Winter weather may boost Florida home sales

Florida real estate agents are celebrating the winter blizzards that have snowed-in most of the nation, which they believe may improve the Sunshine State's struggling housing market, according to Florida Today.

Agents are now emphasizing the state's perpetually warm climate as a selling point for buyers who are interested in packing up their moving boxes and relocating to the tropical location. Joseph Santini, a broker with Coldwell Banker in Boca Raton, told Florida Today that he recently started marketing Florida's sunny weather over the past few weeks while the rest of the nation was covered with a blanket of snow.

"What it really comes down to is would you rather shovel two feet of snow or go to the beach to shovel sand?" he said.

Other perks pushed by local real estate agents include the affordability of many Florida short sale residences, and the lack of a state income tax, reported the publication.

The housing crash has been particularly severe in Florida, which has some of the highest rates of foreclosure in the nation. The Palm Beach Post reported that foreclosed properties made up 37 percent of residential home sales during the third quarter of 2010, an alarming amount considering foreclosures usually only account for 2 to 3 percent of sales in a traditional market.

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