Dale Sorensen Real Estate sold more than $1 billion worth of property in Indian River County in 2021, a business milestone that company founder Dale Sorensen Sr. never thought he would see.
“I started the company in 1978 and never once in all the years since then until late last year did I ever imagine that we – or any real estate company – could possibly sell $1 billion in our little county,” says Sorensen.
“In my mind it is the most significant achievement in the company’s history.”
The IRC sales number is nearly double what Sorensen did in the county in 2019, prior to the pandemic, and up 40 percent from 2020, when the company sold a then-record $700 million in and around Vero.
Companywide sales volume increased 50 percent, as transaction numbers and home prices both increased. Operating from 12 offices in Brevard, Indian River and St. Lucie counties, Sorensen sold $1.5 billion in 2021, up from $1.05 billion in 2020.
“The biggest surprise for me was not just the demand engendered by the pandemic, but the intensity of the demand,” Sorensen says. “Buyers’ psychology went from, ‘We want’ to ‘we have to have’ a home in Vero Beach. For many, there was no question this was going to get done, whatever the price.
“And they had the resources to do it. The stock market was at an all-time high and prices where buyers were coming from were significantly higher than here. I don’t care if you are from South Florida or the west coast of Florida or California or New York, you name it – when you compare what you have there to what you have here, we were great bargain.”
Beyond the favorable selling conditions created by the pandemic, as millions of people fled crowded urban areas for attractive small towns and embraced remote work, people inside and outside the company say Sorensen’s landmark 2021 success was due to the Sorensen family itself, the company’s focus on agent development and its deep-rooted commitment to the community.
Sorensen says that working with his wife, Matilde, and their children, Dale Jr. and Elizabeth, “is very satisfying” and that their efforts have been “crucial to our success. If you look at all of our strengths and weaknesses, we complement each other tremendously.”
Matilde Sorensen, the company’s top producer, accounted for more than 20 percent of its IRC sales, closing $215 million in transactions in 2021, the most ever sold by an individual agent in Indian River County.
Dale Sorensen Jr. is the company’s managing partner and in many ways its driving force, an innovative businessman who has taken the firm from a medium-size family business to a regional powerhouse in the past 10 years.
And Elizabeth Sorensen “is an exceptionally good salesperson in her own right,” according to Dale Sr. She was involved along with her mother in the company’s top sale in 2021, a $9.5-million deal on Gem Island in John’s Island.
Successful father and son businesses are common enough but having four members of a family work together so effectively is rare.
“It is unique,” says Jim Goldsmith, the company’s managing regional broker. “The family dynamic is like everyone else’s. They are all different people. And yet when it comes to the business, they give each other the freedom to use their individual gifts to contribute to the company’s success.”
“That is what it makes it work,” says Megan Raasveldt, a longtime Sorensen agent who handles new home sales at Surfsedge and for Lifestyle Homes. “They all have their niches that they excel in, and they stick to those.”
Dale Sr. says his children played a critical role in the company during the real estate downturn.
“I will tell you this, I am convinced that if it weren’t for our two children urging me to go all in and invest in the company back in 2007 and 2008 rather than pull back and not spend on advertising, I don’t think we would be in the position we are in today,” he says.
“Elizabeth was in her late 20s then, and Dale Jr. in his early 30s, and they both came to me and said, ‘Dad, now is the time, when things are really bad, to do all you can to expand,’ so I begged, borrowed and stole, maximized credit cards and did everything I could to enhance the company, making a huge commitment to technology before everyone else did, and that put us in a position to attract great agents and really build the business we have today.”
Just as the family members allow each other to be who they are and do what they do best, they likewise give their agents freedom to achieve success in their own ways, according to company leaders and veteran agents.
They also do have do everything in their power to assist their agents in reaching their business goals.
“I have been there 16 years, and I can’t imagine working anyplace else,” says Lori Davis, a Sorensen agent who doubled her business in 2021. “When I started with them in 2006, we were only 30 or 40 agents with two offices. It was a good fit for me because it was a family-run business and not a franchise, and I had access to Mr. Sorensen for guidance.
“As it grew, it never changed. Their focus in on supporting their agents and helping them grow. If you need something, all you have to do is ask. I have never heard Dale Jr. say no when someone needed help or wanted to try something new. I couldn’t do what I do without the marketing and administrative support they provide.”
“We have the best support you can imagine,” says Raasveldt. “Our marketing and admin departments are amazing, off the charts, which allows us to stick to income producing activities almost all the time, calling prospects and negotiating deals.
“We are all small businesses. running under the umbrella of Dale Sorensen Real Estate and they give us license to be creative and be ourselves and use out talents to shape our business – to achieve our individual goals under the Sorensen banner.
“And they are always there to help. When I was working to get the contract to sell the new homes at Surfsedge, I went to Dale Sr. and suggested that we go to the developers’ headquarters in Naples to try and seal the deal. He said, ‘Of course, let’s go over.’
“I offered to drive, but he said, ‘no, we will fly,’ and the next day we were getting on a plane and went over and closed the deal.
“Any time I come to them with something new that I see or want to try, it is never a case of you can or can’t, but rathe how can we help you implement your plan and pursue your dream. All I have ever heard is ‘what can we do to help.’”
“My mom is super busy with her own business, but she recently went to Viera and did a two-hour symposium with 40 agents live and another 60 on Zoom to tell them how she goes through her day, how she mines her database for buyers and sellers and identifies potential properties for sale,” says Dale Jr.
“Our whole business model is built around helping the agents succeed,” says Goldsmith. “My main role in the company is to recruit and train and coach agents to hit the potential they have inside.
“It starts from the top, from the Sorensens’ willingness to partner with their agents and enjoy the agents’ success. We go forward arm in arm and everyone wins. We help them reach their goals and then of course the brokerage reaches its goals at the same time.”
Many brokerages talk about agent development, and are sincere, but Sorensen Real Estate’s results speak for themselves: The business has expanded from a one-man operation to a company with hundreds of agents almost entirely through organic growth as opposed to acquisitions. And the company has 35 agents who sold more than $10 million in 2021, including 14 who sold over $20 million, according to figures provided by Dale Jr.
“I tell people, if you want to be an agent, or do more as an agent, come here,” says Davis.
Dale Sorensen Sr. articulates a vision of business success that expands outward from the family in concentric circles, encompassing Sorensen agents, support staff, clients, associated businesses and the community as whole.
“Our company can only succeed to the extent that the community succeeds,” he says, and his personal commitment to Vero Beach goes back to the earliest part of his career.
When he was a young headmaster at St. Edward’s School in the 1960s, he decided to change careers, not because he didn’t love his job and the school, but because he knew he would have to leave Vero Beach and go to a larger school to advance in his career.
“I was ambitious, but I loved Vero beach,” Dale Sr. says. “So I talked to one of the parents at the school who ran a big company and asked him if there would be the need for someone with my background and education in a company like his. He said, yes, he thought so, but he wouldn’t talk to me unless I was leaving the school.
“So when I made the decision to leave, I let the board know well in advance and he offered me a position working for Gulf Western, a large conglomerate that had its food and agricultural products division in Fort Pierce at that time. We moved it a couple of years later to Vero Beach.”
Sorensen had great success at Gulf Western, which owned a lot of property in Florida and the Dominican Republic, getting his real estate license and working on a range of land and development deals.
He took the lead in developing Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic, which the travel website Osyster.com describes as the “classiest, most famous resort in the Dominican Republic, part of a massive, 7,000-acre resort community that includes three world-renowned golf courses, an immaculate beach, a marina . . . and numerous other on-site activities.”
Despite that success, when Gulf Western decided to move its ag division headquarters away from Vero, Sorensen left his bright career with the corporation and launched his own real estate business in a small office at the intersection of A1A and Beachland Blvd.
“They still wanted my services, so they gave me a two-year consulting contract that smoothed the transition,” says Sorensen, who was helped by other realtors, as well, including Ed Schlitt, Cliff Norris and Alex MacWilliam Jr., father of Buzz MacWilliam who runs AMAC Alex MacWilliam Real Estate today.
“You would think those guys might have been worried about the idea of another competitor, but to the contrary they all helped me tremendously.”
Matilde Sorensen got her real estate license and joined her husband in his business three years later, contributing greatly to its success over the years.
“It doesn’t hurt to have Tom Brady on the staff,” Dale Sr. says with a smile. “Matilde is consistently number one or two in sales in the county.”
As the company grew, it maintained its commitment to the community, supporting the Vero Beach Museum of Art, The Boys and Girls Club and other nonprofits and encouraging agents to be involved with philanthropic efforts and organizations.
That company ethos was illustrated recently when Sorensen agent Michelle Carey mobilized the firm to help a struggling first-time homebuyer.
“My client, Xaviera, was a single mom and certified nursing assistant who worked long shifts to afford a home for her and her two daughters. She and her 14-year-old daughter had been sleeping on a mattress on the floor of a friend’s living room for two years.
“We found the perfect home and the purchase was progressing well until one night a week before closing when she called me to ask if there was a washer and dryer, which there wasn’t. During our discussion it became apparent that the funds for closing costs were short and she wouldn’t be able to purchase the home, even though she’d been saving for years and working double shifts.
“She was devastated and started sobbing. Her first husband had been killed and her second one physically abused her, putting her in the hospital three times. All she wanted was a safe haven for herself and her daughters.
“I knew I had to do something and when I got off the phone I wrote an email to everyone in the company, explaining the situation and asking for help.
“I was prepared to pay the closing costs myself but the first email I got back was from Dale Sr. stating that he would cover the costs and to let Xaviera know the house was hers.”
Other Sorensen agents donated the needed washer and dryer, a house full of furniture and $3,500, enough to cover a couple of months of mortgage payments.
“Xaviera was overwhelmed, and we both had a big cry. It was amazing to see how everything she needed fell into place. It was one of the best things to ever happen for both of us.”
That compassionate real estate deal illustrates something fundamental about Dale Sorensen Real Estate and helps explain how this homegrown business has achieved so much success.
“We have a tremendous group of agents who are dedicated and believe in the foundations we have established,” says Dale Sr. “They all believe in giving back to the community.”
By the time the ball dropped in Times Square, marking the start of a new year, Dale Sorensen Real Estate had sold $1,001,254,441 worth of real estate in Indian River County.
Companywide, in the three counties where it operates, the company closed $1,505,278,112 in sales, representing about an equal number of buyers and sellers and handling both sides of the deal 13.8 percent of the time.
Looking ahead company leaders are optimistic. Dale Jr. says there will be fewer transactions in 2022 due to tight inventory but that rising prices should keep sales volume up at or above 2021 numbers.
“I am looking for another record-breaking year for two reasons,” says Goldsmith. “Number one, real estate is a momentum business, and we are going to help our agents maintain their momentum. Number two, we believe Vero Beach is an incredible place to live and will continue to be a magnet for buyers.”
