If you want your property to move, say Realtors, then price it aggressively.

Sellers continue to slog through a depressed Southwest Florida real estate market, even though there are signs the market could be turning a corner.

Sales may up slightly, but it's not because the market has bottomed out. More likely, it's because sellers are coming to grips with it being a buyers' market.

What they've learned, ever so grudgingly, is this: If you want to sell in a buyer's market, then you have to be realistic about what the market will bear.

Translated, that means lower prices -- way lower.

It's advice sellers loathe.

"We watch the stats," said Sandy Morris, of The Morris Team with Remax. "People are losing hundreds of thousands, and losing their homes."

"They don't want to hear that the market may still be going down. They are used to prices when the boom was on."

"If they need to sell and leave the area, they are not going to make it at those (higher) prices. I've got people upside down on their mortgages. Others are taking a hit on their insurance rates."

Morris, whose office is in North Port, says many buyers in her blue-collar community have been priced out of the market.

"Working class families can't afford a $225,000 home."

Buyers' market

Some Realtors have adopted new buyer's-market strategies to boost sales.

Realtors are taking longer contracts now. During boom years you could sign a three-month contract with a Realtor. Now they're asking for six months to a year, say agents.

Some aren't taking listings unless they can set the asking price for the house for fear that sellers won't be realistic.

It's a drastic measure, and one that Tim Paradiso, of Paradise Realty on Venice island, hasn't had to resort to.

Angry sellers with unrealistic expectations have been known to fire their agent, only to bring the price down for the next agent. It happens in good times and in bad, he said.

For Paradiso, it's more a matter of educating home owners about current market reality.

"We try to counsel sellers. If they do not price their property aggressively, there is so much competition out there, it is likely not going to sell," he said.

"If someone purchased property in our market area in 2004-05, they may be hard pressed to get their money out of it. That's one of the things happening (in the current market). They would be better advised not to put it on the market at this time.

"Buyers are looking to take advantage of the buyers' market," Paradiso said.

Gov. Charlie Crist is proposing assistance to consumers through the insurance industry that could reduce some rates by as much as 25 percent, but the paperwork involved hasn't made it to consumers yet.

"If insurance rates can come down a bit and get somewhat stabilized, that will help," Morris said.

The current over-supply of houses for sale is further exacerbated by builders selling new homes at below-inventory prices, Morris said.

"Once we burn some of that (inventory) off, we won't have so much competition," she said.

Her advice for struggling sellers: "If you can make your mortgage, hang on for dear life. I don't know how much lower (prices) can go. I'm not God. I don't know where the bottom is.

"One thing is certain: Prices aren't going back up to boom year levels."

Last week Taylor Woodrow home builders, based in Bradenton, announced a one-of-a-kind deal for prospective home buyers -- paid college tuition.

A new Taylor Woodrow home in any of six Tampa Bay area communities comes with a contribution of $11,000 to the Florida Prepaid College Plan on behalf of buyers with each new home purchase in The Founders Club in Sarasota and Palma Sola Trace in Bradenton, among others.

Its "College Tuition Is On Us" program is thought to be the first of its kind on Florida's west coast, said Lonnie Herman, vice president of sales and marketing for Taylor Woodrow's Central Florida division.

Home buyers may use the tuition for any child they choose, even if they're not related, Herman said.

THE INVENTORY STORY

More houses are on the market for longer periods, leading Realtors to advise sellers to be realistic about expectations.

Final quarter (October-December) stats for the Venice MLS area map:

Active listings

2004 375

2005 1,414

2006 2,146

Sold homes

2004 659

2005 410

2006 269

Pending sales

2004 193

2005 91

2006 68

Withdrawn or expired listings

2004 141

2005 393

2006 1,119

Source: Venice Area Board of Realtors Inc.

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