Looking to live in an urban environment? Try the 100 Central condos in downtown Sarasota, Florida. What a fabulous place to call home or to use as a vacation home. Located in the center of downtown 100 Central is convenient to everything. Residents are within footsteps of shopping, dining, boating and playing. Want to hit the beach? You can hop in the car and be on Lido Key or Siesta Key beach within minutes.
I just listed unit 301 which is a 1 bedroom, den, 2 bathroom, 991 square foot condo overlooking the city. There are some great views from this unit. You also have the Whole Foods market just below. Grabbing a bite to eat or your groceries has never been easier.
The asking price is $439,750. If you would like to see this unit or any other downtown Sarasota, Florida condo give me a call at 941.812.6272.
What are you looking for in a great neighborhood? Convenience, cleanliness, great homes, nice yards, price in ownership, low crime and great schools. The Country Manor neighborhood in Sarasota, Florida meets all of these needs. Take a drive with me through the Country Manor subdivision.
Country Manor Video
The Country Manor subdivision is located at the corner of Proctor road and Sawyer road in central Sarasota. Residents can exit their neighborhood head south to Clark road, go west a few miles and have their feet in the sands of Siesta Key beach. That trip would take 10-15 minutes. If you are a beach nut and want a newer home in a great community put Country Manor on your list.
View my Country Manor page to see numerous homes for sale.
Looking for a great place to call home? Take a drive with me through the Oakleaf neighborhood in Sarasota, Florida.
Oakleaf Video
With the current challenging real estate market there are some tremendous values in the Oakleaf subdivision. Need convenience, price of ownership, and great family neighborhood? Put the Oakleaf subdivision on your list of neighborhoods to consider. The 79 homes in the neighborhood were built in the 1990's. Residents love the high ceilings and large picturesque windows that newer homes enjoy.
The Southfield neighborhood in Sarasota, Florida fulfills all of these needs. This 123 home community is close to all of the amenities in Sarasota. Parents can rest assure that their children are in one of the more desirable school districts. Golfers, beach goes and shoppers will love the convenient in town location.
Look at what my web designers built for me. I had them build a keyword search tool for my Sarasota MLS search page. Haven't you ever wanted to have a keyword query to find tune your searches? I have received a lot of positive feedback from visitors to my site. Now people can use this keyword search box to find property in Sarasota and Manatee counties including Siesta Key, Longboat Key, Lido Key, Bird Key, Casey Key and Lakewood Ranch. Visit my website - http://www.luxurysarasotarealestate.com/idx and take it for a test spin.
Have you ever been to Siesta Key? Go with me on a drive through this island paradise located off the coast of Sarasota, Florida. I shot a little bit of footage of homes, condos, the beach and Siesta Key village.
If you want to learn more about this fabulous vacation spot visit my Siesta Key real estate page.
Tom gets a call from David who owns a home in Sarasota, Florida. David wants to sell his home and move to Bridgeport, Connecticut so he needs to list his house. Tom agrees to meet with David to discuss the marketing of his home.
Tom visits David the next day to see his home and present his marketing plan. Tom's marketing plan consists of:
Professional photographs taken of home
Virtual tour
Enter property on MLS (multiple listing service)
Feature home on Tom's website as well as his companies website
Listed on several real estate national websites including Trulia.com, Realtor.com, Zillow.com
Highlighted on Tom's personal, Activerain.com and RealEstateWebmasters.com blogs
250 "Just Listed" direct mailers to immediate area of listing
E-blast to thousands of local Realtors featuring new listing
Listed on Tom's monthly Homes and Land advertisement
Advertised periodically in the local newspaper on Tom's companies advertisement
Pitched at companies Tuesday morning meeting
Sign in the yard
Flyers on yard sign
David is impressed with Tom's marketing plan however he asks about open houses. Tom explains that open houses are primarily used as a tool by Realtors to find new clients and that they have a small chance of success of actually selling the home. David accepts Tom's explanation and feels that all of the other marketing will be enough to sell his home.
Tom did a thorough job of arriving at a range of value for the home and feels that the home should be listed between $475,000 and $500,000. Of course, like many sellers, David thought his home was worth around $550,000. Tom emphasizes that home prices are still dropping and how important it is to price the home properly from day one. David understands Tom's logic but still wants to list at $550,000. Tom reluctantly takes the listing at $550,000.
Later in September 2008
Tom implements his plan to market David's home. After the home hits MLS there immediately are five showings on the home. Tom pitches the home to other Realtors in office which produces two more showings. David is excited about the activity although none of the showings produce an offer.
October 2008
David is happy thus far with Tom's efforts. Through Tom's marketing plan David consistently gets about two showings a week. In late October Tom discusses a price reduction with David. Unfortunately, it fell on deaf ears and they don't lower the price.
November 2008
David is still averaging about two showings per week on his home. He is still happy but a little concerned that he has not received an offer yet with somany showings. One of David's competitors sold so he asks Tom about an open house. Again, Tom reiterates that open houses rarely sells homes and that they are mostly used to pick up buyers. Tom mentions a price reduction to $500,000. David, reluctantly, drops his price to $525,000. Home prices have continued to drop.
December 2008
The showings slow down to about one a week. No offers.
January 2009
In early January one of the showings produces an offer for $425,000. Tom emphasizes how challenging the real estate market is and how David should do his best to hold on this buyer. David counters at $490,000. The buyer goes as far as $455,000. Tom feels that this is a very fair price and recommends that David take it. He doesn't and the buyer walks away.
February 2009
The showings are getting more sporadic. Tom asks David about another price reduction. They drop the price to $500,000. No offers. David asks Tom about doing an open houses. Tom tells his wife, "I am tired about hearing about the damn open house." Just to please David he does an open house. Since the home is in a popular part of town 15 groups of people come through the house. No offers.
March 2009
An offer comes in at $400,000. David counters the offer at $475,000. The buyer reaches as high as $440,000. David doesn't take it and the buyer walks.
The listing is up at the end of March. Tom discusses relisting his home with David. At this point David feels that he needs some new blood to market his home. One of the reasons David has decides to list with another Realtor was because Tom did not do enough open houses.
April 2009
David lists home with Realtor Joe for $500,000. Joe does 2 open houses. No offers.
June 2009
David reduces price to $475,000. Joe does 2 open houses. No offers
July 2009
David receives an offer and sells the home for $420,000 - $35,000 less than his 1st offer and $20,000 less than his second offer.
Lessons Learned by Tom
Some sellers suck
Some sellers are stupid
Sometimes it is best to be the 2nd Realtor. The 1st Realtor softens up the seller.
If there are any missing elements in a marketing plan sellers can use that as a reason to not list with you
If a seller is stuck on open houses sometimes it is better just to do them.
The Bent Tree subdivision in east Sarasota, Florida is a highly sought after community. It was developed in the 1970's and 1980's. However, the Woodlands section of the community has homes built in the 1970's, 80's, 90's and 2000's. People love the Woodlands section because of the large lot sizes and picturesque lake views. It is a gated community with easy access to Interstate 75, numerous shopping, plenty of golf courses and countless restaurants. The original section of Bent Tree is one of the nicest and more affordable golf course communities in the Sarasota area. As of February 2009 you can get a very nice and well maintained home as low as the high $100,000's.
I just made a video about the Bird Key subdivision in Sarasota, Florida. The production could have been a lot better but it was more of an experiment. I am not trying to win awards for video but more concerned with the value to a potential buyer. If I was thinking of buying a home in another area I would find a video drive through of interested neighborhoods useful.
If you were a buyer from out of town contemplating a purchase on Bird Key. Would you find this video useful?
The last time we saw Realtor Tom he stormed out of his real estate office disheartened and quit the business to get a salaried job. You can read why here. A stubborn and competitive man, Tom decided to come back into the real estate business 2 months later. The steady pay check was great but he really didn't want to have a ceiling to his income.
Linda Lipscomb lives in the Bent Tree subdivision in Sarasota, Florida. She has decided to sell her home and move back home to Lexington, Tennessee. Bent Tree is Tom's farm area. He has been mailing the subdivision sporadically for years. Linda calls Realtor Tom for a consultation on selling her home.
Tom comes over to Linda's home for his listing presentation. Desperate to make a great comeback Tom dazzles Linda with all of the marketing that he plans to do. He promises to advertise Linda's home in the Sarasota Herald Tribune, Homes and Land, The Real Estate Book, Sarasota Magazine, Pelican Press newspaper and The East County Observer. In addition to the print advertising, Tom will display Linda's home on his website, his companies website and every major national real estate website. In addition to the print advertising and internet he will display a sign in the yard, have it professionally photographed with a virtual tour, add it to the Sarasota MLS, mail 300 Just Listed cards to Bent Tree and hi sphere and promises to hold the house open two Sunday's a month. His company picks up some of these expenses but most of them will be paid for out of Tom's pocket. This is going to be Tom's big comeback and he bound and determined to get Linda's home sold.
Linda gets excited about all of the marketing that will be done on her home. Tom is fired up and energized as well. After the marketing part of the listing presentation Tom and Linda start to discuss the pricing of the home. Tom shows Linda a number of homes that are currently for sale in Bent Tree. He shows her a home on Willow Leaf Drive that is for sale for $685,000, another one at Weeping Willow Drive that is priced at $700,000 and finally and home on Cherry Laurel Circle that is priced at $690,000. All three active homes are comparable to Linda's home.
Linda thinks to herself, "With all of the marketing that Tom is going to do I should price my home at $670,000. I will be $15,000 lower than my nearest competitor and with all of the advertising that Tom is going to do my home will be sure to sell." Tom agrees so they list the home at $670,000.
7 Days Later
Lyn Sims, another resident of Bent Tree, decides that she wants to relocate to Chicago, Illinois. She is tired of sunshine, beaches, golf and great winters in Florida and wants to see snow again. Lyn's friend, Missy Caulk, is a Realtor in Sarasota. Lyn calls Missy to discuss the sale of her home.
Missy arrives at Lyn's house for the listing presentation. She is very well prepared with market stats, Sarasota real estate inventory levels, homes sold in Bent Tree and surrounding communities, days on market, average price per square foot, average days and market and other relevant information. Missy and Lyn go over all of the market information so Lyn has a clear understanding of what is happening in the Sarasota real estate market. Missy also explains to Lyn how she markets homes. Missy will put her home in the Sarasota MLS, install a sign in the yard, feature it on her personal, company and several national websites. Her company will advertise it in the Homes and Land but no other print advertising will be done. Lyn asks Missy about open houses. Missy says that she would be happy to do one but not to ger her hopes up as Realtors primarily use them as a tool to pick up new buyers.
Missy gets to the pricing part of the presentation. She shows Lyn 3 homes that have recently sold in Bent Tree. One home on Weeping Willow Circle sold for $563,000, another one on Crepe Myrtle Drive for $570,000 and a third on Kapok Drive for $585,000. Since Missy did a fabulous job of explaining the current market conditions Lyn knows that she must price her home aggressively. Based on the recently sold homes Lyn lists her house for $560,000.
38 Days Later
Julie Ferenzi, a Sarasota resident, is renting at the current moment but thinks it is a good time to buy. On Sunday she picks up a Sarasota Herald Tribune newspaper to look at the homes for sale. She sees Realtor Tom's beautiful color ad for Linda Lipscomb's home in Bent Tree. The professional photographs look great. Since Tom's advertisement had his website address on it she runs over to her computer to see more photos of the home as well as the virtual tour. She has always loved Bent Tree and would consider buying there.
Julie calls her Realtor, Marc Rasmussen, to see the home. Since it was Sunday and Julie respects Marc's time she agrees to meet Marc at the home on Monday. Marc ask's Julie, "since we are over there why don't I set up some appointments at the other homes for sale in the neighborhood?" Julie agrees.
On Monday, Julie sees Tom's listing for $670,000, Missy's listing for $560,000 as well as the other active listings in Bent Tree. All of the homes are unique but are very similar in terms of age, condition, lot size and square footage. Even though Julie likes Tom's listing she thinks Missy's listing is a much better deal and a few days later puts an offer to buy that home.
Tom calls Marc the day after the showing to get some feedback. Marc explains to Tom that his client liked the house but thought that one of the other homes was a better fit. Marc told Tom that his client found the home through Tom's advertisement.
After they hung up Tom thinks about it for a second. He realizes that he spent tons of money advertising his listing only to sell another agents listing. He learns the lesson that the right price is more important than advertising. Tom gets irate and contemplates quitting the business again.
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
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