Realtors are living in interesting times.
Sally Suslak, president of the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors, sees the upside potential, though.
Owner and broker of Traditions Realty in Riverside, Suslak has made it through other down cycles in the more than 35 years she’s worked in real estate.
Now that statistics are turning positive, it’s time to start feeling good about Jacksonville again and telling its story, she said.
The Jacksonville Jaguars have played football in London and One Spark has been reprised in Berlin. The city’s always been known for golf, but it’s also been the insurance capital of the South.
Jacksonville benefits from having many different kinds of neighborhoods, whether it’s an urbanite cluster, acreage for horses in a backyard, a condo on the water or a house on the beach.
“Anybody coming here can buy something in their price range,” Suslak said. “Anybody can find a place that feels like home.”
Besides getting people excited about their hometown, Suslak would like to get agents more involved with NEFAR.
NEFAR is a professional association that people join voluntarily. But, because its services are so fundamental to real estate — access to the Multiple Listing Service, the continuing education courses needed to maintain a license — membership is never lacking.
Suslak, though, would like to see people engage beyond the minimum — by working on a committee, coming to an event or paying a fair share toward political advocacy that supports the industry.
A past chairman of the Downtown Council of Realtors and former member of the Budget and Finance Committee, Suslak has known the effect of it personally.
“I’m a hands-on person, so I like to know what’s going on,” she said. “It can really make a difference to our general membership.”
These days, knowing what’s going on outside one’s office doors is no small benefit.
The past 10 years have been a roller-coaster ride for real estate, Suslak said, going from the top to the bottom, and now finally, slowly working its way back up.
In recovery, the market has also changed.
“Today, people can’t just put a sign out in front of their house and say, ‘I want X amount of dollars for my house,’” Suslak said. “And then, somebody’s going to come and buy it, and they’re going to get a 125 percent loan from the bank.”
Mortgage rules have been rewritten.
And, foreclosures and short sales have created a marketplace with a new set of needs.
“There’s been a lot of focus on property management because many homeowners were forced into becoming landlords when they couldn’t sell their house,” Suslak said. “There’s been a lot of training for that, because it’s a whole different skill set than selling a house.”
Lenders now offer more rehab loans, because houses were neglected or damaged through foreclosure.
Another aspect that has changed is consumer sentiment.
“People are cautious about paying too much for a house. They’re afraid they’ll get stuck with it,” Suslak said. “They don’t look at their house as their bank account anymore, thinking every year it’s going to go up 5 percent in value, where they’ll sell it and retire.”
This year, more new consumer rules will go into effect. So, it’s still a time of regaining bearings.
Ultimately though, people will always need a place to live, whether they buy or rent, Suslak said. And either way, they want the place they live in to be nice.
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