The Saunders Blog

No Stone Unturned

This month Michael Saunders & Company proudly launched its 35^th year of serving the comprehensive real estate needs of the Southwest Florida community; along with happily reaffirming our chief specialty—perfected carefully over these many years—of listing and selling the region’s finest high-value properties.

It’s no coincidence that substantially more of today’s luxury home buyers—by far—purchase properties using agents from Michael Saunders & Company than from any other real estate company in Southwest Florida.  In the years dating back to when the company was originally founded on the pledge of delivering impeccable service to buyers and sellers of the region’s finest properties, we’ve made it a practice to attract and retain the most accomplished agents in the luxury field.   Then, no stone goes unturned in equipping them with the resources they need to make good on that pledge.  In the past year alone—amid one of the most challenging markets ever experienced by sellers of high-value properties—agents from Michael Saunders & Company brought buyers to sales involving $1 million-plus properties nearly three times more often than our next closest competitor. (Source:  Trendgraphix).

Today’s high net worth buyer is as likely to come from outside the U.S. as from within.  This fact no doubt aligns closely with our region’s ballooning reputation as an important center for the visual and performing arts; an advantage that assumes its rightful place alongside our more traditional reputation as a world-class resort destination in a tax-friendly state.  Over the years—using the powerful global platform afforded by our exclusive worldwide brokerage affiliations—we have systematically made buyers aware of these enviable lifestyle attributes; which not infrequently tips their decision to buy in favor of our region.

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Caught By The Tide

Our special guest blogger, Nick Churton of Mayfair International Realty, London office offers a timely warning for those playing the real estate market in the UK (and elsewhere) this summer:

Anyone caught by a fast incoming tide will know the feeling. The children went off exploring caves and rock pools, and it was so nice sunbathing on the beach. There seemed plenty of time to get to safe ground before the tide turned. But really there wasn’t. The tide is no respecter of the tardy, the forgetful or the ignorant. It is a game of chicken with only one winner. King Canute taught the English that in the 11^th century when he tried to turn back the tide. He failed.

The same has just happened in the real estate market. Those who were cleverly waiting for the market to bottom out may now be too late. In certain parts of the market the tide appears to have turned. Right now it seems as if many of the ‘steals’ have been stolen. The snips have been snapped up. Property going for a song has sung. The tide has turned and – like many who wait until the ebb’s final retreat – they may be taken aback by the speed and strength of the flood.

Those who wait for the bottom of the market are invariably too late. It is never a good plan to try and second-guess the real estate market. What nobody could have possibly foreseen was that there would be a dearth of good quality homes coming on to the market this summer. This has put a premium on the price of some of those that have come on. This must not be mistaken for an increase in property prices generally. We are too early for that. Indeed figures show a slight dip in prices in May But sellers of really good homes in very popular locations are in the driving seat for the first time in a couple of years. It is the first real sign of any sort of market recovery.

Much of the unsold inventory that has been on the market for some time is now changing hands. Figures show that asking prices and selling prices are converging. Sellers pricing their homes correctly and buyers with cash or increasing access to mortgage funds are clearing the backlog. Inevitably the banks will get round to mainstream lending again – once they have capitalised sufficiently. Then first time buyers will pick off moribund new-build apartments and houses that were caught at the high water mark of 2008. Then the market will really move from slow to full ahead.

So what should opportunist buyers do now that the market tide may be past its nadir? Well there may be fresh chances in the fall if the market does a double bounce – this is a possibility as reduced public spending, and higher unemployment and taxes seem unavoidable. But to be on firm ground act quickly before the tide does come in. After all, as any coastal vacationer will tell you, it is always better to be damp than drowned.

Performance Art

Promises don’t sell homes. It’s the performance behind every pledge that gets the job done. That’s important to remember when you’re planning to sell your home and are interviewing prospective listing agents from competing companies. You will likely be promised everything under the sun—from marketing superiority to a wealth of international connections—in exchange for the privilege of selling your home. Which is fine, so long as each promise is underscored by a proven ability to perform.

When faced with the final decision of which company to choose, ask yourself: Can they walk the walk? Is their record of performance enough to suggest they are the company most able to deliver on every promise while ultimately finding a buyer in the most reasonable timeframe?

When you interview an associate from Michael Saunders & Company, you have before you a professional whose efforts on your behalf will marshal the full service and support of a company that brought buyers to the closing table for nearly 40 percent of its own listings in 2007 and 2008 (year-to-date). Not surprising really. Once listed with Michael Saunders & Company, your property is immediately exposed to more than 500 of the area’s best networked real estate professionals—who blanket the region from 16 strategically located offices and gather weekly to exchange property information. Plus, in an era where 88% of today’s homebuyers begin their property searches on the Internet, your home will be featured on the most widely-viewed property Web site in Southwest Florida. That isn’t all. In the past year alone, MichaelSaunders.com has experienced a 51% increase in overall Web visits, a 109 percent increase in visitors from European countries and a 72% increase in visits from Asian countries. This on top of 45% more visitors from every state in the Union. (Source: Google Analytics, May 2008)

When you interview an associate from Michael Saunders & Company, you have before you a professional long fortified with just the sort of far-reaching international connections that many companies are only now beginning to cobble together. Cementing cross-border alliances doesn’t happen overnight. They require considerable time, effort and travel—not to mention major financial commitments. Almost from the moment she established the company, Michael Saunders began crisscrossing the globe to establish and nurture these vital relationships; not simply to help out in challenging times, but because she has a lifetime’s appreciation of the region’s global appeal. Well before year’s end, she will have sung the praises of Southwest Florida before international assemblies in Madrid and Milan (in July), Rome (in September) and London (in October).

Through long-established ties—including leadership roles at the very top—with such revered international brokerage networks as Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, Luxury Portfolio, EREN (The European Real Estate Network), Mayfair International Realty, and Christie’s Great Estates, Michael Saunders & Company can truly claim the widest and most direct pipeline to a world’s worth of qualified buyers.

Last but not least, when you interview an associate from Michael Saunders & Company, you have before you a professional whose company controlled one or both sides of the largest residential transactions in the Sarasota MLS for each of the past five years. In fact, in Sarasota County, it takes the combined market share of the next four leading competitors to equal the 35.1 share of market that Michael Saunders & Company achieved in volume sales of $1 million-plus properties. (Source: Trendgraphix, May 2008). Likewise, for $3 million-plus properties, the combined market share of the next four leading competitors (36.5%) fell significantly below the 43.6 share achieved by Michael Saunders & Company. Across all price ranges, Michael Saunders & Company has a market share of 24%, more than the combined share of the next two leading competitors.

Performance in real estate is an art best displayed by knowing how to price a property correctly, market it globally, and hasten its sale through skilled negotiations and the ancillary services of MSC Mortgage and MSC Title. Why settle for less? Why risk performance anxiety when you can relax and enjoy performance art?

Where In The World Is Michael Saunders

The debate over whether home prices have stabilized in Southwest Florida has reached something of a confusing impasse, with as many experts saying they have as those who think they haven’t quite.

Regardless of whom hindsight eventually crowns the winner of this somewhat ludicrous debate—which accomplishes little more than stalling our recovery by injecting more uncertainty into many would-be buyers—competitively-priced properties at Michael Saunders & Company continue to sell at the average rate of $ 4.5 million each day.

Meanwhile some of the major beneficiaries of today’s value-laden real estate market are wasting no time on the sidelines waiting for the pundits to sort out whether now is the right time to buy, or not. These are today’s international buyers, many of them from Western Europe, who are recognizing some of the best buying opportunities to come out of Southwest Florida in many years. With a buyers’ market in full swing over here, and the dollar at unprecedented lows over there, they’re cueing up as never before to happily seize on opportunities that could just as easily slip away while the debate rages on. Whether a great deal today could get better by waiting is a moot issue if the home you want sells tomorrow to someone else. The time to buy, the pundits will eventually agree, is in the eye of the beholder.

At Michael Saunders & Company, we haven’t suddenly realized the importance of the international buyer. Our perfect little swath of coastline has long been favored by quality and culture-conscious Europeans and reaching out to them where they live has been an important benefit extended to our sellers for going on four decades now. Indeed no one has been a more dedicated or tireless ambassador of our enviable lifestyle than Michael Saunders, who at great effort and expense has pursued one international brokerage partnership after another since first opening her doors back in 1976. To continually satisfy the best interests of our customers, Michael Saunders & Company now claims exclusive relationships with several of the top consortiums of independent brokerages throughout the world. These include Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, Luxury Portfolio, Board of Regents, Christies Great Estates, EREN-The European Real Estate Network and London’s Mayfair International Realty, an organization representing 125 real estate brokerages with 350 offices throughout the United Kingdom, Europe and the Middle East.

Just since ringing in the New Year, Michael Saunders has logged thousands of air miles to take the podium at numerous international conferences—held on both sides of the Atlantic—to preach the marvels of paradise on Florida’s Gulf Coast. One week in New York, the next in Chicago; her next stop will be in the Dominican Republic where you will find her promoting Southwest Florida before an international conference of EREN, the European Real Estate Network, one of our newest brokerage partners. Comprised of 22 of the most prestigious European property firms, EREN operates from 53 offices in 10 countries. Then it’s off to Boca Raton for the international conference of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World where as chairman of the board for her third straight year she will welcome representatives from the organization’s 700 affiliate firms representing 160,000 sales associates from over 35 countries around the world.

Then it’s west to a conference in California, on to Denver, overseas to Rome, back to Denver, overseas to the UK, and so on throughout much of the year. To keep up with this annual schedule of promoting Southwest Florida to brokers around the world you’d need a few pairs of comfortable shoes and a year’s supply of Wheaties. And since it’s not uncommon to hear her friends and colleagues ask where in the world is Michael Saunders, a global positioning system couldn’t hurt.

Random Thoughts on a Recovering Market

The news out of Sarasota-Bradenton’s real estate market continues to brighten considerably. In just the past few weeks, there has been more positive news reported than at any time in the past two years. Clearly, there’s cause for optimism and even diehard skeptics are beginning to feel the glow. Here are just a few random thoughts on a recovering market:

Even though the phenomenon has been largely ignored until recently, it has finally been reported that Sarasota-Bradenton has been Florida’s top performing market for virtually all of 2007. Quarterly statistics compiled by the Florida Association of Realtors not only bear this out but further reveal that we are presently outselling mega-markets like Miami and Ft. Lauderdale. Especially noteworthy is the fact that our condominium sector is ahead in unit sales for the third consecutive quarter—most recently by 15 percent, with prices that have remained firm.

Hot topic of late: International buyers are riding in—like the proverbial cavalry—to rescue Florida’s moribund economy. Spurred on by an unprecedented devaluation of the dollar and some of the best home prices in recent memory, foreigners are splurging on second homes across all price ranges.

In line with this evolving buying spree, a new study out from the National Association of Realtors reports that visitors from the U.K. made up the largest single bloc of foreign homebuyers in Sarasota-Bradenton; accounting for a whopping 41 percent of all foreign purchases. (Twice the statewide average) In no other Florida market do U.K. buyers wield more influence. Furthermore, according to the same study, they are more likely to purchase a home costing $1 million or more. The median price they pay is $363,100.

This is jolly good news for clients of Michael Saunders & Company. We have just inked an exclusive alliance with Mayfair International Realty, an organization headquartered in London that represents 125 real estate brokerages with 350 offices—mainly in the U.K—but with affiliations throughout mainland Europe and the Middle East. Each listing priced from $250,000 is now showcased on Mayfair International’s Web site (Mayfairinternationalrealty.com), which boasts over 1.2 million hits per month and over 600,000 users. In addition Mayfair has uploaded all properties priced over $ 1 million to the Web site for Country Life Magazine, a U.K. institution for over 100 years. A copy is hand-delivered to Queen Elizabeth each week.

The next largest bloc of foreign buyers comes from Western Europe—including Germany—and accounts for 26 percent of all foreign purchases in Sarasota. More great news for MS&C clients. A month before Mayfair International, we inked an exclusive agreement with EREN—short for European Real Estate Network—to cross market properties between Southwest Florida and 10 European countries. EREN is comprised of 22 leading property firms, operating from 53 offices, and is the only pan-European network of independent, top-quality brokerage companies.

In line with all this uplifting news, each of our branch offices is reporting a tremendous up-tick in closed and pending sales, with the Palmer Ranch office having its best November in its 10-year history. Looks like Santa checked in early this year. Sell that jolly old snowbird a house!

Cordially,

Choosing The Right Real Estate Agent To Sell Your Home

When the real estate boom of 2004/2005 was running full tilt, it almost seemed like anyone who could draft a contract—and produce a pen to help everyone sign it—could sell your home. Often in just minutes.

These days a home can languish on the market for months—maybe much longer—if the associate you choose lacks the experience required to understand the shifting dynamics of today’s market. Or launches the relationship by overpricing your home just to win your business.

Here are a few suggestions to help you choose an associate who will definitely operate in your best interests:

· For starters, never hire someone you meet by chance—be it on the golf course, at a social event, or during an open house—until you’ve diligently scrutinized their credentials, experience and track record. It is always wise to entrust the disposition of one of your most precious assets to a seasoned, well-tested professional; one who not only commands an in-depth understanding of trends and preferences in the local market but also keeps up-to-date with the latest in technology, real estate law, lending practices and other industry regulations.

· It is not unwise to ask friends and family members to suggest a good associate, based on their own buying or selling experiences. But choosing a friend or family member to actually sell your home can go a long way toward straining the relationship. No doubt you each want to help the other, but do they truly have the experience and wherewithal to manage a sale before the listing goes stale and the house gets perceived as overpriced or problematic?

· Be sure to ask exactly how they plan to set the price on your home and how they propose to market it effectively. If their response sounds tentative, murky, or ill-defined, thank them for their time, show them the door and keep looking. Pricing is everything in this market, followed closely by focused marketing.

· There’s a good chance the person you select will be attached to a large, multi-office real estate company. What is the reputation of the company, its length of experience and share of recent sales? Ask what sort of industry affiliations and marketing programs they have in place to attract a continuous stream of qualified buyers for homes like yours.

· Make sure the company has a strong and proven presence on the Internet and is linked to other real-estate intensive Web sites. Eight out of ten buyers now start their property search on the Web. Are you prepared to limit your reach to the two buyers who don’t?

· Exceptionally strong foreign currencies—combined with low interest rates and excellent values in our correcting market—have many international buyers seriously interested in purchasing in Southwest Florida. Does the prospective associate have a plan for reaching out to them and does their company have mechanisms in place 24/7 to field overseas inquiries during off hours?

For many more tips on how to make the most of your real estate experience, visit michaelsaunders.com

Sincerely,

Drayton

In Praise of Christie’s

It wasn’t an official endorsement by any means, but it was definitely the next best thing—unsolicited praise from that most venerable of American business chronicles, The Wall Street Journal,  in a revealing feature on Friday, August 3^rd .   The reason?   Of the two renowned fine art auction houses who have lent their names, credibility and worldwide prestige to the sale of high-end luxury real estate, only one—Christie’s Great Estates—continues to focus solely on the marketing and sales of truly important properties.  (To read the entire article, click here) 

We congratulate Christie’s for remaining true to its business ideals at a time when intensified competition for buyers of high-value properties makes it all too tempting to loosen long-held standards and chase after lesser-priced listings as well.  The purity of Christie’s business model and the level of real estate companies they choose to partner with are extremely important benefits to sellers of ultra luxurious properties.  For these reasons, Michael Saunders & Company opted to become Christie’s exclusive affiliate in Southwest Florida some three years ago.

Only brokers who have a leading market share, meet strict standards of service excellence, and demonstrate proven records of success in handling distinctive properties can become affiliated with Christie’s Great Estates and utilize its highly respected brand name.  A wholly-owned subsidiary of the world’s oldest fine art auction house, Christie’s Great Estates was established in 1995 and is the largest international network of real estate brokers dedicated solely to the marketing and sale of high-value properties.  The network comprises more than 850 real estate offices and nearly 35,000 sales associates in more than 35 countries.  The combined annual sales volume of all Christie’s affiliate companies is approximately $125 billion, a testament to the caliber of buyers these companies bring to the closing table.

To find out more about Christie’s Great Estates, click here.  You can learn more about our other exclusive worldwide affiliations—including Leading Real Estate Companies of the World and Luxury Portfolio by clicking here, or by visiting michaelsaunders.com.   After all, if your home is among the region’s brightest stars, shouldn’t it make its debut on a global stage? 

Sincerely,