Florida Mortgage | Builders Focus on Value
This is a little departure from my normal posts that are mainly informational - call it an Opinion Piece.
The Real Estate Industry in Florida is hurting as evidenced in all the bad news being reported. It isn't all bad, as the reporters would like you to believe. Houses are selling because there are people that need to buy and there are those that are finding bargains already.
Now builders are spending their time marketing value and affordability into their homes... the reverse of the trend when they were marketing luxury and amenities. Honestly, they should have caught on sooner.
Affordability... Value... Attainable... Steven Webster at the Florida Workforce Housing Network discusses how these new buzzwords are showing up in builders' marketing efforts. He cites that Lennar challenged local builders to build affordably and Centex chose the path of becoming Florida's leading affordable housing builder.
This article would not be complete without discussing the other side of the story... the Real Estate Industry has another industry that it works hand in hand with that needs to be a consideration of these builders - the Lending Industry.
You see... the big, production builders builders can control most of the costs related to the homes they are building. What they can't control is mortgages.... only the market itself can do that!
My recommendation to builders is to keep in mind what buyers need - affordable payments. This means making sure that the larger homes stay within conforming lending limits so that the interest rates stay low. It also means to quit blackballing lenders and mortgage brokers from projects. The buyer should have free choice of who they use and all the enticements from the advertisements to buy.
For buyers who will need 100% financing, builders should make sure to keep an eye on the median home prices in the area - that will be the lending limit for FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac 100% loan programs. Builders could offer to pay closing costs up to 3% of the loan amount as an enticement for $0 down homes.
For more information about this trend, please follow this link to visit my main site: Florida Mortgage | Builders Price your homes appropriately
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David A. Podgursky, MBA
TheMortgageGoToGuy.com
Your Source for Residential, Commercial, Investment and Relocation Mortgages in Florida
