I have asked a question regarding a conundrum I have been concerned with for some time. Is the real estate market slow because there are truly no buyers, or is the market slow because there are no agents…professional, hard working ones that is?

Enter Denny Grimes from the southwest part of the State of Florida. Grimes is a real estate broker from the Cape Coral area and his client purchased a development from a bankrupt developer.

Builder and real-estate investor O.J. Buigas bought 116 homes – (82 houses and 34 townhouses) – from Miami-based Tousa homes Florida LP, parent company of Engle Homes, which filed for bankruptcy in January.

Buigas paid a little over $13.5 Million dollars for all of the properties. Literally a “Bearstearnsian“price for a complete subdivision of homes that are within a gated community and have NEVER been lived in.

Grimes created a “liquidation” or firesale promotion to sell the properties for Buigas. As a part of his marketing program he announced to the press, the local Cape Coral newspaper, that he was going to hold the sale, not an auction, but rather a true sale.

He announced on Wednesday March 19, 2008 that he would be begin the sales process and that people could register on his website. Unfortunately, Grimes was never able to commence his marketing program. Don’t feel bad, in less than a week, he has sold over 90 of the properties. 80% of the buyers are end users. (listen to our interview today with Denny Grimes)

In a scene reminiscent of the boom times here in Florida a couple of years ago, Grimes has created an absolute frenzy with people buying not one, but some buying 2 houses at a time!

One of the buyers was Mary Grace Munoz, 57, of Cape Coral, who with her husband Walter bought two single-family homes for $133,000 each.

“These were super, super values and possibly one day in the future I’ll want to move to a smaller house, maybe downsizing when we’re in our 70s,” said Munoz, who said she was especially impressed with the community’s amenities such as a clubhouse, pool, basketball courts and softball field. Her son and daughter each bought a house, she added.

“More than 100 people, including homeowners looking for a new house and real-estate agents, rushed into the Coral Lakes subdivision in northeast Cape Coral after seeing rock-bottom prices in an article Wednesday in The News-Press.”It was insane…the local newspaper had local residents commenting on their website for people to RUN…don’t walk to the development and get in on the gold rush where prices were slashed by 40%-75% or more!

I was there on Thurs & looked at several homes. It was chaotic. I found one home with upgrades that I really liked & had a question, but when I got to the sales office, a woman had run ahead of me to put a deposit on it. One man came back on Thurs thinking he had purchased a home, only to discover a real estate agent had taken a deposit from another buyer earlier.

Buyers, its not going to get any better than this. Realize that this was a bankruptcy sale and other builders will NOT follow suit. ONE PERSON BOUGHT ALL OF THESE HOMES IN BULK TO SELL THEM QUICKLY. The townhomes were gone on Friday- and the single families are going quick. You might need to wait in line… some may be gone… Same thing with the sales at Christmas. Some people get it, some don’t- Next year everyone with gripe about how they missed the good pricing… Follow the golden rule with investing … “buy low and sell high”. This is it. If you can’t see it, you probably never will.

One last thing…you will pay the same price if you are there with a Realtor or without one. If you are concerned with fighting the crowds or if you need to someone to work in your best interest, CALL YOUR REALTOR AND GET THEM DOWN THERE TO WORK FOR YOU!!

Agents saying buyer’s aren’t out there need to get their act together and realize that there are indeed buyers out there. Sellers, if you truly need to sell, you need to be realistic in your expectation of price. The buyer’s are out there and they have the funds to pay and are willing to pay for value.

Throw your comps out the window. A house is worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

There is no such thing as a lowball offer and real estate agents who represent market demand offers need to stop referring to them as lowball offers.

Demand dictates pricing and your CMA’s mean nothing if your yard sign is collecting weeds and has termites.

Think otherwise, then you need to see this video below.