Recent real estate trends . . .Fort Lauderdale was a seller´s market in May, 2004, when buyers purchased 2,888 of the 5,736 homes for sale. The seller´s market continued through June, 2005, when buyers purchased 2,477 of the 5,416 homes for sale. Three months later, in September, buyers purchased only 1,905 of the 8,246 homes for sale, marking the beginning of the buyer´s market.Moody´s Economy.com (Wall Street Journal October 5, 2006) projected the Fort Lauderdale real estate market would reach bottom during the third quarter of 2007. In May, 2007, buyers purchased 1,275 of the 29,280 homes for sale. We believe the bottom to single family homes in Fort Lauderdale is different from the bottom to condos and town homes, different in Rio Vista waterfront and Rio Vista "dry" lots, different in Victoria Park town homes and Victoria Park single family homes; and the bottom may be shallower in Las Olas Grand than the Waverly Las Olas, shallower in the Symphony than the Las Olas River House. Since every neighborhood and building are unique, makes its own market history and draws its own real estate cycle, we collect, maintain, graph and chart neighborhood and building-specific market and sales data you need to know in order to make the best buying and selling decisions. Whether you like this house in Citrus Isles, or that condo in the Watergarden, before making an offer to purchase (or agreeing to sell), know where property values are heading, know where that neighborhood or building is in the real estate cycle now, and know what property values have been in Fort Lauderdale... Early days in Fort Lauderdale real estate . . .The Fort Lauderdale real estate market began in 1793, when the Charles Lewis family arrived from the Bahamas and settled on the splendid north bank of the New River, near Collee Hammock Park, two blocks from Las Olas Boulevard.In 1821, the United States purchased Florida from Spain for $5,000,000, and three years later, Charles´ widow, Frankee Lewis petitioned the government for a grant of 640 acres -- including Rio Vista, Rio Vista Isles, Colee Hammock and Las Olas Isles. Six years later, Frankee sold the Lewis Grant to South Carolinian Richard Fitzpatrick for $400.00, or $0.63 per acre. About the time Frankee Lewis received her grant, William Cooley, from Maryland, established his homestead, also on the north bank of the New River, near Fourth Avenue Bridge, and on land rented from Fitzgerald, built a coontie (arrowroot starch) factory. The New River Settlement thrived until 1836, when Justice of the Peace Cooley provoked the Seminole Indians, who believed he had suppressed evidence that would have led to the conviction of the men who murdered their chief, Alibama. The Seminole attack on Cooley´s family led to Second Seminole War, and one guesses, ended the first boom in Fort Lauderdale property values. Two years later, in 1838, the United States Army dispatched Major William Lauderdale to protect New River settlers (and restore property values). Major Lauderdale established three forts along the river: the first, near the Symphony, Performing Arts Center and River Walk; the second, near Las Olas Grand, Watergarden and Las Olas River House, and; the third, at the beach, between Bahia Mar and the Las Olas Beach Club. Two years later, when the Second Seminole War ended, the Fort Lauderdale real estate market boomed again when Richard Fitzgerald sold the Lewis Grant to his nephew, William English for $16,000.00, or $25.00 per acre. Property values drifted down for the next 32 years, finally reaching bottom in 1872, when William and Mary Brickell of Miami purchased the Lewis Grant from William English for $3,500 ($5.47 per acre). Fairly flat for fifty years, the market began to improve when Guy Metcalf, from Ohio, established the Bay Biscayne Stagecoach Line between Lantana (Palm Beach County) to Lemon City (north Biscayne Bay). Passengers rode mule-driven, canvas-covered wagons the forty mile gravel road, breaking the thirteen-hour trip near the original Lewis homestead on land Metcalf rented from the Brickells. To operate the New River Crossing, Metcalf hired his cousin, Frank Stranahan, who offered to purchase the crossing land from the Brickells, who turned down Stranahan´s offer, because they intended to develop the land. Stranahan moved up river, built a new crossing and trading post between the Riverside Hotel and Las Olas Grand. The real estate market turned up when, in 1896, Henry Flagler brought the Florida East Coast Railroad to Fort Lauderdale which, in 1926, ran right by Frances Abreu´s Progresso Plaza, where Coast Counties Realty is located today. In 1917, Fort Lauderdale, growing up along the New River was connected to the beach by the Las Olas Bridge, and seizing the opportunity, the Brickell family began selling off the Lewis Grant, including the mangrove swamp south of the new bridge which, once filled and subdivided, became Idlewyld. The success of Idlewyld led to the dredging and & finger islanding" of the mangroves along the north side of the Las Olas Bridge Venice Isles; and in 1927, developers constructed Fort Lauderdale´s first big subdivision (27 blocks, 700 lots) along the south side of the New River -- Rio Vista. We help buyers and sellers like you make smart real estate decisions . . .For more than 200 years, by boat and horseback, by stagecoach and railroad, by automobile and plane, people have come to Fort Lauderdale, including Coast Counties Realty´s Nathalie Mendlevitch-DeVol, who came from France five years ago, Georjan Adams, who came from Illinois twenty nine years ago, and Licensed Real Estate Broker Tim Jones, who came from California fifteen years ago.Since the original transaction, when Frankee Lewis sold Rio Vista, Rio Vista Isles, Idlewyld and Collee Hammock to Richard Fitzgerald for $400, Fort Lauderdale real estate values have cycled up and cycled down -- slowly, providing opportunities to consider the fundamental market data Coast Counties Realty collects and maintains, providing buyers and sellers what they need to know in order to buy and sell at the best time. | |
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