From 'rocket docket' to rocket market

The Fort Myers area was one of the hardest-hit in the nation for real estate and gave birth to the foreclosure “rocket docket,” the court machine established to quickly clear the massive backlog of foreclosure cases.

So it's a pleasant surprise to hear from the National Association of Realtors that the Cape Coral-Fort Myers area is one of the top five turnaround markets in the country, along with Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles and Buffalo, N.Y.

The association noted that prices for existing homes in the Fort Myers area remain 60% below their highs in 2006 and there's plenty of inventory to choose from. Yet the news sent local Realtors atwitter and they blogged about it in anticipation of a stronger selling season this winter.

The national Realtor group also posted a list of the top 10 turnaround markets and six Florida metro areas are among them: Miami, Orlando, Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fort Lauderdale, Sarasota-Bradenton and Lakeland-Winter Haven.