Well-known island real estate agent Luke Webb has opened his own brokerage in a 3,000-square-foot office at the corner of Cardinal and Beachland.
Webb says he started the business because he saw an opening in the market for “a small, locally owned, ultra-luxury brokerage focused intently on white glove customer service and legacy relationships.”
Four agents have joined him so far, he said, and he plans to hire another four or five “top agents or teams.”
“There are many great real estate agents and brokerages on the barrier island, but I think we can carve out a niche through in-depth market knowledge and highly personalized concierge service,” Webb told Vero Beach 32963.
Webb, 45, has an impressive background in luxury sales.
After graduating with a business degree from Florida Southern College, where he was captain of the water ski team, he sold high-end Nautique ski and wakeboard boats in Miami and points south, jetting around South America and the Caribbean, setting up dealerships for luxury watercraft that sell for up to $500,000.
Seeing his success in the marine industry, Chad Carroll, one of the three stars of “Million Dollar Listings Miami,” recruited Webb to join his team at Douglas Elliman.
“Chad was a good friend of mine, who also attended Florida Southern, and he said, ‘You are good at sales, you should sell real estate.’”
Webb made the transition in 2012, plunging into the heart of the Miami luxury market.
“My first showing was a $14-million condo in Bal Harbour!” he says.
Success followed, and Webb and wife Molly, an architect, were enjoying the good life in Miami Beach, playing in one of the most glamorous real estate markets in the country.
But when their first daughter was a toddler and a second daughter was on the way, the couple decided Miami Beach wasn’t where they wanted to raise children.
Webb was familiar with Vero Beach because his parents had been spending time here for years, and he opened a small office on Ocean Drive.
While that venture was still gaining traction, he was recruited to join Kay Brown’s team at Premier Estate Properties, where he spent half a dozen years listing and selling some of the finest properties on the barrier island.
He moved to John’s Island Real Estate in early 2022, where he continued his success in ultra-luxury sales during a time when the brokerage was exploding with $10-million-and-up transactions.
He decided to start his own brokerage in June, giving notice but staying on to finish up pending deals. Once things were wrapped up there, Webb moved quickly to get his business up and running.
“My last day at JI was Sept. 10 and I formed the LLC on Sept. 11,” he says. “I got my brokerage license on Sept. 25 and moved into the new office on Oct. 1.”
The office space in the Bailey Building fit Webb’s strategic goals, facing both Cardinal and Beachland on a prominent corner in the beachside business district, “which creates great exposure for our agents and clients.”
It was already built out with seven offices with finishes that were new in 2020, but Webb brought in Emily Taft of Emily Taft Interior Design to upgrade the space with the intention of creating “an absolutely premium, elite environment for our clients and agents.”
The décor will include a 75-inch TV visible through a large window on the corner of Beachland and Cardinal that will display company listings.
The “spare no expense” approach to business carries through to Webb’s marketing operation, which he believes will be nimbler than at some larger agencies.
“We bought a print house printer that cost more than a car, and we are using 130-bound paper for our marketing materials.”
Webb says he already has a nice portfolio of properties for sale going into season and that “a handful of other clients are getting their homes ready to list.”
He says he has received “an outpouring of support” from island realtors he has worked with or done deals with over the past 10 years, and he prizes his relationships with his fellow agents.
“We are competitors, but it should be a friendly competition,” he says. “We all need each other to get deals done.”
The feeling seems to be mutual.
“I think Luke Webb is wonderful person and a great realtor and I wish him the very best,” says ONE Sotheby’s broker associate Cindy O’Dare, one of the islands top agents. “I am sure he will do well.”
“It’s great to see Luke returning to the Vero Beach market after several successful years working exclusively in John’s Island,” says Alex “AMAC” MacWilliams, a fourth-generation realtor in his family’s island brokerage. “We’ve known each other for years, both personally and professionally, and I’ve always admired the business he’s built through hard work and professionalism.”
Webb says he is “getting up earlier and working till 10 or 11 at night,” and enjoying every minute of the challenging undertaking of getting a new business off the ground.
“I have been with some of the top firms in Vero and the nation and seen what works and what doesn’t work, and I think we will do well,” he says.
