Southwest Florida Demographics

Usually I blog about market activity as well as unique features of Pine Island, but in this post I want to talk about demographics in our Southwest Florida area, namely education! I subscribe to the "Gulfshore Business Magazine", which recently published a supplement that is called the "Southwest Florida Relocation and Expansion Guide for 2008-2009". In this supplement, a feature article is titled "Land of Opportunities". This article provides excellent information about the Lee, Collier, and Charlotte County areas including demographics, which gives age, housing, financial, labor, and education data for the three counties, Florida, and the United States.

The data on education was alarming! In Lee County, only 9% were reported as having a graduate or professional degree; 15.8% having a bachelor's degree; 6.9% an associate degree; 21.4% some college, no degree; 33.7% a high school diploma; and 13.2% less than a high school diploma. That's 46.9% of the population in Lee County that have a high school diploma or less!

In Collier County, 11.8% have graduate or professional degree; 19.8% bachelor's degree; 4.9% an associate degree; 19.5% some college, no degree; 29% high school diploma; 15% less than high school diploma. That's 44% in Collier County who have a high school diploma or less!

And in Charlotte County, 7% have graduate or professional degree; 10.3% bachelor's degree; 7.5% associate degree; 20.9% some college, no degree; 43.3% high school diploma; and 11% less than high school diploma. That's 54.3% in Charlotte County who have a high school diploma or less!

It's interesting to see that these three Southwest Florida Counties - Lee, Collier, Charlotte - are fairly typical of Florida (45% high school diploma or less) and the United States (44.3% high school diploma or less).

We are squandering the opportunity to teach, encourage, and inspire our youth to reach for greater heights . . . to strive for something other than the status quo . . . to believe that they can achieve higher goals and aspirations! How will our country compete on the worldwide stage if we have one-half of our young people who are satisfied with only a high school diploma or less and nothing more? Where will the jobs be for those young adults? How will they pay for higher and higher costs of living?

I am deeply disturbed by the educational system in this country! We have to do better . . . expect more . . . and raise up students who are hungry for learning and self-improvement, regardless of their circumstances!

July and August Market Activity

July was the third stongest month so far this year for residential sales with 19 sales Island wide. The strongest months were April with 33 sales and May with 24 sales. There were also 10 pending sales at the end of July. At the end of that month there were still over 300 residential properties in the active for-sale inventory.

Vacant land sales were down to 5 in July. The strongest months for land sales were January with 8 sales and April also with 8 sales. At the end of July there was only one pending lot sale and over 350 active listings in the inventory.

August residential sales were down to 4 with 10 pending at the end of the month.

Land sales in August were down to 3 with only one pending at the end of the month.

At the time of this post, residential sales for the year (January through August) total 130. Land sales total 49.

It will be interesting to see if we can surpass the total number of residential properties sold in 2007 (147) by the end of this year . . . and the total number of vacant land sales in 2007 ( 70).

Even though the sales may rival what there were last year, the prices of both residential and vacant land properties have been significantly reduced . . . the result of a buyer's market.

The inventory remains too high, which is a good thing for buyers. They have a good selection from which to choose!