Across the Southwest Florida housing market, real estate agents are reporting sales, showing activity and buyer interest that suggests the region could be emerging from its real estate doldrums.

In January, Michael Saunders & Co.’s call center received 3,375 serious inquiries, “which matches almost exactly the call activity at the height of the boom,” said spokesman Tom Heatherman.

In January 2006, the center received only 2,310 calls. Saunders closed on 134 units in October, but last month, it closed on 178. Heatherman also noted that the average prices per unit sold are higher now at $679,733 than in January of 2005 or 2006.

Prospective Florida mortgage loan borrowers who have been sitting on the sidelines are coming back into the market and that is prompting more showings, said Annette Rogers, a Saunders Realtor.

“Sarasota didn’t have any hurricanes last year, the weather is good and they’re freezing in New York,” Rogers said.

The real estate community and buyers “are optimistic about Gov. Crist’s efforts to double the homestead exemption, make homeowners insurance more affordable and make the Save Our Homes tax cap portable statewide,” Rogers said.

Rogers thinks “home buyer confidence is up and people are taking advantage of this buyer’s market.” Michael Moulton, Rogers’ partner at Saunders specializing in the luxury market, said buyers seem to think the market is stabilizing.

“They are making offers and are being tough negotiators, and motivated sellers are negotiating as well,” Moulton said. Buyers and sellers are more able now to come to “a happy compromise about price.”

Budge Huskey, chief executive of Florida’s largest realty brokerage, Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate Inc., said that during the last two or three weeks, “there’s been a measurable spike in the number of calls and showings in most of our Florida markets.”

That kind of activity at the front end translates to written contracts within 30y to 60 days, said Huskey, who oversees Coldwell Banker from Sarasota.

“Electronic lead activity has been increasing since the first week of January,” he said. “Reports from associates around the state “reflect a surge in interest in the luxury, high-end sector.”

He sees inventory levels beginning to stabilize in several markets, and said the time when they begin to drop might not be far off.

“This reversal may prove the tipping point where there is a sense of equilibrium in the market and a return to normalcy,” Huskey said.

The “stand-off between buyers and sellers over perceptions of value has come to an end. [Florida home prices] are dropping across all markets toward levels necessary to stimulate demand and offers,” he said.

Like Rogers, Huskey sees progress on the insurance front.

“Instead of front-page articles promoting hardships caused by triple-digit increases in premiums, coverage is now on potential rate reductions and opportunities for greater relief through national legislation.”

Again like Rogers, Huskey said that tackling the state’s soaring property taxes for people without homestead protection will help the real estate market.

“This step is imperative to ensure Florida remains the primary destination for second homes and investments,” he said.

With South Florida housing prices still high and buyers hesitant to purchase, real estate agents are looking for an edge.

Enter YouTube - a product many people may be familiar with, but not when it comes to finding an new home. But the website makes your house accessible anywhere.

“People can actually walk through the houses without going through the houses,” said real estate agent Ken O’Brian.

YouTube is one of the most popular sites on the internet- with people hitting play 70-million times a day; anyyone can upload video for free and share it with anyone who wants to watch. It’s not hard to imagine how thay can help Florida mortgage seekers.

With YouTube, real estate agents can upload video of the house and anyone in the world can view it.

Those inside the Florida housing market have started using YouTube to get an edge in a sluggish industry.

“It’s much slower than it was. There’s a tremendous amount of inventory on the market,” said O’Brian.

O’Brian says some of his houses get more than 150 views.

Alyssa Hayes used the internet the last time she purchased a home, but says a virtual tour of the home isn’t enough to sell her. If she’s gonna apply for a Florida mortgage loan, she has to be absolutely confident in the new residence.

“You can take a house, put it in a community and it would change the entire thing,” said Hayes.

A virtual tour will never completely replace seeing a house in person, of course.

But O’Brian has five houses listed on YouTube right now. He plans to add more and only expects the site to get more popular for real estate.

After a rocky year in 2006, local Realtors expect the Florida mortgage market to smooth out in 2007.

They’re seeing signs of improvement. Phone calls and showings for homes have picked up over the past two months. Pending sales improved slightly in November.

In the Naples housing market, new listings aren’t coming to market as fast as they were a few months ago. Admittedly, real estate agents and brokers are positive thinkers anyway.

“You know I’m optimistic,” said Wes Brodersen, president of EXIT Gulder Real Estate and past president of the Bonita Springs-Estero Association of Realtors. “If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t be in real estate.”

Realtors expect to see buyers eating into an inventory of homes that continued to grow throughout 2006. They’re looking for a return to a more normal market. In the Naples area, the year ended with more than 11,000 listings, a 16-month supply of homes, on the market. That could increase by 1,000 or more this month, with the height of season.

In Lee County, there were 13,330 single-family homes, and another 8,559 condominiums listed for sale on the Multiple Listing Service last week. That works out to a more than 17-month supply of single-family homes and about a three-year supply of condos on the market.

Would-be home buyers have hesitated to make purchases for many reasons. After a record run-up in prices in 2005, rising Florida mortgage rates and skyrocketing insurance premiums made homes even less affordable in Southwest Florida in 2006.

Buyers lost confidence after investors, looking to turn a quick profit, flooded the market with listings, including apartments-turned-condo.

National and local stories about a slowdown in the real estate market had buyers running scared last year. So did headlines that Naples ranked as the most overvalued market in the country.

“There has been a lot of pent-up demand, sitting on the fence waiting to hear the market is OK,” Brodersen said. “Whenever they think the market is OK, buyers are going to move.”

Though he thinks there will be more buyers this year than last, he doesn’t expect to see a return to the buying frenzy seen in 2004 and 2005 that pushed home prices in Southwest Florida up to historic highs.

“I’m looking for a good, probably not a great, season,” Brodersen said.

He’s already noticed more Florida home mortgage activity at his office.

“We’ve got some deals,” he said. “We are putting some pendings in the drawer. With that you just hope everything goes well. Putting them in the drawer doesn’t put money in the bank. They have to close.”

We’re reported at length on the need for borrowers to be aware of the potential for Florida mortgage fraud. Always conduct extensive research on the professionals with whom you do business.

But this warning goes both ways.

Authorities in Seminole County are searching for two women who are apparently pretending to be interested in buying new homes to steal from real estate agents. Claiming they are interested in the currently low Florida mortgage rates, these individuals are on the loose.

Investigators said Denise Fuller and Winshenia Lamarr (pictured) and possibly a third person are meeting with real estate employees in the Central Florida housing market and then taking credit cards from their wallets.

“Police say the suspects pretended to be potential house buyers at KB Homes in Sanford,” Local 6’s Charnel Wright said. “They distracted the employees. When Realtors showed them a home, a third person went in and stole one credit card from each employee’s purse.”

Local 6 showed video of the women at a Target store in Seminole County purchasing items with stolen credit cards. Authorities were quickly able to identify the woman.

“Investigators did an excellent job at sharing the information and distributed the photographs throughout the sheriff’s office who then in turn identified the individuals who happen to be known to the agency,” Seminole County sheriff’s representative Carrie Hoeppner said.

It’s just an example of why all involving in the home owning process need to be aware of mortgage fraud possibilities. Or just basic crime.

As the demand for Florida home loans slows down in the south, real estate agents from Keyes Co. are being offered incentives to show and sell properties.

On November 1, the Miami-based firm started the 30K Program in which agents who sell certain homes have the chance to win cash awards totaling $30,000. But the initiative raises a question:

Are these promotions necessary nowadays or do they give consumers the wrong impression, perpetuating a negative stereotype?

So far, 90 home sellers have agreed to participate in 30K, according to Keyes. They’re paying $1,000 each for added marketing muscle on their homes, which get a 30K designation in the Multiple Listing Service. That flags the properties for agents, who will be entered into the contest if they manage to sell at least one of the homes.

During the past year, when sales slowed and prices leveled off, sellers have tried just about anything to attract interest, offering cars, cruises and other perks to potential buyers and/or Florida home mortgage applicants.

“And we thought those things are a lot more expensive than $1,000,” Keyes spokeswoman Andrea Nelson said.

Questions about the program

Billy Fine, who recently bought a home in Weston, wonders why a seller would fork over up-front money for added exposure when agents already should be doing their best to market the homes to receive their 5 percent or 6 percent commissions.

“It’s just a way for [Keyes] to make money even if the home doesn’t sell,” Fine said.

But Nelson said nobody is forcing sellers to join the program.

“It’s just another tool in the toolkit,” she said.

Plenty of real estate firms, large and small, employ similar gimmicks to encourage agents to sell, sell, sell. But some Florida mortgage brokers are wary of them.

“Whatever makes an agent work harder is fine with me,” said Inez Fleming of Delray Beach-based Tauriello & Co. “But I’m concerned that it might be interpreted as steering” a client to a specific property that means more money for the agent.

But in the era of the Internet, many buyers know what properties are available and don’t depend solely on the agents for that information anyway, Nelson said.

“It’s such a different world now,” she said.

Keyes says the extra exposure 30K sellers get will come through print publications, e-marketing and direct mail.

The contest is open to all buyers’ agents in Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, Martin and Volusia counties, not just those who work for Keyes. Listing agents aren’t eligible for the individual prizes of $15,000, $10,000 and $5,000, but they benefit because the homes are more likely to be shown and sold, Nelson said.

In Polk County, the housing market hasn’t floundered.

Nor has it crashed, deflated, failed or fizzled out.

It’s just changed. And Realtors are going to need to make adjustments to stay competitive in the market and cover their personal bills.

Training can help with that, said Bryan Chavis, president of The Landlord Academy in Tampa. The school is partnering with the Ed Klopfer Schools of Real Estate and will begin offering classes in Lakeland in February.

This year, a declining Florida housing market has forced sales down by 34 percent around the state compared to 2005. And home inventories are growing at an exponential rate. Translation: Homes aren’t selling like hotcakes.

And instructors at Ed Klopfer Schools of Real Estate have seen the same thing in all locations around the state, Chavis said. People are looking for another avenue within the real estate industry to earn an income.

“Whether you’re a Realtor trying to ride out a tough market, an investor who bought with the intention of flipping and became an accidental landlord or a homeowner who can’t afford to sell your house at a loss, we have solutions,” Chavis said.

With Florida mortgage rates still at relative lows, experts believe that a rebound is not far off - or, at the very least, that the worst of the crash is over.

Landlord Academy offers continuing education courses and is recognized by the Florida Real Estate Commission. The school offers classes in evaluating rental areas, fair housing law, cash flow, property management, landlord/tenant issues and marketing techniques.

Klopfer has locations throughout the state, from the Panhandle all the way down to Naples and even the Broward County housing market. The curriculum is developed and updated regularly with input from business and industry experts.

Licensing and certification courses range from real estate to Florida mortgage broker, property appraiser, home inspector and now certified property management.

It’s not all bad news for the Central Florida economy.

While Florida mortgage refinancing activity has declined over the past year and the Central Florida housing market has taken a dip, other areas of the industry, like investment properties and commercial development, are on the rise.

“The Realtors are really hurting right now. It’s a tale of two sides,” Chavis said.

The Florida attorney general has opened a criminal investigation into inflated real estate transactions in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties.

A second state agency that oversees real estate professionals is asking appraisers and at least one real estate agent for records connected to the deals, the Tampa Tribune reports.

Attorney General Charlie Crist said the economic crime division, based in Tampa, will look into a possible scam involving 36 sales by Tampa real estate agent Dawn L. Molen.

Reports say some of Molen’s sales had recorded housing prices of an average of $60,000 above the original list price. The unaccounted money - at least $2 million collectively - was paid to companies associated with Molen.

“Others may turn their heads to this kind of activity in a slow Florida housing market, but the attorney general’s office will not,” said Crist, who is a candidate for Florida governor.

Among the Tribune’s findings:

• In two cases, different sets of settlement documents were drawn up. One was sent to the Florida mortgage lender and the other filed with Molen’s broker.
• In one transaction, the broker’s documents show a $120,000 “payoff” going to one of the companies Molen worked with. The lender’s set does not.
• Misrepresenting where money goes on closing statements is against federal and state laws.
• Settlement documents do not disclose the true amount paid to the seller or who received the difference between that and the recorded sales price.
• In all of the sales, the same title company and same buyers agent were used.

Frank Gregoire, head of the Florida Real Estate Appraisal Board, said the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) also opened an investigation. The agency regulates appraisers and others who sell real estate. The agency can revoke licenses of industry professionals and issue fines — up to $5,000 per incident — for appraisal professionals.

Thomas Butler, deputy press secretary for the regulatory board, said he can “neither confirm nor deny” whether the agency is investigating.

But two professionals with knowledge of the transactions say the agency asked them Monday to turn over contracts and records.

Molen did not return a message left on her cell phone Monday. Chad Evans and Chris Malcom, who run companies that documents show received money out of the deals, did not return calls Monday. None of the three would answer detailed questions about their possibly-falsified Florida home mortgage transactions during the Tribune’s five-week investigation.

Molen was fired by two real estate brokers who grew suspicious of her deals. A Florida mortgage broker she did loan work for also fired her recently.

Meanwhile, pending deals that Molen was at one time involved in may be on hold indefinitely. Three of the transactions that were supposed to close Monday at a new title company, Linsky and Reiber Real Estate & Title Services in Tampa, have been terminated.

The COO, Terry Hannah, said representatives from the company’s underwriter, Fidelity National, spent the morning combing through records. The company underwriter issued “cease and desist” orders for any transactions involving Molen, Malcom or Evans.

With a lack of international applicants for Florida home loans, blame is being directed at an unusual source: United States national security.

Real estate executives throughout Florida are complaining that the government’s attempts to tighten security controls since 9/11 have gone too far and are now turning away foreign buyers.

“It seems like we’re putting the thumbscrews down on the very type of people we want here,” said Tony Macaluso, a real estate broker in Palm Beach Gardens and vice chairman of the international operations committee for the Florida Association of Realtors.

Under the State Department’s visa waiver program, citizens from 27 countries, including members of the European Union, can visit the United States for as long as 90 days without a visa, as long as they have a machine-readable passport. However, anyone wanting to stay longer must obtain a visa, usually under special designations for tourists, businesspeople, students or immigrants seeking citizenship.

Owning property does not play a role in the visa application process and a visa does not guarantee entry. So it’s easy to see why such a rule could get in the way of Florida mortgage loan application opportunities.

Once a visa is obtained, it is still up to the Department of Homeland Security to determine whether a visitor will be admitted to the country and for how long.

Florida real estate agents with international clienteles all have stories about longtime property owners who faced visa problems for the first time in recent years - some encountered long delays in getting their visas renewed, others had family members who, after visiting their home countries, were denied re-entry to the United States.

“I see frustration in my clients who invest in real estate,” said Reinhard von Hennigs, an Atlanta-based attorney who specializes in immigration and investment law. “Many are just scared away by the immigration tactics.”

Review of visa laws

Visa laws have not changed substantially in the last five years, but there are more rigorous review procedures, said Janelle Hironimus, a spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department. Most applicants now face more extensive background checks and are routinely fingerprinted.
Although the number of immigrant visas has been relatively unchanged over the last five years, the number of non-immigrant visas - tourist, student and various work-related visas - fell to 5.4 million in 2005 from 7.6 million in 2001

“Every applicant is accessed individually,” Hironimus said. “Yes, we hear a lot of complaints, but it is unfortunate that not everyone qualifies for a visa.”

Even though they are clearly bucking the political tide, the Florida Association of Realtors renewed calls earlier this year for the creation of a special “retirement visa” that would allow foreigners who meet certain financial standards to retire in the United States. The Sunshine State is an especially attractive locale for these Baby Boomers.

Because the country does not have such a program, thousands of retirees are flocking to places like Panama, Costa Rica and Mexico, where they face fewer visa hassles, real estate executives say.

“People are going to go where the doors are open,” said Carlos ThurdeKoos, owner of MCT Realty in Orlando, Florida.

Backed by tourism and business groups, as well as the Florida mortgage industry, the idea of a “gray card” appeared to be gaining legislative traction several years ago, but was shelved in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

After 9/11, “pretty much nobody wanted to talk about letting more foreign nationals into the country,” Macaluso said.

As if rising property taxes and insurance rates weren’t enough, Realtor commissions may be inflated — by more than $30 billion annually — a new study suggests.

Mark S. Nadel of the AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies says in his report that real estate agents charge too much commission.

He calls commissions based on a home’s sales price “an anomaly” akin to a CPA basing his fee on his client’s gross income.

“Real estate broker commissions are [strangely] unrelated to either the quantity or quality of the service rendered or even to the value provided,” Nadel writes.

When dealing with real estate agents, Nadel urges “fee-for-service” pricing that would combine “flat fees, hourly fees, and bonuses, including percentages of extra value created.”

Realtors counter that they get paid only when a sale closes.

The AEI-Brookings Joint Center is an offshoot of the conservative American Enterprise Institute and the liberal Brookings Institution.

The report is just the latest to pile on Realtors for charging too much -— at a time when many agents are struggling to make a living amid current market conditions and uncertain Florida home mortgage rates.

When Jacquie Cofer launched her real estate career in June, she entertained visions of a six-figure income and plenty of time for her two children.

The once-sizzling, now-fizzling Palm Beach housing market has jolted her back to reality, however. The Jupiter, Fla., woman gave up a six-figure salary to chase real estate riches, but she hasn’t made a penny as an agent. Now she’s working two full-time receptionist jobs as she waits for the housing market to turn.

“I thought real estate would be a perfect match for me. But there’s just no new buyers. Even if you can get a good deal on the house, the taxes just kill you,” Cofer said.

Amid the historic housing boom of the past five years, starry-eyed agents like Cofer flocked to an industry that they thought would guarantee high pay.

Membership in the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches has more than doubled in the past five years, while St. Lucie County’s group saw its rolls double in only three years.

The newcomers learned the harsh reality of the real estate industry: It’s an easy business to get into, but it’s a hard one to make a living at, especially when the Florida housing market slows.

Agents are independent contractors who get paid only when they sell homes, and they typically pay marketing expenses out of their own pockets.

• The number of home sales in Palm Beach County has fallen ever since 2001, according to the Florida Association of Realtors.
• Today, there are some 11,000 Realtors in a county that’s on pace to sell less than 10,000 existing single-family homes for the year.
• The Treasure Coast has seen a similar trend develop in recent months. The result? Too few deals, too many agents.

“Some agents are starving,” said Jerry Mabus, president of the Realtors Association of St. Lucie.

Palm Beach County brokers expect an exodus of agents this month, when dues to the local board of Realtors are due. While Florida mortgage costs have subsided a bit of late, and experts are cautioning not to worry about the long-term future of house values, it’s clear that in terms of the volume of people trying to make a living in real estate, there are not enough sales to go around.

Greg Cook is one South Florida real estate agent who doesn’t mind when his clients push his buttons. In fact, he encourages it.

Cook’s webite and e-mails contain buttons that say “Talk Now. Click here to speak with us.” If you click on the button, within three seconds your phone will ring. A few seconds later, Cook will actually be on the line to field any questions you may have.

“Consumers want answers quickly,” Cook, an associate with Keller Williams Partners Realty in Coral Springs, told the Sun-Sentinel. “People want immediate responses, and technologically advanced consumers are comfortable using the button to interact with me over the computer.”

In these days of high inventory of unsold homes, sagging sales, uncertain Florida mortgage rates and intense competition for what little business is out there, real estate agents need to pull out the stops to attract new clients.

Many real estate agents are opting to use tools that help impress prospective clients and differentiate themselves from the competition. For some agents, like Cook — who said his talk buttons have generated more opportunities — the technology is worth the investment.

The gadgetry behind Cook’s buttons is realPing, a push-to-talk button inserted into an agent’s website or e-mail that connects a viewer to the agent by a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) connection.

Once a client or prospect clicks on the “talk to me” button, he’s asked to type his number into a box that pops up on the website. Seconds later, the phone rings to connect him with the agent.

But realPing does more than just connect prospective Florida home mortgage applicants and agents via phone. It also allows agents to use their phone to “push” information or data onto the computer monitor of the person who initiated the call.

“I can take people directly to my featured listings,” Cook said. He can send a virtual tour of a listing onto the prospect’s monitor as well.

RealPing, the brainchild of Albert Clark, who co-founded Real Ping LLC a year ago in Scranton, Pa., charges $16.99 per month for the service, along with a $49.95 set-up fee, which includes the first month. The company now has 3,000 customers nationwide.

“Because there is such a large number of real estate agents, and so few clients today, they have to differentiate themselves and show real value for their commissions. Agents who use high-tech toys will score points at the end of the day,” said Clark.

Clark said that even if an agent gets only a few calls a month, the service is still valuable.

“It’s a listing tool,” he said. “You can demo it in a potential client’s home and show how accessible you’d be.”

Not all agents are so enthusiastic. Richard Bass, a real estate agent with Keller Williams in Boca Raton, said agents wanting to be accessible can simply include their cell-phone number on their site or e-mail message.

“Some technology is more sizzle than anything else,” he said.

Andy Weiser, an associate with Coldwell Banker in Fort Lauderdale, and who’s such a fan of high-tech tools that he once prepared and sent a contract to a client in London while riding a horse in the mountains of Montana — said anyone who wants immediate answers from him can simply call. He answers his cell phone from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.

“If someone is going to take the time to punch my telephone number into their phone rather than simply be passive and hit a ‘call me’ button, then it indicates to me that they are a serious buyer or seller,” Weiser said.

Still, in this tumultuous Florida housing market, people whose livings depend on it are willing to try anything to stay afloat.