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Splitting and selling portion of multi-lot site can get complicated

Dear Mr. Feichthaler:

I have lived in my home for many years, and I have become good friends with my neighbor. My home is on a three-lot site, 120 feet wide. My neighbor has kids and a dog, and would like to acquire the part of my property my house isn’t on. We haven’t had it surveyed, but I think my house is mostly on the two lots to the south. Can I just deed it to my neighbor for the agreed-upon price?

-Stephanie P.

Dear Stephanie:

Real Estate Law

Cape Coral lots can almost be looked at as a commodity – most are the same exact size, and all are on a recorded plat. The typical difference is only the location of the lot, and whether it is adjacent to a canal. This makes is easier for most people to know exactly what they have, where the setbacks and easements are, and makes for an overall orderly environment. This uniformity is broken when property descriptions depart from the standard plat, and create myriad issues.

owners was to maximize the number of 10,000-square-foot properties that could be sold. — 10,000 square feet is the minimum property size to build a single-family residence. This led to surveys being made that led to jagged, unusually shaped lots. The city routinely issued permits to build on these lots.

However, during the recession, the city changed the rules to provide that any division of lots that was not done directly along a platted lot line like Cape Harbour or Sandoval as a plat separate from the original city plat, but they can also be done on a small scale as well. This replat will re-set the easements, setbacks, and other important property characteristics. The one

Unfortunately, the costs can be anything but small for this smallscale replat. The application, surveys, legal work, and city fees will amount to thousands of dollars, and take months to complete.

If you were to execute a quitclaim deed to your neighbor, the city likely will not grant permits for fences or any other improvement given the unauthorized change. As noted above, though, if your house were fully within the setbacks of the two lots to the south, and you were willing to complete the change.

Homeowners should take great care with any real estate transaction, and particularly vigilant when conveying a portion of Cape Coral property.

Eric P. Feichthaler has lived in Cape Coral for over 35 years and graduated from Mariner High School in Cape Coral. After completing law school at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., he returned to Cape Coral to practice law and raise a family. He served as mayor of Cape Coral from 2005-2008, and continues his service to the community through the Cape Coral Caring Center, and Cape Coral Kiwanis. He has been married to his wife, Mary, for 22 years, and they have four

and primarily practices in real estate law and wills and trusts. He is AV Preeminent rated by Martindale-Hubbell for professional ethics and legal ability, and is a Su-lattorney .com, or 239-542-4733. This article is general in nature and not intended as legal advice to anyone. Individuals should seek legal counsel before acting on any matter of legal rights and obligations.

No two homeowners are the same, and that’s perhaps most evident in the design decisions individuals make when decorating their entering a home, and the array of options consumers have when is.

carpeting because they feel it helps to create a cozy, welcoming vibe in a home. Consumers considering carpet for their homes may have homeowners determine if carpeting is for them.

Is carpeting expensive?

Home renovations are expensive, and the cost of a project is often

by the homeowner and the cost of labor associated with installation,

According to the online renovation resource HomeAdvisor, the average cost to install or replace carpet is between $782 and

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Eric P. Feichthaler

how much the cost of the project will be affected by variables unique to each project. However, even homeowners who come in around or above the high end of that estimate

home an entirely new look and feel.

How different are carpeting materials?

Carpeting materials differ in their look, feel and function. The home renovation

budget and which is best in each room of their homes.

Is carpet padding a must?

Carpet padding is one of the costs associated with carpeting. et padding costs on their estimate and wonder what it is and if it’s truly

to reduce stress on the carpet and thus extend its life expectancy. Carpet padding also can have an insulating effect and help to reduce sound in a room. So while carpet padding might be a costly expense on an itemized estimate, it’s well worth the investment.

Carpeting can help make a home feel more cozy and welcoming.

Article from Metrocreativeconnection.com.

Source: Lee County Property Appraiser

Comparing today to the Great Recession collapse

Before getting into today’s topic, on the bright side for the housing market, mortgage rates have now moved a bit lower, raising hopes that more buyers will enter the market. According to the weekly mortgage market survey by down to 6.63% as of March 6 from their recent high of 7.04% on Jan. 16. This decrease in mortgage rates has led to an uptick in mortgage applications,

to make homes affordable enough for a larger number of potential buyers to restart their home searches.

Also on a somewhat positive note, the number of active listings in the MLS for Cape Coral single-family homes hit a seasonal peak so far this year with 3,520 homes on the market on Feb. 24. Since then, the number of active listings have been mostly below the 3,500 threshold, and as of Tuesday, March 11, there were 3,482 homes on the market with a median list price of $480,000. The number of pending home sales moved above 700 homes under

their seasonal high of 748 pending sales Feb. 27, before dipping to 705 homes under contract on March 1. Since then they have started a steady climb, pending home sales price is at $378,950 or about 10% below last year. One year ago on March 12, 2024, there were 824 pending home sales in the Cape, with a median pending home sales price of $419,000. Last year, the number of pending sales eventually climbed to 872 homes under contract with buyers on April 23, 2024, before they started easing back into the low 700s in early July. We really need to see the pending home sales ramp higher for longer, to help offset the fact that our current active listings are up 22.6% from the 2,840 homes on the market one year ago.

When it comes to the Cape Coral real estate market over the past year, a lot of local real estate pundits have been comparing it to the market from back in 2019, so we decided to give you a closer look at this time frame, along with a comparison to the Great Recession real estate collapse. We will begin with an analysis and comparison of the number of closed sales for single-family homes in the Cape, followed by a look at median sales prices.

Back in 2019, there were a total of 5,340 homes sold for the year in Cape Coral, which was an increase of 6.7% from time in Cape Coral history that we reached 5,000 homes sold

home sales for seven straight years. In 2020, we were off to a strong start to the year before COVID shut things down for a couple of months beginning in mid-March of that year. By May 2020, the number of closed home sales in Cape Coral dipped to 360 sales, making it the lowest sales total in the month of May since the 364 sales in May 2015 and 347 sales in May 2014. Once Florida started to open back up for business again in May 2020, the real estate market boom went full tilt as the number of closed home sales in the Cape climbed to 484 in June of that year before jumping to a month of July

in 2022 when the number of closed home sales dropped by 18.3% from 7,050 sales in 2021 to 5,760 total sales in 2022. The number of closed home sales declined by another 10.7% to 5,145 sales in 2023, before edging up

the number of closed home sales in the Cape totaled 585, which was down 12.6% from the 669 sales in January and February of last year. This year’s two-month sales tally is 44.9% below the all-time record of 1,062 sales in January and February of 2022, and it is the slowest start to any year since the 579 combined sales posted in January and February of 2017.

Again, if we use 2019 as the benchmark year with which to compare our recent market performance, the 12-month average median sales price for all Cape Coral single-family homes was $244,804 for the year in 2019. In the COVID interrupted year of 2020, the 12-month average median home sales price increased by 9.4% to $267,913. By the end of 2021, we were up another 30% to $348,648 and a year later the average median sales price climbed

ever for median sales prices in our overall single-family home market was $470,000 in April 2022, as The Fed was jacking up interest rates, and our most recent low was at $375,000 this January. So that is a drop of $95,000 for a high to low decline of 20.2% over a 33 month time frame. In 2019, the monthly low for median sales prices was set in February of that year at $237,000 and 38 months later we hit $470,000 for an increase of $233,000 or plus 98%.

Looking back to the last major housing market downturn, which was tied to the mortgage debacle and the Great Recession when “investors” were these homes, our median sales prices peaked at $285,450 in January 2006. at $115,000 for a top to bottom decline of $170,450 or down 59.7%. On an annualized basis, the average 12-month median sales price in the Cape’s overall single-family home market was $264,417 in 2006, and it dropped to a low of $126,940 four years later in 2010, for a decline of $137,477 or minus 52%. It took 14 years and 7 months (175 total months) to reached a median sales price of $286,500 in August 2020. close to that type of housing market collapse this time around, but as we have been noting, a lot of today’s sellers are feeling the pain of the declining home sales prices just the same.

The sales data for this article was obtained from the Florida Realtors Multiple Listing Service Matrix for Lee County, Fla., as of March 11, 2025, unless otherwise noted. It was compiled for Cape Coral single-family homes, and does not include condominiums, short sales or foreclosures. The data and statistics are believed to be reliable, however, they could be updated and revised periodically, and are subject to change without notice. The Quinn’ are a husband and wife

of COVID, there were 2,036 closed home sales in the Cape, followed by a total of 6,082 annual home sales.

That record for annual sales was shattered in 2021 when there were 7,050 sales posted, and we appeared to be on pace for another record setting year

market hit its monthly peak for 2022 in March with 686 home sales. Since we have not come close to 686 sales in a single month. In fact, the last time we posted at least 600 closed sales in any single month was in June 2022 with 622 sales, which marked the sudden end to our post-COVID market boom, as the total number of sales plunged by 23.3% to 477 homes sold in July 2022. The end of the boom and the drop-off in sales coincided with the timing of the most aggressive interest rate hikes in the history of the Federal Reserve

March of 2022. As mortgage rates surged higher, the number of Cape Coral home sales declined. The damage from Hurricane Ian on Sept. 28, 2022, compounded the problems of an already slowing, overvalued local housing market.

sales in the Cape from 2010 through 2021, with this streak coming to an end

have lived in Cape Coral for over 45 years. Geri has been a full-time Realtor since 2005, and Bob joined Geri as a full-time Realtor in 2014. Their real estate practice is mainly focused on Cape Coral residential property and vacant lots.