There is an image that lingers in popular imagination of the slick, high-pressure Florida real estate salesman, clad in loud plaid with an ear-to-ear grin, who will do or say anything to make a quick sale and cash a fat commission check.
That type of quick-close artist certainly existed during Florida’s land-boomy past and probably survives in some markets today – but not on Vero Beach’s idyllic barrier island.
Quite the contrary.
Top island brokers all agree: Long-term relationships with buyers and sellers, carefully and sincerely cultivated over years and even decades, are the foundation of real estate sales success in this high-dollar luxury market.
“Any top agent will tell you, relationships are real estate,” says Buzz MacWilliam, whose family-owned company Alex MacWilliam Real Estate has been in business in Vero for 65 years. “We are not there for one quick deal. We are there for the lifetime of that person. We have done as many as a dozen deals with some clients.”
“It all comes down to relationships,” says Premier Estate Properties broker associate Clark French, who with his partner Cindy O’Dare sells many of the top properties on the island. “When we meet people – whether we are showing them houses or talking to them about selling their home – that relationship we start may not bear fruit for months or years, but we always stay in touch.”
French says strong client relationships pay off in referrals, repeat sales and big deals done with buyers who have prospered over the years.
“Cindy and I both have clients we have worked with for 20 years,” says French. “Like you and me, their financial situations change over time. You would be surprised how many times someone we may have showed a $500,000 condo to years ago, who didn’t buy, comes back at some point and buys a $5-million home.
“Our favorite way to touch those people, even when they are out of our car and out of Vero, is to constantly educate them by providing very pertinent, factual information about the market.
“Cindy or I might call and say, ‘by the way, that house you looked at just sold for X. I know it wasn’t quite right for you but now there is one three doors down that has a couple of things you wanted that the one you looked at didn’t have.’
“Or we might let them know that prices are up 12 percent in a neighborhood compared to a year ago or that there are good opportunities in riverfront because inventory in that category is up and prices are down a bit.
“Generally speaking, people are really open to hearing that kind of information. Even if they say it is going to be a couple years until they are ready to buy they are still interested in what the market is doing. At any given time there are thousands of people we are staying in touch with on a regular basis. The vast majority of them are not buying or selling this year, and maybe not next year or the year after, but at some point you come to a place where everyone’s needs align.
“We want our clients to say, ‘Oh Clark and Cindy are our realtors.’ Whether they are buying or selling or not. If they have any real estate issue, question or need, we are the ones they call. Just like their doctor or lawyer or accountant.”
O’Dare says a deep rolodex is invaluable when she or French get a new listing. With hundreds of high-end clients who not only take their calls but look forward to hearing from them, the partners can quickly put together a list of likely buyers for a multi-million-dollar oceanfront home new to the market and begin to put a deal in motion.
“We have so many amazing clients we have worked with,” says O’Dare, who began her career selling luxury home to rock stars and other celebrities in Miami before coming to Vero Beach XXXXX years ago. “That is huge. So much of our business is repeat business.”
O’Dare maintains close ties with clients by remembering them on birthdays and at Christmas, with casual friendly phone calls and by checking up on them post-sale to see if they need anything as they get acclimated to a new home.
She says sincerity is the most important element in long-term relationships.
“I read ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’ when I was just out of high school and it had a huge impact on me. One of the things it says is you can’t fake it. It has to be real. Even though it is in a business context, you have to actually feel those personal feelings and genuinely care about people to be successful. Clark and I do genuinely care about our clients and many become dear friends.”
Matilde Sorensen, co-owner of Dale Sorensen Real Estate, the largest brokerage on the island sees things in a similar light.
“To me, relationships are the most important thing. I try to keep in contact with all my clients, one way or another, whether it is holidays, birthdays, Christmas, or just giving them a call to see how they are doing. Just today, I spoke to someone whose condominium I sold. They are gone. They are in Jacksonville now. But I called them to wish them a Merry Christmas and thank them for letting me sell their home. And it turns out they are thinking of coming back to Vero, so you just never know! You have to keep in touch.
“I have clients, John and Vida Rutenis, who have bought or sold ten homes with me. That is a lot. And I have many other clients like that who I have worked with for many, many years, who are very loyal to me. I am so appreciative of that.”
Sorensen earns loyalty in a variety of ways besides efficient, professional service during the sales process.
“I think what differentiates one realtor from another is the service you give your clients both before and after the sale. We do everything for our clients, from getting them into a club, to introducing them to the center for the arts and the theater and the different restaurants.
“It is difficult to move into a new area without having contact with someone who helps you feel at home, and fill that role for our clients. Periodically, I try to get all my recent buyers together so they can meet each other. I like to know what their interests are, so I can put them in contact with people who can help them expand those interests they bring in from other areas.
“A lot of these people are extremely talented and we are lucky to have them because they do want to get involved and contribute to the town. We help them do that.”
Long-term relationships with clients can lead to special relationships with particular properties. There are numerous homes on the island Sorensen has sold three or more times. Having impressed a buyer in the first instance, she is called back when the buyer is ready to sell and then the process repeats itself with the next buyer, helping to fuel more than a billion in sales over the course of her career, according to Haute Living Magazine.
“Everybody keeps asking me, ‘when are you going to retire?’ but I will never retire. I love what I am doing too much, every minute of it.”
Marsha Sherry, broker at the Moorings Realty Sales Company, strongly seconds the importance of relationships in real estate.
“Relationships are always more important than commissions,” Sherry says. “In part, because we will see our buyers afterward.”
Because Sherry and her top agents all live the 1,160-home Mooring yacht and Country Club community where they also sell most of the homes they see the value of relationships from a special angel.
“The people we do business with are going to be our neighbors. We see them at the club and play golf together, so our relationships are both personal and professional. We like that and my agents know how to compartmentalize the two roles.
We care about our clients and are thrilled to see them come back each season if they live up north part of the year, and our buyers have added confidence in agents they see in their own neighborhood. They like it that the Moorings agent lives two doors down, that we have chosen to invest and live in this community the same as they have.
“The best thing we can get is referrals from our clients, and we get a lot of those.”
