Finding your forever home during the pandemic

Reporter: Rachel Cox-Rosen Writer: Drew Hill
Published: Updated:

One family has been in Naples searching for the home of their dreams for four weeks. With the instability created by the COVID-19 pandemic, they’re not sure when they’ll find it.

They hail from New York and while they loved their life there, it was getting to be a bit much. “It was kind of becoming very difficult out there with the high taxes. And my husband was working in the city so the commute was an hour a day,” said Anna.

So they packed up and left, hoping to find a new forever home in the sunshine state. But that is proving to be more difficult than they imagined.

“The first week when we came down it was so emotional we were willing to buy any home In the given school district. And then the ones we’ve seen, they needed so much work! And people are asking you know just crazy crazy amount of money,” said Anna.

Naples Realtor Dirk Fischer says the reason Anna and her family cannot get a good price is that investors are scooping them all up.

“A lot of people were hoping that when they come here to Florida that they can offer 50% of asking price. Those things don’t happen anymore it used to be… but no more. Now, you have to be realistic,” Fischer said.

Anna and her family are trying to be realistic and go with the changes in the market in Collier County. Anna said, “You never know, life is crazy sometimes it takes turns and twists…”

The former New Yorkers and future Floridians still have high hopes. “We are hopeful and optimistic that int he next few weeks, we’ll find a home. A forever home,” Anna said.

Realtors say it is difficult to predict what will happen int he housing market next month since the COVID-19 pandemic has created so much unpredictability.

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