It was 6:30 in the morning. Michael Saunders & Company Realtor Connie Lyke Brown’s phone started to ring. “Don’t worry about picking it up,” she told her husband. “If it’s important they’ll leave a message.” She looked over to see that he had already answered the phone. Calling from North Carolina (and a true morning person), Julia* wanted to speak with Connie after seeing an ad on Realtor.com featuring one of Connie’s Longboat Key listings. Julia and her husband were thinking about retirement. Though they hadn’t been to Sarasota, their family, who owned property in Bradenton, encouraged them to learn more about the area. Their goal was to retire in five or six years, after their children were out of high school. In the meantime, they felt the time was right to start looking for their future full-time residence. That was in September 2013. What followed from that dawn discussion were many telephone conversations and text messages; Connie got to know their interests, while they, in turn, learned from Connie about the many different neighborhoods of Sarasota County. As they were looking for waterfront, eventually the location, lifestyle and ambiance of Siesta Key rose to the top of their local list. Over the course of the next year, they made several trips to Sarasota and even put in offers on two properties but both fell through. And yet, with each trip, they fell more and more in love with the area. It was on one of those trips that they were introduced to the view from north Siesta Key that overlooks the downtown Sarasota skyline.
“It’s one of the best water views in Sarasota,” Connie said. “They saw other properties along this street priced at around $5 million (which was more than their budget) but they couldn’t get that view out of their head." So finally, when a strategically-placed home listed at $2.44 million came on the market, they couldn’t ignore the opportunity. 
Originally built in 1938, the old-Florida style, mostly remodeled residence included a pool, large dock on deep sail boating water, and most importantly, the breathtaking vista her customers dreamed of. However, there was a problem. It had just gone under contract with another buyer. Still, Connie wasn’t willing to give up so quickly. “I told the listing agent, ‘if there is any opening at all - any little break in the flow of the transaction - please let me know because if my customers can have an opportunity to buy this home, I want to give it to them’.” 
The very next day, Connie got a phone call with the break they needed. The buyer lined up to close on the property had countered the seller’s counter - even knowing there were 3 other interested buyers. What resulted was a 24-hour opening for anyone to swoop in and give the seller exactly what they wanted for the house. “My buyers flew in the next morning, went directly to the house, looked it over, loved it, and put in an offer. It passed inspection and closed within a month. They are very happy.” For now, they’ll enjoy it as their vacation home, but they are also considering it as a rental. 
Siesta Key Beach
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Have a look at other Siesta Key Homes for sale here. *Name has been altered.
