Sarasota Realtors Aim to Attract Buyers to Florida Housing Market

The Sarasota Association of Realtors is spending six figures in an attempt to lure leery buyers back into the market.

During a news conference Thursday, the association revealed its Time 2 Buy campaign, which it hopes will spark new confidence in the Florida housing market. From signs at the airport to billboards to radio and television spots, the organization hopes to romance the public with facts and figures explaining the positive aspects of the soft market.

The campaign is a local one, not expanding beyond Sarasota County - but the organization has committed to carrying it through at least until the third quarter of 2007.

“We’re breaking ground with this effort,” said Joe Hembree, president of the Sarasota Association of Realtors.

One aspect of the campaign is a video that juxtaposes several high-profile local mortgage brokers discussing the market with scenery and comments from potential buyers.

“I think we’ve come through the worst of the transition in 2006,” said Drayton Saunders of Michael Saunders & Co. on the video.

The video plays up the fact that more inventory means more choices as well as giving home buyers more room to negotiate. The campaign begins at a time when the numbers of showings and sales are up for the first time in months.

Numbers released by the Florida Association of Realtors last month showed that the number of sales in November were up from 2005. The Bradenton-Sarasota market was one of only two in the state that saw a growth in sales and Florida mortgage activity.

The Manatee Association of Realtors doesn’t have anything yet planned of similar scale.

“We’re just trying to wait and see what the market will do and keep business steady,” said Jeannie Flynn, spokeswoman for the Manatee Association of Realtors.

Manatee home mortgage broker Dan Forbes of Premier Team Realty of Bradenton said that every indication he’s received from economists as well as Realtors points toward a recovery year in 2007, followed by a very positive 2008 and 2009.

Even so, there can never be enough good press to drive buyers back into the market.

“I applaud efforts of the association,” Forbes said.

The Sarasota campaign also comes on the heels of a public service announcement campaign launched by the National Association of Realtors.

Commercial spots telling consumers why it’s easier to sell a house with a Realtor and why it’s a good time to buy a home. It is the 10th year the National Association of Realtors has released commercials and other materials illustrating the benefits of working with a Realtor.

In light of the soft real estate market throughout the nation, the organization has taken the campaign further than in year’s past.

Both the national and local campaigns stress that real estate is still a good long-term investment and urge people to contact Realtors. But they understand it will take some time to pick up again.

“Correction is occurring. We know that. Everybody knows that,” Hembree said.