More Ways to Lure in Florida Home Mortgage Buyers in South Florida

Don’t panic.

That’s the message experts in the South Florida housing market wish to pass along to frustrated sellers. Granted, some homes in the area are sitting for around months and the number of homes for sale has doubled in Palm Beach County and tripled in Broward.

But don’t panic, remember.

There are still steps you can take and strategies you can utilize to lure in Florida home loan applicants. To begin with, your price has to be right and the house has to look move-in ready.

Study the Florida housing market; Sell accordingly

Setting a price at or below market, cutting it within weeks if buyers don’t respond, helping buyers with closing costs and making your house stand out with new paint or new appliances are traditional strategies in competitive times such as this.

How else can you sell quicky? What other incentives could those seeking Florida home loans be after? Consider that South Florida sellers are trying to sweeten deals with one-year service warranties for appliances, or paying homeowners association dues for a year. Others are turning to auctions, normally associated with foreclosured properties for sale in Florida.

But the major secret weapon is “staging.”

Brendan Haggerty didn’t believe in the power of staging when he listed his Silver Spring, Md., house this spring, but when the four-bedroom Cape Cod didn’t move for almost two years, he was willing to switch to another real estate firm that emphasized the work of its on-staff interior design crew.

“I wasn’t sold on the concept per se, but I was willing to try anything,” Haggerty said.

After a two-day repackaging by Tom Hanson’s Pure Energy Team at Gerlach Real Estate in Silver Spring, Md., the Cape Cod drew an offer at the open house in early May. The buyer paid just under the listing price of $535,000.

It obviously worked. In times such as these, sellers need to think differently. Put yourself in the minds of potential buyers. Give them a reason to splure in this market, even though appreciation appears to be slowing down and it’s not an ideal time to invest.

Make them want to apply for a Florida home mortgage before someone else beats them to their dream house.