We're looking to pull the trigger on our retirement home. We def want the Gulf Coast, and like the Punta Gorda area ( have a few friends that retired there). But what's holding us up is the insane bidding wars going on in the whole area ( or so it seems). Anyone have any advice or maybe insight if the return to normal is coming?
Thanks!

Wish I could help. I live just outside of PG & absolutely love it.
My son has a house in North Port, the empty lot next to him went up for sale & sold 30 minutes later.
I haven't heard complaints on bidding wars but the market is fierce if your buying.
Are you looking for a gated type community or some Ag property?

DEF not a gated community for us, I need to build a toy garage. Can you recommend an area to look? Don't want to be too far from a boat launch either
Thanks!

I hate to break the news to you, but Florida real estate will be hot for a long time. At least 5 years, I would say.

Thanks to the "pandemic", many companies have discovered that the location of their workers doesn't matter.

I've noticed job descriptions on company "career" websites heavily favor "remote" for more positions now than ever. Pre-pandemic it was maybe 20% remote, 80% on prem/office. Now it is flipped.

Companies are going to embrace this going forward as it is near eliminating their commercial real estate costs and they like that.

The workers are realizing this. They are moving primary residences to low/no state income tax/low cost of living states.

States won't be able to change their tax codes fast enough.

Lots of people are also now really concerned about their deep blue states and want to bail.

I'll use my example of Washington state. Our shitass governor still has lots of mandates and restrictions in place. Public schools are all still closed and the teacher unions are fighting reopening. States like WA are in near collapse except for remote enabled workers and those people who can home school or afford private school. People are bailing on the deep blue states and going to the red/deep red states.

I told my wife back in November we should just buy sight unseen, but she was opposed. Now we're visiting in early April to scout out St Johns County master communities for "a second home."

Skip Cape. Everyone of my buddies who moved there regret it. City is like one giant HOA.

Buddy of mine does real estate and said he's never seen bidding wars like this.  We sold our house fast early last year and the market has only gotten worse if you're buying.  Interest rates in the 2% range are like gasoline on a fire too.

Nobody can predict a collapse but if the economy takes a dump housing will too.

In PG, east of I-75
I've been here since '72.

I have heard from a very reliable source that the big homebuilders are literally putting contracts on every piece of property that is ready to go (zoning, permitting, other entitlements). They found themselves unprepared for what is happening in the RE market. That means it will still be a bidding war until they can get more inventory ready.

I've been looking just north of that (North Port, Englewood, Venice, south of Sarasota)and seeing the same thing. It's crazy. My wife and I both work remotely, so we need extra space (office space) and FL has no basements that can be leveraged like that. Families that could have fit into a 3BR home will now require a 4BR+ if they are going to work from home full time.

People come and go all the time because they think they will love FL and find out a year later it's not for them... but it doesn't seem to be keeping up with demand.

Hopefully when the federal foreclosure moratorium eventually expires that will put more homes on the market.

I saw that another issue (that has to do with people leaving FL) is that they haven't had a BIG hurricane hit for the last 10 years. There is usually an exodus of people after they go through a hurricane, according to this analyst.

One of the worst years in recent history for Hurricanes in FL was 2004 when 4 of them hit the state in a 6 wk period, and people thought there would be a mass exodus of FL after that.  It was followed by one of the strongest housing booms in recent memory as people just keep flooding to the state.  There are ebbs and flows in the housing market but for every person leaving for fear of hurricanes there are 10 wanting to come here for the sunshine.

True. I had already wanted to leave my state, and now our governor has proposed another income tax increase that will result in my wife and I paying over $8k/year. That's not small potatoes, and makes the math (even taking home insurance and property taxes into account) even more attractive. I can hope for a housing retraction, but I fear that FL and other free states will be seeing a bull market for a while.  

UGH! This is not good news, about what I expected. I may have to look at other options and maybe a different state. Fall of 2019 we ALMOST pulled the trigger on a house that in hindsight would have been perfect. Wife had a few things she didn't like about it so we passed on it. Now she admits that "we should have bought that one". DAMMIT !

Lots (80×125) in North Port just 3 years ago were less than 6k are now going for at least 3 times that.  I'm just 50 miles north of there and the 2 acres that my wife and I bought next to our house 10 years ago for 38k,we have been offered 150 - 185k for in the 10 months ..  31 acres around the corner from us sold last year for 110k / acre. Now is not the time to buy in Florida.

E.T.

To add, since I'm close enough in Port Charlotte. A house katty-corner to me was bought in late 2019 for 180K.  3 br, pool, 1500 sq foot. Owner didn't do much, if anything at all to the home, but it has needed a new roof for years and they never fixed it. The home was recently sold in Jan, still needing a new roof, sight unseen, for 230K. After buying the house, the new owners spent 2-3 weeks doing a lot of interior work and replacing the roof.

Hopefully the "insanity" stays going for the next couple of years.  At lease for me.  I'm looking to leave paradise.  I need the real estate market to stay high.
Of the 2, look into PG.  I've been in the Cape since '04.  There were appr. 80k people here then.  Now, close to 200k.  Traffic sucks.  If the trend continues, I think they will change the name to Miami West.

On another note, you may want to spend the summer here.  July - September is brutal with the humidity.

Isn't that what the swimming pools, lakes, rivers, beaches and air conditioners are for?

What part of the Cape do live in ?
I work on the water here.  It's nasty !
No one goes in the lakes.  We have 1 river, and no real beach.  The Yacht Club ?  That's man made, and on the nasty river.
Swimming pools ?  That gets old real quick.  I have been in mine once in the last 3 years.
A/C ? Who wants to be cooped up in the house all that time ?