Southwest Florida Real Estate News and Market Insight
Market data, mortgage rate movement, housing policy, and property news from across the country and here at home in Collier and Lee counties. Anything that affects what a home in Naples, Bonita Springs, or Estero is worth, and what it costs to own one, is worth understanding before it shows up in your closing statement or your tax bill.
Texas HOA laws are changing board responsibilities. Here’s how communities can keep up.

Serving on a homeowners’ association (HOA) board has always meant balancing the needs of the community with the responsibility of managing its finances and addressing resident concerns. However, these responsibilities are only becoming more demanding as Texas communities expand. From mid-2024 to mid
Read MoreWhen it comes to closing workflow gaps, does one size really fit all?

For the past several years, title agents have been giving their technology partners some version of the same request: help us close the gaps. Those “gaps” are the smaller, tedious tasks wedged between the systems already handled by a production platform or search technology. They include the orders
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TV mogul Oprah Winfrey has gone back to where her media career started—returning to her former hometown of Chicago, where she enjoyed a sweet reunion with her former colleagues on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" weeks before the 40th anniversary of its premiere episode. The 72-year-old media personality wa
Read More One of Broward’s biggest HOAs sparks backlash over proposed rental restrictions

The master association for one of Broward County’s largest homeowners associations is set to vote on changes that some owners say would restrict property rights and allow the association to discriminate against landlords and tenants. The association, which covers more than 3,100 homes across more t
Read MoreHomeowners Insurance Premiums in Texas Surged 30% in 5 Years—10 Times Faster Than Incomes

Homeowners in Texas are grappling with rising insurance premiums, as carriers raise rates in the disaster-prone state. Between 2019 and 2024, home insurance premiums rose 30% in Texas, to an average of $2,983 annually, according to a new report from Rice University's Kinder Institute for Urban Resea
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Mario Lopez’s former Spanish Revival estate is back on the market in California for $5.79 million, three years after the "Access Hollywood" host and his family moved out. Much like its former owner's beloved “Saved by the Bell” role, A.C. Slater, the Glendale home is an iconic character in its own r
Read More Small businesses shun retirement plans over cost, complexity fears

Only about half of U.S. private-sector workers participate in an employer-sponsored retirement plan at any given time — a gap driven almost entirely by small employers, according to new research from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. While more than 90% of larger employers offer
Read MoreInflation and interest rates are still choking CRE i-sales, excluding industrial

Commercial real estate investment in South Florida has soared since last year. But don’t get excited yet. Most property types are feeling the weight of elevated inflation and interest rates. “When you have those two things going on, the institutional markets are like, ‘We don’t have certainty. Pen
Read MoreFirstTeam expands in Midwest with new Kansas City office

FirstTeam has expanded its national brokerage footprint into Kansas and Missouri, partnering with broker-owner Scott Eckhoff and Rival Real Estate to open the company’s first Midwest office in Kansas City, the company announced Tuesday. The move marks the next phase of FirstTeam’s national expansion
Read MoreBessent Says the K-Shaped Economy Is Over—Housing Tells a Different Story

The K-shaped economy is “over,” according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. “I got sick of hearing about this K-shaped economy,” Bessent said in an appearance on CNBC’s "Squawk Box." “I can say here definitively, the K-shaped economy is over.” The term describes an economy in which segments of th
Read MorePalm Beach estate asking $76M tops explosive week for Palm Beach County luxury market

Palm Beach County’s luxury market was on fire last week, led by a Palm Beach estate that landed a contract with an asking price of $76 million. Buyers signed 16 contracts between Aug. 3 through Aug. 9, according to the weekly report by Douglas Elliman’s Eklund-Gomes team, which tracks all listings
Read MoreEpique Realty CEO Josh Miller offers 3-point fix for agent tech adoption

Josh Miller, CEO and co-founder of Epique Realty, told attendees at Tuesday’s HousingWire AI Summit that the real estate industry’s most expensive technology investments are often the least used. He offered a three-part prescription to solve the problem. Brokerages spend thousands of dollars on tool
Read MoreMortgage insurers face larger safety net rule for VantageScore 4.0

Mortgage insurers will be required to keep a larger safety net for mortgages originated using VantageScore 4.0 than for comparable loans using Classic FICO, according to new guidance from the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). In late July, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac published a new grid for t
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Indianapolis Colts star Sauce Gardner has filed a lawsuit against a Michigan construction company—claiming that the business failed to carry out renovations to a $935,000 abandoned apartment building in Detroit, despite receiving a $500,000 deposit to secure its services. The NFL athlete—whose real
Read More Mortgage Rates Predicted To Rise Before Settling Back to 6.5% Next Year

Rising rates are weighing on the housing market, and the uncomfortable levels above 6% might be here for the medium term, capital markets firm Optimal Blue estimated in its latest report. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has been on a steady upward march for six weeks—hitting 6.69% last week, up from
Read MoreLenders urged to solve business problems before adopting AI

Mortgage lenders that adopt artificial intelligence should focus first on the business problems they’re trying to solve rather than chasing the latest technology, according to panelists who spoke Tuesday at HousingWire’s AI Summit. Amanda Tucker, chief risk and compliance officer at Atlantic Bay Mor
Read More‘Sounds like competition to me’: Sizing up Google’s real estate play at the AI Summit

The traditional path to homeownership — from portal search to real estate agent to loan officer — is being rapidly rewired by artificial intelligence (AI), and the industry’s biggest players want to be first through the new front door. That was the central theme of a packed session Tuesday at Housin
Read MoreAfter the Beazer agreement, can Dream Finders reach top 5?

Now that Dream Finders and Beazer have reached an agreement, Dream Finders can now look further ahead. Soon after the closing, Dream Finders will find itself nearing a position as one of the five largest builders. Also, it will have restructured Beazer’s land holdings, utilizing Dream Finders’ asset
Read MoreGhost Hunters Take HGTV Inside ‘Haunted’ Home in Texas’ Paranormal ‘Hub’: ‘Not Safe’

HGTV's hit show "Extreme Buyers Club" has showcased all kinds of bizarre requests from house hunters—but on the latest episode of the show, host Noel Collier's skills were pushed to the ultimate test when she was joined by two paranormal investigators seeking a "haunted" home in Texas. Collier, a re
Read MoreTwo Chef Events to Savor at Heyday Cookshop

Chef-owner Kayla Pfeiffer plating at Heyday Cookshop. Photo by Carlos Gonzalez Heyday Cookshop in Naples will set the scene for two chef-forward events this month. Heyday x Unidos On August 13, Heyday chef-owner Kayla Pfeiffer and Unidos Executive Chef Alex Malinowski will cook side-by-side for a on
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