Is the local home-buying surge over? And where's the best vacation spot for working remotely?
Simply the best:In the Know: Where did Southwest Florida land on U.S. News & World Report's Best Places to Live? And who's No. 1?
Institutional investors and housing
Naples also has been leading another list, according to John Burns Real Estate Consulting's study that looked at investment home sales in April.
The firm produced findings showing Naples had the biggest increase in such transactions for major markets, with a 57% jump year over year. Second on its tally: San Diego, well back at 28%.
That, however, doesn't mean all those buys are coming from institutional investors, who, as In the Know has reported, are looking for places to put their money in Southwest Florida.
As we've been documenting since early in the pandemic, newcomers have been increasingly buying second homes or vacation rentals here. And more are staying year-round or close to it instead of simply the traditional winter months.
The consulting firm came up with its figures by looking at abodes where the property tax records are going to a different address than the structure itself. And I see that often with snowbird deals when I put on my goggles to doggy paddle through the waves and waves of public records.
More:Zillow is selling thousands of homes in the U.S. Here's a look at the top markets
And:How Zillow could skew housing prices – and push younger homebuyers out of the market
Still, there are those acquiring multiple houses or parcels, a few of them for positioning for when the mangled supply chain uncoils itself and opens the door to even wider development.
LSI Companies has been at the center of a lot of it recently. For example, on residential lots, LSI brokered:
• 69 scattered in North Port and Cape Coral for $767,000, purchased by JHS Builders LLC;
• 10 scattered in the Fort Myers area, $158,000 by JHS;
• three scattered in North Port, $49,500 by JHS;
• 18 scattered in North Port for $301,500 by Holiday Builders Inc.
And similarly, LSI also had Southwest Florida's largest vacant land deal in the third quarter, according to new data out Friday by CoStar Group's analytics team.
It handled the $24 million acquisition of 441 acres at 7701 Bayshore Road in North Fort Myers by Pulte Home Company LLC. Pulte will be developing Del Webb Oak Creek consisting of 821 homes starting in the mid $200,000's.
At the same time, Pulte sold about 28 acres of the property to Sage Communities 1 LLC, for $2.3 million. Sage Communities is owned by LSI honcho Randy Thibaut who said he will be developing an active adult rental community with 184 residences.
Zillow's sinking stock from $212 to $70
But some are getting out of the game, such as Zillow, which has stopped its home-buying program after it didn't work out the way it had hoped, citing in part supply line challenges.
The company has run into a bit of a rough patch after Zillow stock hit its highest ever at $212 in February, but by Friday afternoon had plummeted to less than $70.
Last month, Business Insider reported on Zillow and the National Association of Realtors being accused of running a "cartel" by a U.S. real estate firm, REX, saying they were suppressing listings from those who aren't Realtors. It's not the first time industry practices have been questioned, such as some agents not acting in the best interest of clients and boycotting listings if sellers are offering less than 3% of sales proceeds.
NAR has already been targeted for investigation by the Department of Justice into what it said was anticompetitive activity. The agencies have denied wrongdoing, and there's fingerpointing as to whether DOJ is being fair.
This comes at a time when many consumers are losing a little bit of confidence in today's real estate market.
The share of respondents who believe it is a bad time to buy has risen to 66%, according to the most recent Home Purchase Sentiment Index survey by Fannie Mae. Last September, only 38% of respondents thought it was a bad time to buy despite the many unknowns of the then-six-month-old pandemic.
Centerpiece of Jewish life in Naples
Construction begins next week of the Nina Iser Jewish Cultural Center by the Jewish Federation of Greater Naples to meet the needs of the growing community it serves.
Work should take a year on the 20,000-square-foot center, with the anticipated opening by January 2023 to serve the more than 10,000 individuals the group defines as the greater Naples Jewish community.
Nearly 500 families have brought the center’s fundraising commitment to $12.5 million of a $15 million goal, with $10.5 million to build and furnish the building, and a $4.5 million endowment to help offset increased operational expenses, according to Jeffrey D. Feld, president and CEO.
“The growth of the Federation since incorporation in 1992 has brought us here,” Feld said Friday. “We are seeing the culmination of five years of planning and dreaming and are moving to the exciting moment where the Jewish community and the rest of Southwest Florida will be able to experience and see our impact. We would not be here without the support of our donors and community.”
The new center, on the same campus as Temple Shalom, will be the centerpiece of contemporary Jewish life in the area, enhancing the community’s sense of pride and identity for generations to come, Feld said.
Located at 4630 Pine Ridge Road, it will support educational, social, leisure, recreational and philanthropic programs, he said.
And while this is welcome news for the organization, there is a sad note of where we've gone as a society in the U.S. as the last decade ended.
Due to increasing incidents of anti-Semitism, which reached record highs nationally in 2020 and 2021, a state-of-the-art security system endorsed by Collier County Sheriff Kenneth Rambosk will be installed within the center for increased safety, Feld said.
Last month, as part of a $2.3 million USA TODAY Network initiative known as "A Community Thrives," the federation was among seven Southwest Florida nonprofits and others nationally to be awarded grants.
Merging spas
Assuage Med Spa Luxury in Naples and The Q Laser & Med Spa in Naples have merged. Both med spas are owned by Quigley Eye Specialists.
Assuage has moved three blocks into The Q at 675 Piper Blvd. in Naples. The merger has no impact on the Fort Myers location of Assuage Med Spa Luxury, which will continue to operate under the Quigley umbrella on Cypress Lake Drive.
Assuage opened in 2015 and was acquired in 2020 by Quigley, which opened The Q just over a year ago.
Based at the Naples Daily News, Columnist Phil Fernandez (pfernandez@gannett.com) writes In the Know as part of the USA TODAY Network. Support Democracy and subscribe to a newspaper.