The market for homes throughout our region has been—and indeed remains—a veritable beehive of activity.   Buyers in unprecedented numbers continue to comb every corner of our Gulf Coast communities searching for properties in all price ranges; making ours one of the most active real estate markets in Florida, if not the country.  [...]

The region’s housing market performed exceptionally well in 2015. With that in mind, below are nine reasons why there has rarely been a better time to sell a property. 1. Property sales have increased Last year, nearly 28,000 properties were sold throughout Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte Counties; a 7% increase over 2014—itself an [...]

SARASOTA, Florida—(December 16, 2015)—Michael Saunders, Founder and CEO of Michael Saunders & Company, has been named to the “Inman Top 101,” the magazine’s new ranking of the most influential people in U.S. real estate, it was announced today from Inman’s headquarters in Emeryville, CA. The Inman 101 was assembled to recognize [...]

The Tampa Bay Business Journal announced its finalists for the 2015 “Business Woman of the Year” and our Founder and CEO, Michael Saunders, is among the accomplished women of southwest Florida recognized for this prestigious honor. Fifty women in categories ranging from Entrepreneur to Technology were selected as finalists. Michael, [...]

A few days ago, Marci Rossell—the former chief economist for CNBC—delivered an upbeat, long-term assessment of the U.S. economy to the annual meeting of Michael Saunders & Company.   Rossell is calling 2015 the “Year of Normalization” on three important fronts:

• Labor markets have stabilized and wages are beginning to rise as
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It was July 2007, almost eight years ago, when theSaundersBlog.com published its first post. Tom Heatherman, Communications Director at Michael Saunders & Company, was a recent addition to the team and recalls the initial formation of the online resource. At the time, the real estate downturn was showing signs in our local market (and [...]

Is the real estate market emitting mixed signals?  Or is the picture being blurred by conflicting accounts of its renewed strength?  Probably a little bit of each. Sales Activity over Six Months As real estate markets re-stabilize, it is not uncommon for upward spikes in monthly sales to be followed by a month or two of pared-down [...]

Record levels of buying have led to a persistent shortage of available properties in our lifestyle-rich region.  Thus the option to buy new is well worth considering—especially if you’ve ever pictured yourself living in a new home or condominium. The [...]

In April, combined home sales for Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte Counties hit its second highest mark in history.  In fact, closed transactions fell just shy of besting the region’s all-time record of 2,702 closed sales in a single month—set exactly ten years ago in April 2004. Pending sales were similarly robust, turning in the [...]

The cranes are back.  Not the feathered, two-legged variety that are ubiquitous throughout Southwest Florida; but the mammoth construction cranes whose presence on the skyline are highly visible displays of confidence in the region’s commercial real estate market.  Several of these cranes are already up and running.  More are on the way. [...]