Steve Braunstein spent 13 hours earlier this summer analyzing south Lee County sales data for February, March and April of this year. He didn’t include mobile home sales or vacant lots that were sold after a house was built on them. His findings: Most people who sold their home after owning it for five years or longer walked away with money in their pockets.

“Is it a good time to sell? Not if you bought 12 months ago. But if you bought it five or six years ago you can make money,” said Braunstein, who sells homes for Real Estate 9 in Fort Myers and also started writing mortgages for HomeBanc four months ago. “And people thinking about buying need to remember that instead of waiting around for some sort of bottom, if they buy now and stay in a home for at least five to seven years they’re going to make money.”

By KARIE PARTINGTON