Rory Dubin, President, Northeast Florida Association of Realtors

Rory Dubin, president of the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors (NEFAR), spoke with Invest: about the need for more real estate inventory in the residential sector of Northeast Florida. He also discussed the key advantages that Jacksonville offers to potential investors and people looking to relocate, including the affordability of housing, the tax and political advantages, and the amenities that the area offers.

What have been the most important contributions of the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors in the past year?

We are innovating a great deal. We have been growing as a global organization for many years and we just started to visit other countries. We held our first trade mission to India, where we met with local developers and Realtors and signed a memorandum of understanding between India and Jacksonville. We are now preparing to go to a realtor event in Toronto, Canada, that will be our second trade mission. 

We have also been revising all our forums and services for our members. We will soon culminate a two-year project that included an update of our website and the creation of a green room in our headquarters to create our own video content and put video messages out in a timely manner. Real estate is multigenerational, so we need to provide information in new ways for our millennial and Gen Z members in addition to our written content. We are also speaking more directly to our brokers and engaging in member marketing. NEFAR has over 12,000 members, and 1 in every 6 realtors in the United States is based in Florida.

What are some of the unique aspects or features that differentiate Jacksonville from other markets?

Jacksonville is a strong area for both investors and first-time homebuyers, including young families. Compared to the rest of Florida and the rest of the Southeastern United States, Jacksonville is affordable and diverse. Additionally, the St. Johns River runs through Jacksonville and the city has a large mileage of beaches on the Atlantic. Those characteristics make Jacksonville a unique area in Northeastern Florida in that it is possible to purchase riverfront and oceanfront as well as urban, suburban, and agricultural property. 

Jacksonville is also situated in a unique position both geographically and amenity-wise. The city is at the juncture of I-95 and I-10, which is a strategic location within Florida. Additionally, Jacksonville has a good rail system. Jacksonville also has a thriving downtown that is being redeveloped. Some other advantages of Jacksonville are a world-class airport and port and an extremely good highway system.

What are the greatest strengths and advantages of the Jacksonville real estate market?

Our price points have remained relatively affordable while they have gone up in the rest of Florida and throughout the Southeast. That makes Jacksonville a good area for first-time homebuyers. Additionally, because of the political climate and the lack of a state income tax, we are starting to get a lot of retirees as well as investing from the financial districts that Miami traditionally had. Deutsche Bank is largely invested in our area. Jacksonville is also among the Top 3 areas in the United States by square footage for Amazon warehouses as that company is continually building warehouse space here. 

There is a dichotomy of investors versus first-time homebuyers in our area because we are so affordable. We get investors from around the United States and around the globe buying homes and then renting them or trying to flip them for profit. Those investors compete in the same price point with your typical first-time homebuyers and, on some occasions, with buyers in the military. The military is one of our largest industries locally as we have two naval bases and an air guard base, which creates a strong military presence in the local real estate market. 

In the last few years, we have been short on both rentals and houses for sale. That is starting to level off a bit as builders catch up, which has translated to growth and development in our six counties, and particularly in St. Johns County. 

What is the association’s strategy to tailor its services to meet the diverse needs of each client?

We try to do it with education, both personally and through our association. Having strong professionalism is important in real estate. It has been a challenge across the United States to ensure that Realtors have enough knowledge from their brokers to operate efficiently and provide the best customer service. It takes a lot of expertise for people to buy and develop land or offer commercial and residential leases, so ensuring Realtors receive that training is important. I personally teach real estate licensing courses in my area, particularly for broker licensing courses. Education can make a difference for our industry. 

What innovations have made the most impact on the association’s operations?

We have added a lot of technology within our industry. Additionally, we are trying to do more of our own video production. We are also on the verge of adding an AI component to our website so we can use that technology to a greater degree. There is a lot of functionality with AI. Realtors are certainly using AI to enhance their services and do their marketing. 

One of the advantages of Northeast Florida is that two of the biggest industries besides real estate are the medical field and the IT industry. There are huge computer tech companies here doing a lot of innovation right in our backyard. A lot of our customers come from IT and data security. On the medical side, we have the Mayo Clinic as well as a good hospital system that attracts both families, investors, and companies to relocate to our area. 

How would you characterize the state of the real estate industry in North Florida?

The industry is on the upswing. We are coming from a time where we had low inventory and an escalation in interest rates that slowed down the industry. Mortgage rates have now stabilized, so more people are selling their house and there are more buyers in the area. We are also seeing a successful conversion from renters to buyers. Most of my clients are moving from renting to purchasing because the payments are similar. It allows them to build equity so that they can create wealth through real estate ownership rather than paying someone else’s mortgage. 

What are the most important challenges in the Northeast Florida real estate sector?

We are still not at the point where there is enough inventory out there for buyers, but our inventory has been growing. As we come out of what was an extremely strong seller’s market, we are starting to reach an equilibrium. Builders got caught off guard during the COVID-19 pandemic with not building enough for the coming population. 

Nevertheless, there is a desire for homeownership out there. Rentals are a big part of our market and the industry, but the ultimate desire, the wealth creation, and the American Dream is owning your own home, condo, or townhouse. Similarly, business owners want to own their own building so that they do not have to rent. We are still under-inventoried on those fronts. There are also not enough rentals for everybody. Building helps with those challenges. 

Moreover, buyers have the luxury of picking what they want. That ability to customize and maybe buy something new fills a market niche for us. At least twenty percent of our transactions in my own company focus on helping buyers and sellers with new construction. Both my company and the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors work cooperatively with the construction industry. Builders now are incentivized to move their product, so they are creating mortgage buydowns that make mortgage rates on new constructions more affordable. With some builders out there, you could buy new construction or an inventory home that is built and ready for sale for lower payments than a resale property of the same size.