I love it here in Florida, that's why I've made it my home – and we're not the only ones, which is why the reputation of Floridian lifestyle has spread to every corner of the country – and it has been for years. Once again this year Florida reigns #1 as the most popular destination states for homebuyers according to LendingTree, outpacing South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia.

LendingTree analyzed purchase mortgage loan requests from October 2016 to October of 2017 to determine the percentage of requests from buyers looking to move out of state. So where do these prospective buyers so eager to move to Florida come from? Interestingly enough they predominantly hail from Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maine, Alabama, Georgia, and Michigan.

Most buyers seeking to experience southern hospitality said they were attracted to the lower cost of living, strong jobs market, economic growth, and relatively affordable home prices – the September median home price in the South was $215,500 making it the second lowest median sales price for all regions. Additionally, South metros consistently make the list of the best places for first-time buyers and buyers looking for affordable housing.

This brings us back to a very interesting concept that we discussed at our Heavy Hitters event just a few short weeks ago – the need for developing an additional stream of business through realtor relationships. On the subject, Mark Rucco shared with us how he was leveraging relationships with out of state realtors to refer clients looking to move to Florida – from one of these streams alone, Mark was consistently generating almost $100k in revenue annually.

With this newfound information, is there an opportunity for us to explore this unique strategy for ourselves? We know that the majority of prospective homebuyers moving to Florida come from Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maine, Alabama, Georgia and Michigan – how can we start leveraging these relationships from those states to grow our business and close more transactions?

Some of our partners have shared with us the success they've had with consistent mailers and cold-calling – but the one thing that corresponds to each partners success was the consistency of whatever strategy they chose to follow.

At this very moment there are families out of state sitting around the dinner table seriously considering the move to Florida – do they know to contact you to achieve their homeownership goals? Think about that.

As a reminder, we will be having our next Facts and Figures: State of the Market Call next Tuesday the 14th at 11:45am. This is a fantastic opportunity for those agents seeking to become the authority on real estate in their respective communities. 1x a month, the 2nd Tuesday of each month, for 15 minutes is all it takes to help make you the go to agent in your community. If you have not already RSVP, please do so by sending an email to [email protected] or by calling me at 561-864-2458. I look forward to having you join us.

I appreciate you joining me today, hopefully you can find a way to apply your shot into today, until tomorrow, have a better day today than yesterday.

The views of this blog, "Your Morning Shot" podcast, and on this site in general are solely those of the authors, Matt Weaver (NMLS-175651) and Zack Lewis, and do not express the views or opinions of Finance of America Mortgage.