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Roads are less crowded. So are restaurants, hotels and beaches. But Florida real estate agents say their calls and showings have picked up since Easter, the traditional end to the busy winter season.
Local Realtors say the monthly report from the National Association of Realtors is deceiving.
Homes for Sale Remain at Record Level
At the end of March, the Naples housing market had a slightly less than 12,000 homes listed for sale. This is three times higher than a balanced market.
However, during the month the number of homes listed for sale peaked at over 12,300 homes. The reduction down to 12,000 homes is the first noticeable decrease in the number of homes listed for sale, since late 2005.
Frenzied flippers have walked away from contracts to purchase homes as the Florida real estate market has slowed across Florida.
In their dust, they’ve left behind cash.
Rather than keep the cash, Taylor Woodrow is offering other buyers the opportunity to use forfeited deposits toward the purchase of a new home at a few of its communities, including the upscale Vasari Country Club in Bonita Springs.
“They will be able to buy a home that already has the deposit in place,” said Tim Diers, director of sales and marketing for Taylor Woodrow’s Southwest Division.
While some might see it as just a marketing gimmick, the Florida mortgage company says it’s a way to increase buying power.
For Taylor Woodrow, based in Bradenton, selling a home is better than keeping a 10 percent deposit.
“Anytime you can move an inventory home it’s always a benefit, especially if you’re not having to completely discount the home,” Diers said.
By using the forfeited deposits toward purchases, the company can keep its recorded home prices higher.
“We want to keep the valuations of the communities up and the neighborhoods up,” Diers said. “Actually it’s a better value to the people involved.”
A few other builders in Florida have offered similar programs, including G.L. Homes, based in Sunrise.
Under the program, most buyers still have to put down their own deposits, depending on how financing is structured, Diers said. In most cases, the amount of the forfeited deposit would be credited back to buyers at closing, he said.
Several buyers in Vasari, which offers everything from condominiums to estate homes, already have taken advantage of the program, Diers said. It’s also available in the private gated community of Lucaya in Fort Myers.
“It’s very limited,” Diers said. “We didn’t have that many cancellations really. There probably wasn’t even a dozen that this would apply to.”
Ross McIntosh, a Naples-based real estate broker, said marketing a home that another buyer has walked away from can be tough. Other buyers are left with the impression that the home isn’t worth its selling price.
He finds Taylor Woodrow’s Forfeited Deposit Transfer Program interesting.
“It’s nice to have the deposit,” he said. “But it’s not nice to have the deposit and be stuck with the unit.”
Taylor Woodrow also has launched FloridaGreatBuys.com, as a way to market other incentives and discounts it’s offering in its projects across the state in an effort to spur sales in a tough market.
“We’ve actually had quite a bit of Internet traffic from that and phone calls,” Diers said.
The website advertises savings ranging from $20,000 to $500,000. Buyers are showing more interest in the west coast than in the east coast. Nearly half of the interested Florida home mortgage loan applicants are from the Northeast.
“For a lot of people that are looking at this market from a long-term standpoint, now is actually a good time to buy,” Diers said. “If you’re looking to buy a property to flip, certainly I don’t think anybody looks at the ability to do that in this marketplace.”
SOURCE: Naples News
