SARASOTA -- Former Michael Saunders & Co. real estate broker Karen Chandler joined competitor Sky Sotheby's International Realty a few weeks ago.
Leaving the Saunders Siesta Key office "was like experiencing a death in the family."
But both Chandler and partner Bill Hackett said they made the jump because Sky has a youthful buzz, better technology and employee stock ownership.
"We felt we needed new energy," Chandler said.
One of the few bright spots in the first quarter for local brokers has come from Sky: The company doubled its sales from the same quarter in 2005.
Sky completed $212 million in transaction volume in 2005, but in just the first quarter of 2006 rang up $111 million. Company managers said they expect to hit $440 million this year.
Doubling sales in a single year is a tough hurdle even in a bull market and the achievement has not gone unnoticed by top agents.
To double revenues in a soft market, when larger competitors including Saunders, Coldwell Banker and Prudential Palms are all reporting weaker first quarters than last year, is just short of amazing.
Granted, Sky is building from a smaller base than most of its competitors, but the results speak for themselves.
Founded just two years ago by a pair of 30-something former top Saunders brokers, Brandyn Herbold and Chad Roffers, Sky is not resting on its achievements and last week announced that it will open new offices in Osprey and Longboat Key.
The Osprey office will open this week at 1307 S. Tamiami Trail, at the corner of Blackburn Point Road. The Longboat Key office is at 4134 Gulf of Mexico Drive, and will open during the summer.
Sky's main headquarters will remain in downtown Sarasota at 1237 N. Gulf Stream Ave.
The new offices are targeting areas where current and prospective customers of Sky Sotheby's consistently express interest, especially on Longboat and Casey keys.
"As the exclusive Sotheby's affiliate in Manatee and Sarasota counties, we felt that expanding and opening new branch locations was another great way to serve our customers," Herbold said.
"Chad, Brandyn and the entire Sky Sotheby's International Realty team have quickly built up a strong reputation for being Sarasota's premier luxury real estate firm," said Michael R. Good, president & CEO of Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates Inc. and a former Coldwell Banker executive in Sarasota.
In addition to the new branch offices, Sky also recently announced that it has launched two new business divisions: new homes and commercial real estate.
The new homes division will be headed by Herbold, and the commercial real estate division will be led by Roffers.
The divisions were formed in response to "demand from developers and builders interested in tapping our ability to reach buyers on an international basis," Herbold said.
"We decided there was an ideal opportunity to expand our business focus and fill that void in the market," Roffers said.
Each division plans to build on Sky's core competency of serving the luxury market and aims to help developers and builders -- from start to finish -- through the entire development process, from property selection to marketing to sales.
The company's first project under the new homes division is Valencia, a new development in the Burns Square area of Sarasota. New Sky brokers Hackett and Chandler will work on Valencia.
Developed by Paradise Communities of Safety Harbor, Valencia includes 24 condominium residences, starting from the $900,000s.
Recently, Sky also took over sales for two luxury residential communities on Siesta Key: Crescent and Seagrove.
Just in the last month, since the formation of the commercial division, Sky completed deals on several commercial properties, resulting in more than $27 million in sales.
One of the first things Hackett and Chandler were asked to do after joining Sky was to buy BlackBerrys, at their own expense, to better tap into Sky's sophisticated internal communications, data and marketing systems.
"Sky's concept enhances luxury marketing through technology, which is a big difference," Chandler said.
Hackett, who at 61 says he's the "old man" in the company, is excited about learning the new communications gizmo.
Chandler says that she and Hackett "watched Sky growing over the last two years," and realized that in many ways "it was like Michael Saunders used to be," with a "sharp focus" on the luxury waterfront sector.
That focus served Sky well recently and explains its strength, since the ultra-high-end has outperformed other sectors recently.
Sky has another ace up its sleeve: equity partnership.
Equal partners Herbold and Roffers say they have set aside 25 percent of the firm for their associates to be able to buy into.
The ability to invest in your employer? Priceless, Chandler and Hackett maintain.
Source: Sarasota Herald Tribune