Florida Real Estate Agents Feel Pain of Current Housing Market
This is a combination that doesn’t speak very well for a handful of Florida real estate agents: There are more Realtors than ever before in Hernando County - and more houses than ever before to sell.
As a result of these conditions, membership at the Hernando County Association of Realtors has dropped, with 56 members going inactive last month, according to Beth Garman, broker-owner of RE/MAX Showcase and past president of the Realtor’s Association.
Meanwhile, 4,000 homes were listed on the Multiple Listing Service last week. That figure didn’t include homes for sale by owner or builders’ inventories, all proof of the weak market that’s forcing some Realtors to pull up the stakes and move out.
“We are finding that people that had come into the business are getting out now because they are not able to make it,” Garman said. “They came in at an easy time, and they don’t know how to go through a harder time.”
Change in Florida home mortgage demand
There was a huge influx of Realtors when the market exploded in 2004 and 2005. At that point, Realtors didn’t even have to solicit customers, Garman said. Individuals were simply applying for Florida home mortgage loans left and right.
However, the impact of rising homeowner’s insurance costs, taxes and increasing interest rates have all played a role in turning the area from a seller’s to a buyer’s market. That’s bad news for Realtors and their clients.
“In order to serve your seller you’re having to advertise, and when your ad costs are increasing and increasing, and you don’t have the income coming in to offset that, it is difficult,” Garman said.
Typically, the number of people coming in and going out was pretty even before the boom, Gary Schraut, owner of Coldwell Banker Schraut and Association, said. Now he predicts more people will be leaving the association than joining during the next four to six months.
Why? Because he expects the market to pick back up by then. In the scheme of things, despite the cost of property insurance and taxes, Hernando County’s market isn’t that bad compared to other areas.
Popularity of Florida mortgages
A recent 6,000-mile road trip confirmed what Shcraut already believed to be true: there are thousands of still people anxious to come to Florida. The cross-country trip took him from Florida to the West Coast and everyone he talked to along the way asked why he would leave Florida to visit their state. They viewed a Florida home mortgage as an appealing prospect.
“I think we are going to see a much brighter future in November and January,” Schraut said. “Unless, of course, all those that I talked to who want to come to Florida changed their minds.”
In addition to out-of-state people who want to move to Florida, or those interested in a second home in the state, there is also interest from other Florida residents, said Robert Buckner, owner-broker of Robert A. Buckner and Associates and longtime Realtor in Hernando County. People living in “congested” Hillsborough and Pinellas counties are still looking for a slower pace.
“I don’t have the crystal ball that predicts the future or the market, and simply the market is the market,” Buckner said. “Historically there have been cycles in real estate values, and due to historical events there’s no reason for it not to continue.”
Assuming this is the case, Realtors will make it through these times. As those awaiting a fall in prices decide to finally seek approval on a Florida home loan, houses will sell and all parties involved will be satisfied with the outcome.
