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Seasonal residents heading back home has been a topic of discussion around Marco Island and Naples lately. We find that some of our seasonal residents are prolonging their departure home due to the long and cold winter in the Midwest. One news report stated that the Midwest experienced the coldest winter in seven years.

Marco Island continues to show overall positive growth for the first quarter of 2008 with regards to pending and closed sales. Inventory levels for Marco Island were down by 11 percent from March 2007. The largest growth is found in the single family home market with pending and closed sales up by over 9.7 percent for the first quarter of 2008 (in comparison to 2007). Condos also showed growth of almost 7 percent; whereas, lots posted negative growth of 13.9 percent.

How can this growth sustain itself during the off-season? Many Realtors, including myself, have buyers scheduled to return for buying trips in the off-season. Some are returning because the property they “waited to purchase” was scooped up by a motivated buyer. Others believe that the off-season will offer more opportunities since sellers will be more motivated. As more buyers enter the market and inventory continues its decline, product selection and price negotiations will also diminish.

On a side note, one item that most homeowners address is insurance. I wanted to recap an old article for those interested in a potential savings on their insurance bill.

Almost two years ago, my neighbor told me about a program whereby a windstorm Inspector reviews your policy and inspects your home to assess the discrepancies between your policy. After a windstorm Inspection for a one-time fee of $175 and four months of waiting, I received a premium reduction of $450 annually for the life of my windstorm insurance policy and my neighbor received a premium reduction of over $800.

When your windstorm policy is written, the insurer doesn’t send an inspector to verify the actual strength of your home. The homeowner bears the responsibility to have an engineer, architect, or certified windstorm Inspector verify the strength and susceptibility of the home to windstorm damage.

The following are some of the factors that impact your windstorm premium:

-- Shape of the roof;

-- How roof is attached to trusses;

-- Impact glass windows;

-- Hurricane shutters;

-- Structure of the home — concrete block stucco or frame;

-- Reinforced concrete such as a condominium.

When the State Certified windstorm Inspector arrived at my home, he went into the attic to inspect my roof and inspected the structure of the home. The inspector filled out a certified affidavit that I submitted to my insurance agent. Upon receipt of the affidavit, the Insurance Company recalculated the premium for my windstorm Insurance. Since I had recently paid my windstorm Insurance Premium, the insurance company issued a refund check for my premium reduction amount of $450.

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Natalie Kirstein, MBA, Realtor, works for Premier Properties of Southwest Florida Inc at The Esplanade. She can be contacted at NatalieK@premiermail.net or 642-2222.