January 30, 2010

Florida Offers Benefits for Home Buyers

Even in an economic downturn, people still want to vacation or move to a popular area where amenities and natural beauty abound. Being a Realtor in Florida is probably easier than other areas of the country because it has so much to offer.

The latest visitor figures from Visit Florida, the official tourism marketing corporation for the state, show that 18.5 million people visited Florida during the third quarter of 2009, only a 1 percent decrease over the same period in 2008.

Over the same time period, Canadian traffic increased by 5.6 percent. For the first nine months in 2009, 60.8 million visitors came to Florida, only a 2.3 percent decrease over 2008, which comes as a sigh of relief to businesses including Realtors who rely on tourism for part of their income.

Not surprisingly, Pinellas County, where my office is located, gets its share of the tourism revenue and visitors. Although geographically the second smallest county in the state, it ranks 6^th in population with 944,000 people. Perhaps most remarkable is its beaches—there are 35 miles of sandy beaches in the county and that’s what draws so many vacationers to buy second homes or move full time to the area.

Waterfront condos and homes are still very affordable and you don’t have to try to purchase a short sale to get a great deal. Sellers understand today’s competitive market and are doing a number of things to entice people to look at their home or condo including reducing the price.

What also makes Pinellas County a popular place to live is the access to recreational facilities. There are 14 parks in the county with one of the most attractive being Ft. DeSoto on the southern tip. In addition the Pinellas Trial is one of the first urban trails in the U.S. where residents and visitors can run, ride bikes, roller blade or walk, significantly adding to the quality of life.

When touting a home to a potential buyer, parks and the Trail in addition to the beach prove to be tremendous benefits and can often mean the difference for a buyer between moving on or buying a home.

Pinellas County Visitors Bureau