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Hoping For A Bite At Flea Market

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 18, 2008

ZEPHYRHILLS - Kelli Ackett has tried all the usual means to sell her house.

She tried to sell it by herself. She held yard sales to try to attract buyers. She listed it with Zephyrhills real estate broker Bill Nye, who has put the property on the Internet and in local newspapers.

After 15 months, the house remains on the market with nary a nibble.

So on Saturday, Ackett will offer her house for sale at the Big Top Flea Market in Hillsborough County.

Among the booths selling second-hand watches and mini doughnuts, Ackett has rented a table to tout her house. She's offering a $500 referral fee to anyone who brings her a buyer who can close the deal. She's also offering to cover some of the closing costs.

"I'm determined to sell it," she said.

Ackett's headed to the flea market on Fowler Avenue near U.S. 301 with the blessing of her real estate agent, Tammy Wright.

"I'm not ashamed to say the market has bottomed out and we're out of ideas," Wright said Thursday as the two women sat in Ackett's sparsely furnished home.

When she bought her house three years go, Ackett was among those riding high on the rising wave of Florida's real estate boom. Maronda Homes was building houses all over the Tampa Bay area, and bonuses were a regular part of the job at the Spring Hill office where Ackett worked.

Things changed dramatically last year.

The collapsing housing market cost Ackett her job as Maronda retrenched. Now she's a temp at Publix's corporate office in Lakeland and can't afford her $946 monthly house payment.

She wants to move to Dothan, Ala., to be closer to family and to get away from what she sees as Florida's troubles.

But first she needs to sell her house.

The 8-year-old doublewide mobile home sits on an acre of land beneath a canopy of oak trees. It has three bedrooms and a two-car garage. Her neighbors on Ryman Loop have similar mobile homes on 1-acre tracts, and several of them also are for sale.

"There's such a plethora of listings, it's difficult," Wright said. She has 10 other properties on the market, from vacant land to large homes, and can't move any of them.

Ackett plans to draw on her experience with Maronda to set up a booth that looks like a model center. She'll offer fliers touting her home off Pretty Pond Road just north of Zephyrhills. She'll also try to market it at the Kumquat Festival in Dade City on Jan. 26.

Ackett moved to Ryman Loop three years ago from Wesley Chapel. With her two daughters grown and out of the house, Ackett, 42, decided it was time to try her luck elsewhere.

But last spring her luck ran out.

First, Maronda laid her off. Then White was struck by lightning last summer while working part time at the Little Everglades Ranch outside Dade City.

White has recovered completely. The same can't be said for the state's snakebit housing industry.

The tension between desperate sellers and deal-seeking buyers has forced Ackett to price the home at $129,900, 30 percent off her asking price and leaving her near her break-even point.

Over the past 15 months, seven potential buyers have considered the house. None has qualified for a mortgage as lenders tighten their restrictions, Wright said.

Ackett hopes to hit pay dirt among Big Top's bargain hunters.

"The way the market is now, you really want to entertain anyone who wants to look at your home," Wright said.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.

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