Star seller: Roger Pettingell

ROGER PETTINGELL
Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate
Community involvement: Board member of Southeastern Guide Dogs; advisory board member of Child Advocacy Center; and involved with West Coast Black Theatre Troupe, the Ringling Museum of Art, Forty Carrots Family Center and Child Protection Center

Roger Pettingell’s first business venture was a lemonade stand in his native Manhattan, N.Y.

He was 6, and his parents loaned him the start-up money. Even then, he had a strategy.

“I did have a special way of marketing myself,” Pettingell said. “I got these dog biscuits, because a lot of people have dogs that they would walk in that area.”

Pettingell earned enough to pay back his parents and turn a profit.

Still, it’s safe to say that his revenue has increased since that first foray into sales.

Pettingell, a sales associate for Coldwell Banker’s Longboat Key office, was the No. 1 agent for the Sarasota-Manatee Multiple Listing Service in 2012. It’s the third time in five years he has achieved the distinction.

He is also the top Coldwell Banker agent in Florida for the third time.

Arvida Corp. hired Pettingell in 1983 to work in marketing after he graduated with a degree in biology from Guilford College, in Greensboro, N.C. Pettingell originally thought he was just taking a year off before medical school.

Disney bought Arvida in 1984, and Pettingell moved to Boca Raton to serve as marketing liaison between Disney and Arvida, but returned in 1989 to Longboat Key. By then the company had become Waterside Properties.

Coldwell acquired Waterside properties approximately 14 years ago.

He likes the fact that real estate offers him a new experience every day.

“You meet new kinds of people, you have flexibility, and you’re completely in control of your own destiny,” Pettingell said. “When I started, I was working my way to the top, but that’s within anyone’s reach if you’re willing to put in the time and the effort.”

Describe the real estate market in 2012 on Longboat and its outer keys.
2012 was definitely a turning year. We got to the point where people collectively agreed that we had reached a bottom, while years before there was some disagreement. When that happened, the tide turned pretty quickly.

The average second homebuyer isn’t comfortable with losing money on their homes. I think people would rather buy just off of a bottom than search for one.

How do you think 2013 will be different?
In 2013, the momentum has clearly shifted. Some of the negotiating power is back into the hands of sellers. People who might have been desperate to sell have probably sold. It’s difficult for buyers to have more choices, and as uncertainty goes away, we’re going to see more price appreciation.

We’re still 20% to 25% off the highs we hit in 2005, which is still great news for the buyer.

What do buyers want today on Longboat Key?
I think they would love to see new construction, because we haven’t seen new construction in so long. They will always gravitate toward something that was recently remodeled. They’ll often consider in their price that they will be renovating. If it’s not new construction, they’re going to make it into something that will be like new.

How does selling real estate on Longboat Key today differ from when you first got started?
When I first started, there was lots of new product. I think the biggest difference is that we used to sell the dream with floor plans, and now we sell the reality.

Top Realtors
The following four Realtors round out the top five Longboat Key-based agents, as ranked by the Sarasota-Manatee Multiple Listing Service in 2012 total volume.

Here, they sound off on what they saw in 2012 and what they predict for 2013.

Barbara Ackerman
Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate
Community involvement: Active with the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center; chairwoman of the 2013 Women’s Resource Center’s Renaissance Luncheon, featuring Anne Marie Slaughter; Sarasota-Manatee Jewish Federation board member Longboat Key is an enigma, for sure. Even before the general marketplace was gaining recognition of a real-estate recovery, Longboat Key was well on its way. The simple economic rule is: Less inventory creates price stabilization and gradual price recovery. I say “gradual” because that truly is the case, even for Longboat Key in 2013.

Many of the properties were developed in the ’90s and are in need of updating in 2013. The buyers are taking that into consideration as values are being created for the property. The Longboat Key motto for real estate is, “The last to go down and the first to go up.”

Judy Kepecz-Hays
Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate
Community involvement: I have two assistants and we work seven days a week — that doesn’t leave much time for socializing or for community work. This is Sunday, and one of my assistants and I worked all day and wrote two contracts. My husband is on several boards of directors and handles our social life, but I also keep him busy in the business.

(When we married he had just retired from his law practice and thought that he would finally have a chance to learn to play golf. Boy, did he get a surprise.) I don’t think he is going to get to play much this year, either.

I saw a lot more confidence. Those who were looking at property were no longer looking for something they might buy in the future. They were looking to buy now. High-end buyers were looking for a place to invest, and retirees saw the low-priced real estate as a good investment.

The new tax situation has a lot of buyers confused. I see them taking money out of other investment funds and putting it in real estate.

They see growth opportunity for real property to be safer than the uncertain tax prospects of the market.
I believe that 2013 will not just be better than 2012, I think it will be much better. The only thing that could slow things down is that those who own good properties are not placing them on the market.
Everything that my clients give me sells. There is just not enough of it.  

Lynne Koy
Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate
Community involvement: Volunteer driver for Meals on Wheels; West Coast Black Theatre Troupe advisory board; sponsor of the Sarasota Film Festival; involved with Safe Place and Rape Crisis Center; Bird Key Yacht Club Regatta; H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Breast Cancer Awareness Foundation; Make-a-Wish sponsor and volunteer I would describe 2012 as a year of “hopeful anticipation.”

We began to see a decline in the inventory of available properties on Longboat Key, which we hoped might eventually result in modest appreciation. We began to see international buyers return to the market, and we saw movement in the luxury market.

These factors fed the perception that the real-estate market, at least on Longboat Key, was beginning to turn the corner and that brighter days were ahead.

I think 2013 is already shaping up to be a banner year for the real-estate industry in our area. Multiple offers on the same property are becoming quite common. I had two offers on a vacant lot on Bird Key a week ago, and the seller realized a 5% gain over his original anticipated selling price.

Buyers understand today they cannot wait to make a decision. A fairly priced renovated property will be sold within a couple of weeks, which will leave buyers with few selections. I am optimistic that the boomers are looking once again toward retiring on our beautiful Key, and they are anxious to buy now before prices begin to rise on a consistent basis.

Deborah Beacham
Michael Saunders & Co.
Community involvement: Supporter of Girls Inc.; involved with Asolo Repertory Theatre; The Players Theatre; LaMusica; All Faiths Food Bank; Ringling College of Art & Design

As I reviewed my prior predictions as reported in the Longboat Observer for 2012, I think my statement, “2012 is going to be the year we return to strong sales in the luxury market” came true as evidenced by the sales data: 276 single-family homes sold between $1 million and $7 million. Only two were short sales; one was bank-owned.

Forty single-family homes sold in December alone, at $1 million-plus; 10 of these were more than $2 million. 

There were 11 pending sales of single-family homes as of Dec. 1, at $1 million-plus; an additional 11 are pending as of Jan. 1, at $1 million-plus, indicating a continuing steady and sustained lower end of the single-family home luxury market for Sarasota/Manatee counties.

Presently, there are 590 single-family homes actively listed for sale at $1 million-plus. In the upper end of the luxury market, there are 140 homes listed at $3 million-plus and 83 homes listed at $4 million-plus.

Longboat Key has 77 single-family homes actively listed for sale at $1 million-plus, with three pending listings. In 2012, there were 39 sales of single-family homes from a low of $1 million to a high of $3,675,000. 

Predictions for 2013 remain positive, because the Sarasota-Manatee area continues to receive great press on our fabulous community to live and work; great beaches; first-class educational opportunities; and arts organizations galore. As sellers continue to realize well-priced properties will sell and the inventory continues to increase, buyers will have some great opportunities to invest in long-term security with Sarasota-Manatee real estate.

BRUCE MYER
No. 1 for Longboat Key sales
Bruce Myer, of Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate, sold more Longboat Key property than any agent, both for volume and the total number of homes sold on the island, in 2012.

I’ve been out here for almost 33 years. I would say it was almost as active as any year here.
After six or seven years of a decline and with interest rates being low, buyers who had been on the fence realized it was a good time to buy. Properties that were priced appropriately moved.
In 2013, inventory is lower than it was, so I think it will just depend on how much we have to sell. Demand is still there. As long as interest rates stay low and the stock market stays strong, I think it will be as brisk as it was last year.