To cope with housing inventory drought, brokers get old-school

West Palm Beach
West Palm Beach

With housing inventory at its lowest level in more than a decade, agents are becoming increasingly aggressive, pounding the pavement and even persuading for-sale-by-owners to list with them, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.

To cope with the scarcity of available properties, agents are knocking on doors, sending out postcards and checking in with clients who previously listed their properties. Some agents are taking it a step further, targeting homes that are for-sale-by-owner, and persuading the owner to list with them instead. 

“Nine times out of 10, the answer is no,” Roger Palmieri of Century 21 America’s Choice in West Palm Beach, told the Sun-Sentinel. “But the answer will always be no if you don’t ask.”

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“Even the most experienced agents are having to return to some of the basics to increase their listing inventory,” Jim Heidisch, a broker with Campbell & Rosemurgy in Pompano Beach, told the Sun-Sentinel.

Broward County had 10,775 homes and condos on the market in February, down 16 percent from the same month last year, according to the Sun-Sentinel. Over the same period, Palm Beach County listings fell 40 percent, to 13,829.

A few factors, including a fall in new construction during the housing bust and an expectation among owners that property prices will eventually rise, has kept the inventory low, Walter Molony, a spokesman for the National Association of Realtors, told the Sun-Sentinel. [Sun-Sentinel]  – Hiten Samtani