Leading Question

Charley and his ilk certainly struck fear and worry into Southwest Florida residents, but the stormy summer did little to stifle the sizzling real estate market. That goes extra for places along the Gulf, canals, lakes and rivers. "Everybody wants to come to Florida regardless of the weather," says Barbara Watt, CEO and president of Century 21 Sunbelt Realty, which does business across Southwest Florida.

How true it is. In red-hot Lee County, for example, close to 21,000 people move in each year, according to U.S. Census figures. And Collier County's population is expected to add at least 63,000 by 2010 for a total of 350,000, up from the 2003 census estimate of nearly 287,000.

By many accounts, real estate activity hit a lull in September after the hurricanes. Then the market began to pick up again. As season arrived, Phil Wood found himself very busy. "This January and February actually were stronger than last year," says Wood, president of John R. Wood Realtors in Naples.

Looking at market activity, waterfront homes continued to move briskly for local realtors. In the first quarter of this year, 62 of those properties closed, compared with 59 during the same period in 2004. The average sales price rose to $2.776 million in the first quarter of 2005, up from $2.357 million last year. Those figures represent waterfront transactions from Vanderbilt Beach to Royal Harbor, according to MLS listings.

When Phil Wood dealt with clients after the storms, people would ask questions such as, "How did you survive?" Overall, they were "not scared at all," Wood says.

In Lee County, Denny Grimes continues to sell houses for clients at a hectic pace. "When you talk existing homes, activity is phenomenal," says Grimes of Denny Grimes & Co. "I don't think that wind blew away anyone's interest in waterfront. If weather was an issue, no one would live in California."

Up to 35 percent of the firm's business comes from waterfront sales.

The increase in home sales dropped some 17 percent last September over previous months. But two months later, the growth was back in the double digits, Grimes says. "People took a little bit of a hiatus," he says. "They were buying ice instead of homes."

Grimes says rising insurance and taxes are more likely to slow waterfront sales. "That will do more to affect the market than a storm every 30 years," he says.

Nowadays, buyers seeking homes on the water often find themselves on waiting lists, particularly in the condo market, Watt says. And that means brisk business for her company, which sells up to 40 percent waterfront. Her commission almost doubled in January and February over the same period last year.

"The prices have just skyrocketed," she says.

-Phil Borchmann