Cape Coral New Construction

[Matt Allen]

I am strongly considering new build construction in NW Cape Coral Florida. The new build is still on the well/septic system but I am being advised that conversion to city services is several years away. I am also advised it is not in a flood zone. For a 4 bedroom property, they anticipate rent at $2500, which seems higher than rents in older Cape Coral. Does anyone have experience in this area and could shed light on the rental market in the new build areas? Are insurance costs reasonable if you avoid flood zones?

[Stetson Miller]

@Kay Kay I would recommend getting insurance quotes from both The Chapman Insurance Group and State Insurance USA. Both are insurance brokers that have access to different networks, so it's well worth connecting with both

Many of the new (or newer) construction properties that are in desirable areas and priced correctly are often being rented in 2-3 weeks fairly easily. It's likely that if a property is sitting, it's priced too high for the area. Prices do still fluctuate pretty significantly, even with the same property in the North side of Cape Coral, so you can't necessarily put all of those in the same basket to compare. Right now, I see 14 active SFH rentals 2015+ being advertised. In my opinion, 7 of those have been priced correctly and all of those 7 have been listed for two weeks or less

Regarding whether it's still a good time to purchase, the numbers being provided are very predictable and consistent, so if you're happy with those numbers, then I would say that it is still a good time to buy. Many of these new construction properties in North Cape Coral still have very large appreciation potential, but even without accounting for that, you can still expect some decent cash flow figures relative to today's market

Homes are re-assessed for tax values upon sale. In Florida, our property taxes are paid in arrears, so you are going to pay the previous years taxes at the end of the year, rather than at the beginning. So, in a sense, they're low from the time you take ownership until the end of the calendar year when they will be re-assessed. Below is a link that the county provides to a tax estimator tool which allows you to get a general idea of what to expect property taxes to increase to

https://www.leepa.org/taxestim...