Gary Cardillo’s Southwest Florida Real Estate Blog

IF WE’RE GOOD, THEY WILL COME

August 31st, 2006

Recently a friend came up to me and said, “If I read one more article on how to sell your home, I’m going to scream.”  Before I could stop myself I replied, “Yeah, me too.”  Then I realized during this market many of us who are writing columns such as this typically gravitate towards the position of the seller…interesting.

 

I started to think, “Isn’t it funny how certain business’ and individuals thrive regardless of the economy or situation they are in and when asked, “How do you do it?” they reply, “If you’re good, they will find you.”  I thought, “Why should we as a community be so quick to accept ourselves as a depressed market.  Did we have our fifteen minutes of fame and now everyone’s leaving for the next great opportunity?”

 

Recently, my wife and I attended a national real estate conference in New York City (by the way did you hear the Yankees are getting a new stadium???).  Realtors from around the country, regardless of their office affiliation, met in one of the most open and genuine formats I have ever attended, and exchanged ideas and marketing strategies pertinent to today’s changing market.  It was great experience for us until we met some Realtors from the Carolina’s and parts of Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee who were just too anxious to hand us their cards while saying, “We hear things aren’t going so well in Florida, everybody’s heading up our way.  If you know anyone who’s looking for a great place to live, give me a call.”  Maybe it’s the New York side of me but as I looked at the smile on their faces I thought, “What do you think you’re doing, throwing me a life line?  I don’t think so.”    

 

I was still undecided as to what pearls of wisdom I could impart to you until I read a recent article by Brian Gleason entitled, “Being here is the best sign of progress.”  Then I came across another by Gordon Bower, “Here’s some good news about the city’s future development.”  I thought, “That’s it! We were just being discovered before Hurricane Charley and although we suffered from its devastating affects, we essentially became a blank canvas that had unlimited potential.  Well guess what? That potential has not gone away and despite the national real estate slow down, the Middle East conflict and all the negative press about insurance rates and taxes (I’ll get to that later), we have so much more to offer than any area you can possibly imagine.

 

To understand what is happening in this market you have to understand the real estate cycle.  We have had an unprecedented residential growth these past few years.  In its simplest form, the residential side is catching its breath or as some would say, “adjusting.”  But, you can’t have all this growth with no business’ or cultural interests to service it.  We are now in that time where you are seeing the commercial projects starting to come up out of the ground that have been in the works for a long period of time.  You don’t have to look much further than the old Home Depot location to see what the face of our community is going to look like and Panera Bread (that should be good for a croissant) is just the beginning of the new retailers and restaurants that are seizing the many opportunities here in our area.  However, we can’t assume that restaurants and retail stores are the last piece of the puzzle.  Why should we be banking on the baby boomers to be our financial salvation? Why not try to attract companies to at least set up satellite offices here much the same way that FGCU is looking to do with their campuses?  We can’t keep expecting to increase the taxes on those who are “still here.”  We need to diversify ourselves and start attracting a young talent pool to our area.  Just look at the high tech communities outside Atlanta; they are young, thriving and exciting to watch.

 

I don’t know about you, but I know what it is like to take a subway to work every day and on a more sobering note, the entire time we were at our New York conference, the city was on “red alert” (the highest state of alert for terrorism).  Everyone I know would gladly give up their monthly train ticket to commute to their job as we do, experience the weather that we have, and to be part of a growing community that is just starting to realize its potential as we are. 

 

Our potential is great nevertheless, as Realtors we hear what the public is thinking and it isn’t the interest rates or the threat of hurricanes that are foremost on people’s minds, it is the affordable housing, property insurance and taxes.  We need to get them in check if we are going to have any chance to reach our potential as a thriving place to live, work and play for all ages, and not just those looking to retire.  Now is not the time to sit back and wait for things to change, it is time for us to do the things that other counties are unwilling to do and to support those who are thinking outside the box for our long term well being.    If We Are Good, They Will Come, and as long as we embrace this, our community will continue to thrive while others decline.