North Port Builders Offer Incentives to Buyers, Those Seeking a Florida Home Loan

Colorful banners. A hot dog vendor. A black 1980 Corvette with chrome piping.

Yes, Gary Grennell - sales manager for Allstate Builders - is pulling out all the Florida home loan stops. He’s offering any incentive he can come up with to attract buyers for the 20 spec homes he has in his inventory.

“These days, you got to do the work to get them to see your product,” Grennell said of the “circus” he puts together every weekend.

Grennell is far from alone in this tactic. As the South Florida housing market cools, builders and sellers need to get creative.

An examination of North Port, Florida home loans

As The Herald Tribune reports, North Port may be the fault line for the downturn in the Southwest Florida mortgage industry. The adrenaline of a real estate gold rush has given way in a matter of months to a buyer’s market.

All along Price and Toledo Blade boulevards, North Port’s “builders’ row,” the signs of the cooling housing market are flapping in front of almost every model home in big, bold letters: $10,000 in free upgrades, $20,000 buyer’s bonus, homes starting below $200,000. It should be easier to find an affordable Florida home loan, but individuals are still wary.

With that in mind, some builders are offering giveaways like a chance to win a trip to Bermuda, a $10,000 gift card to a Rooms To Go furniture store, free moving expenses, an eight-night hotel stay or a shopping spree at Wal-Mart.

A year ago, when the city was issuing more than 350 permits a month and builders had customers on waiting lists because they couldn’t build fast enough, marketing tactics like these were unheard of in this fast-growing city. But today, as the flood of customers has slowed to a trickle, home builders are reaching out in new ways to attract buyers and move their stalled inventory.

North Port officials had expected to permit more than 5,000 single-family homes this year, but in May issued just 74 permits. That followed only 88 in April.

While the entire state is experiencing a softening of the housing market, the only other area where builders are offering such incentives is Orlando, according to the Florida Home Builders Association, as that city sees inventory and prices rising.

Although new housing starts are slowing down, builders statewide are remaining optimistic and are not anticipating layoffs, said Edie Ousley of the Florida Home Builders Association.

“We have a great deal of reconstruction and rebuilding from two years of recording-breaking hurricane seasons,” Ousley said. “The state still has a shortage of labor, which indicates times are not dire.”

What does all of this mean? Those seeking Florida home loans at a reasonable price can take advantage of a somewhat desperate time for builders and sellers.