Orlando Builder Sees Great Florida Home Loan Potential in Tampa Housing Market
Interest rate increases have finally slowed down. Application activity on Florida home loans has risen. As a result, Park Square Homes, a 22-year-old Orlando home builder, is expanding its operations out of Central Florida for the first time in its history.
It wishes to take advantage of such a hopeful future in the Tampa housing market. As Jim Bagley, the company’s president and COO recently explained, the firm is searching for acquisition opportunities in Hillsborough County, expecting to be under construction there in the second quarter of 2007.
“We are looking at six to 10 deals right now in the Tampa Bay market,” Bagley says.
Expanding new homes across the state
Bagley also expects to expand operations on Florida’s east coast in 2007 or 2008, primarily in Jacksonville and Daytona Beach. The reason is simple: Tampa and Jacksonville are top 10 housing markets in the country.
“Why wouldn’t we want to be in those markets?” Bagley asks. “They are strong and stable in growth and have growing job markets like Orlando.”
Park Square Homes also has plans to enter the Central Florida active adult (aka Baby Boomer) market, with a 200-acre piece of property in Polk County under contract north of Coral Gables-based Avatar Properties’ massive active adult community of Solivita.
Preliminary plans call for 600 single-family homes and attached residences.
“Active adults are a wonderful demographic, Bagley says. “They have high net worth and a high degree of liquid assets.”
A proper Florida home loan focus
David J. Tufts, founder and executive vice president of Atlanta-based Coldwell Banker The Condo Store, says Park Square Homes is smart to “spread its wings along the Interstate 4 corridor.”
“First of all, I-4 is a job creator and anything near it can’t go wrong,” Tufts says. “And both home and condo builders are expanding because they are on the hunt for more affordable land, which in turn gives their customers more affordable price points in a slowing market.”
Even though Park Square Homes is ranked among the 120 largest and most active builders in the U.S. Bagley says he wants to compete on an even higher level. The Florida home loan opportunity in Tampa provides a good opportunity to do just that.
The initial plan for the area, Bagley says, is to close on 200 to 300 homes in the first year and close on 500 or 600 homes within three years. It all makes perfect sense. As those in Orlando are confident about the Florida real estate future of their city, this company can expand and soon cause other residents to feel the same optimism.
