Insights & reports
The Esplanade blog
Market reports, buying guides, and community insights — written from real MLS data, not headlines. No fluff, no recycled national takes.
Market reports, buying guides, and community insights — written from real MLS data, not headlines. No fluff, no recycled national takes.
Three South Naples resort communities, side by side — new vs. resale, golf models (and who pays for golf), the mandatory club fees that swing your budget, and a deep look at Lely Resort’s ~40 neighborhoods.
How Naples golf really works — bundled vs. equity membership, initiation fees & dues, the best-known communities, and the one new-construction golf option (Rivergrass). Plus the three different “Esplanades,” sorted out.
Esplanade by the Islands, Esplanade at Rivergrass, Caymas, and Seven Shores — builders, locations, price ranges, and how to buy with a buyer’s agent the builder pays for. The honest comparison across Naples’ active new-construction communities.
A different community from Esplanade by the Islands — a new golf community off Oil Well Road in East Naples, with condos from the low $400,000s and an early-2027 opening. What June’s floor-plan preview tells us, plus a side-by-side comparison so you don’t mix up the two Esplanades.
A 162,000-sq-ft Costco + freestanding gas station is approved at Rattlesnake Hammock & Collier Blvd — a few miles north of our community. Important disambiguation: the $35,000 donation reported in the local press goes to Esplanade at Hacienda Lakes (a separate, sold-out Taylor Morrison community on the Hacienda Lakes PUD) — not to Esplanade by the Islands. Honest property-value implications, traffic trade-offs, and the two-Esplanades clarification.
What it actually costs to own here, line by line, with every 2026 assessment number verified against the approved budget. 52′, 62′, 76′ single-family, Coach Home, and Twin Villa totals; the $800 food minimum; the $5,000 Working Fund Contribution; CDD; taxes; insurance — with a monthly-equivalent breakdown for each property type.
The honest decision framework. When Taylor Morrison new construction is the right call, when a resale (especially a retired floor plan like Lazio, Pallazio, or Beacon) gives you more value, and the comparison most buyers get wrong — builder base price vs. finished resale price.
The departure checklist, how to “summerize” against heat and humidity, vetting a home watch service, and the $500 of technology that watches your house all summer — written for Naples seasonal owners.
For Northern buyers: why a new concrete-block Naples home may be tougher than the house you're leaving, how the 2002 building code changed everything, and the honest story on insurance — including 2026's first rate decreases.
When the COVID run-up really started, where prices peaked, how far they actually fell (less than you think), and why every major forecaster sees calm, modest growth through 2027. The whole cycle in one chart.
The buyer's market is closing faster than people think. Single-family climbing, condos a step behind, and three very different stories inside the gates — told with five years of MLS data and seventeen live indicators.
Planned next: the lot premium handbook, floor-plan resale rankings, and a snowbird-vs-full-time scenario guide. The market report and the 2026 cost-to-own guide refresh as numbers change.
Want a specific question answered in a future article? Send it over — the best questions come from readers.
What sold inside the gates, where Naples prices moved, and one thing worth knowing as an owner or future buyer — in plain English, once a month.
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Pricing & floor plans. Subject to change without notice. Verify all current pricing, availability, and specifications with the builder before making purchase decisions.