Cape Coral Land for Sale and Cape Coral Florida Real Estate

So, you’ve heard about Cape Coral. You know it has lots of sun - about 335 days of it per year. You know it is one of the fastest growing cities in the nation, spreading out over the generous expanse of square mileage that makes Cape Coral the second largest city in Florida. You know that you can’t throw a rock without making a splash in one of its 400 miles of fresh and saltwater canals and 27 miles of shoreline. You know all this, and you have come to a very logical conclusion: now is the time to try your hand at the Cape Coral Florida Real Estate market.

At least that’s settled. Some big questions still loom, though, just a sampling of which include: Will you try to find your new home among an ample, yet slowly diminishing, supply of existing houses and condominiums, or will you look into custom homes? If you choose to build, will you go the subdivision route or take the more demanding path toward a new build home with an independent builder? These are posed as either/or questions, but of course there can be more than two options in any given scenario. For the purposes of this article, the following sections will focus on the search for Cape Coral land for sale, with the intent of building your own home, and the very different process of looking for an existing home.

Choosing From Cape Coral Land for Sale

The driving force behind new home construction in Cape Coral is the same idealism that propels so many United States’ citizens today. It is the freedom to see a project through from start to finish on your own terms, personalizing the experience according to your tastes. A custom home can be the fullest realization not only of your dream home, but of the American dream.

One of the earliest and most important steps in the process—after making sure you can afford this endeavor—is finding the perfect piece of Cape Coral land for sale. The mantra should be the same one employed when buying an existing home: “location, location, location!” Narrowing your search to Cape Coral is half the battle. The other half involves the decision about where, exactly, you’d like to place your cornerstone in this “sunlit city of winding waterways” (a phrase that found its origins in Cape Coral’s early advertising literature). Would you like a riverfront situation? Perhaps you’d prefer Gulf access via one of Cape Coral’s famous canals. Maybe a tidy neighborhood removed from the waterfront is more to your liking.

You are sure to find something that warms your heart with constant sunshine and tickles your soul with seaborn breezes when you take a look in Cape Coral. Land for sale is everywhere. Once you find your own piece of paradise, be sure to sit down to enjoy the promise of the empty lot for a moment. Take a deep breath. Now comes the hard part.

You don’t want to buy a piece of land that you find out you can’t build on, so there’s a lot of homework to be done before a contract is signed. Issues to consider include local zoning regulations and any plans for zoning changes in the area, the presence of utilities like water, sewer, gas, electric, and telephone – or, in their absence, a knowledge of how much it will cost to install them, soil quality, flooding and surveying of your lot.

Calling in professionals from among the ranks of real estate agents, building consultants, surveyors, and real estate lawyers can help guarantee your investment. Once you’ve made this crucial purchase, you can begin the next phase: building your dream home!

Choosing From Existing Homes in the Cape Coral Florida Real Estate Market

Buying a home may very well be the quicker and less expensive option when pitted against building one. Once you close on a house, averages dictate that you should be ready to take up residence within four to six weeks. If it is in move-in ready condition, you can unload your belongings and begin to enjoy the advantages of Cape Coral living immediately. If the home requires work, the renovations are still unlikely to rise to the level of time and expense required by a new build.

Building a new home with all the upgrades can be a costly task, but finding an affordable home to which the owners have already made tasteful upgrades of good quality is a very real option. Many pre-owned homes now boast sophisticated kitchens with custom cabinetry, granite countertops, and stainless steel appliances. Many master bathrooms feature double sinks and two-person Jacuzzi or soaking tubs. With an available inventory of approximately 4,000 single family homes each month, there’s a good chance that you will find the perfect piece of Cape Coral Florida real estate. Market forces have aligned in favor of the buyer. But beware! The number of homes on the market is slowly falling, and with less supply comes higher prices. Now is the time to buy. Low prices, high supply and low interest rates are your variables for a winning equation.

Once you’ve toured several, if not many, homes in different parts of Cape Coral and settled on the one that best fits your vision of a sub-tropical paradise, it is important to make an offer that will not only make the most of your investment, but will protect it as well. The first step is to come up with an offer based on local comps. You don’t want to pay more than the house is worth, and you also don’t want to eliminate yourself from consideration by placing a lowball offer that offends the sellers or is quickly beat out by another party. With a fair price in hand, add a home inspection contingency clause to the contract.

A home inspection will bring to the surface problems that may not be visible to the naked eye. A professional home inspector can diagnose structural issues, damage from water or pests, plumbing and electrical problems, and much more. This kind of inspection is a must in Florida, where hurricane and flood damage can be easily hidden. Not only can such issues affect the structural integrity of the home, but it can also promote the growth of toxic mold, a very real health threat to homebuyers today. If the inspector finds problems, his detailed report can be used as a bargaining chip with the sellers. In extreme cases, it may prove the need to walk away from the deal. Any way you look it, a home inspection is a wise investment toward one of the biggest purchases of your life.

The daunting task of buying a home is almost over once you’ve passed the inspection stage successfully. All that is left is the closing—which is the stuff of another article—and that unparalleled moment when your new key unlocks the door, and all the possibilities, to your new home.

Whether you choose Cape Coral land for sale or an existing home, your investment in southwest Florida will reap countless rewards. By knowing what you want and going after it in a thoroughly researched way, you are likely to end up with a stake in the Cape Coral, Florida real estate market that will serve you well for many, many years.