Lee County Property Appraiser Matt Caldwell kicks off his presentation at the Real Estate Investment Society’s monthly luncheon with some statistics. JOHNATHAN MINEHAN

The business community got an update on the post-Ian housing market Tuesday.

The Real Estate Investment Society held its monthly luncheon at the Pelican Preserve Clubhouse Tuesday to discuss the future and status of real estate in the wake of the near category-5 hurricane that devastated Lee County’s coastal communities.

The meeting also touched on the latest trends.

The Clubhouse was filled with attendees from businesses essential to rebuilding efforts — construction companies, roofing firms, real estate agents, and more.

Sallee Promotions Inc., a business that started making school uniforms after Hurricane Ian, sponsored the meeting. The business was looking to expand and grow and saw that a contract with several of the schools in Lee County as a great way to start.

“When I say school uniforms, I’m not just talking about a web store. I’m talking about inventory. So, I will never compare myself to Amazon, but when people walk into our office, they leave with the product. So we have ready-to-go school uniforms for our contract at school. We married that with a web store option where parents can order online.” Nate Sallee, owner, said.

Matt Caldwell, Lee County property appraiser, led the presentation and spoke of the duties of an appraiser and the job, as well as his research on the county and the real estate market.

Caldwell was a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 2010 to 2018 and was elected to serve as property appraiser in 2020.

Caldwell explained the efforts the county has put into recovery after Ian and the tax recovery of homes and businesses within Lee County.

“Twenty thousand property improvements — essentially they came back on the tax roll. This is where most of this taxable value recovery came from last year. And I would expect, then, of course, to see that again,” Caldwell said, adding he expects to see similar numbers next year.

“I’d say, two-thirds of what was still outstanding should be back on the roll next year, based on what we see the biggest obstacles,” Caldwell said.

Caldwell touched on the three aspects that comprise a property’s valuation, including sales comparisons, extraction (depreciated cost), and allocation (ratio). Graphs and charts in the presentation show the tax value gradually increasing countrywide. In 2021, the countrywide value was $135,000,000,000, and it is now $235,000,000,000.

“Well, we have a hurricane that wipes improvements off the land. You need to have a land value that reflects what the actual situation is. And so we have begun to rebuild. We’ve not excluded these. We’re still using extraction allocation, but we’re now going to include a sales comparison. The mass appraisal model will be applied to all of the land. We’ve used it in certain categories, in certain types, but everybody’s going to get that treatment.” Caldwell said.

What this plan means for Lee County property owners is that valuation has steadily increased after the storm, and the county continues to make these efforts as it moves forward.

For buyers and sellers, Caldwell and his team have constructed a website with videos entailing how to interact with the charts and graphs and what the trends are currently looking like within Southwest Florida.

The team also plans to update its website with data on properties around canals and what the municipalities and county owns compared to what the citizens own.

The Real Estate Investment Society will discuss the Punta Gorda Airport and the plans for that area at its next meeting, which will be Sept. 10.

This information update will be key in making it efficient for real estate agents, buyers, and sellers.

To attend the next meeting, you can sign up by visiting reis-swfl.org.