With all the talk of recent increases in the price of gas, I thought this would be a good time to do a bit of research and also discuss how I personally think this can positively affect the real estate industry. 

One interesting site that I found lists Florida gas prices throughout 12 of Florida's larger metropolitan regions and the site seems to be sponsored by AAA.  Per their list, on the day this article is being published, the West Palm Beach-Boca Raton area has the highest-priced gas at $3.017 per gallon (of regular gas), while the lowest-priced gas can be found in the Jacksonville area for $2.902.  For the sake of perspective, last year the same areas had recorded gas prices of $2.335 and $2.245 respectively.  This means gas is now costing Floridians approximately 67 cents (or about 30%) more per gallon than last year.  This can add up to a cost increase of several hundred dollars when you take into account the fact that the average driver puts about 12,000 miles on their car each year and likely doesn't get more than about 15-25 miles per gallon.  If you would like to see the gas prices for another state, click here.

Now... for how the real estate industry can make a difference:

If listing agents took the time to properly market their listings, buyers would be better able to narrow down the homes they'd want to see.  This saves everyone time (=money) and gas, and doesn't inconvenience the seller with home showings to buyers that would never buy their home.  Agents who work with buyers would be better equipped to decide which homes to preview before showing to their customers/clients.  Truthfully, I've seen used cars that are marketed better than most resale homes.  Notice that I wrote "resale" homes.  This is because new home builders already know how to properly market their inventory. New home builders include a wealth of information about each of their homes on full-color brochures with multiple photos, a floorplan, and their websites sometimes even offer a virtual tour. You could say that agents who market resale homes the same way new home builders do are "eco-friendly".  Think about that the next time you're deciding which Florida real estate broker you choose to market what is likely your biggest investment.