David Barr's Sarasota and Venice Real Estate Blog

Sarasota real estate continues it's healthy recovery.  Here's an update for a regular feature here on my blog I call Capital Gains. Last week a property sold for $3,100,000 in Vista Bay Point, a luxury condo located on Golden Gate Point . It last sold for $1,930,000 in December 2005. The condo was a 3 bedroom, 3 and a half bath penthouse unit with Sarasota Bay Views.  It sold after 818 days on the market, at 89% of list price. Subscribe to this blog for the latest Sarasota real estate news, and visit www.sarasotahomesforsale.us   for property listings and local information.

I read an interesting article on real estate marketing and the basic business card. The premise of the article was "My Face is Not My Brand".  It went on to say there's a divide in the real estate community about putting faces of agents on everything from cards to yard signs to real estate websites.  I call this vanity marketing. I am of the school that believes no one is going to select me or not select me because of how I look.  I have always said I prefer to work with people that select me as their agent because of my knowledge and local experience.   Here's something to think about:  Do doctors or employees of major corporations put their head shot on their business cards? Vanity marketing might be great for politics, but it's not so great for real estate. Do we even need business cards at all in the digital age?  Now there's a topic for a future blog.

Yesterday I drove by a real estate office that had a sign in front that really struck me as being out of the Stone Age.  The sign said "We're open and selling like crazy". For some reason that sign really rubbed me the wrong way.  Were they selling homes or used cars? I've been in the sales (I prefer to call it marketing) profession in general for over 25 years.  But I've never ever introduced myself as a "salesperson" or as being "in sales".  In my opinion , variations of the word sell are words to avoid in real estate.  No matter the age of a potential consumer, no one wants to be sold. Consumers want to be educated, presented with options and potential outcomes, and then want to come to their own conclusions without the presssure that selling connotes.  This applies to both home owners and home buyers, when working with real estate professionals. Any licensed Realtor can call themselves a "top producer" (aka salesperson or...