Marc Rasmussen's Blog: All Categories

Looking for a great family neighborhood in Sarasota, Florida? Take a stroll through Lakes Estates. I make a point to show this neighborhood when I have a buyer within this neighborhoods price range. The neighborhood offers lush, mature trees and landscaping that not only comes in handy during the hotter summer months but is great to look at and enjoy on your back lanai. Conveniently located to just about everything in Sarasota, Lakes Estates is only minutes to beaches, restaurants, shopping, churches and interstate 75.

On October 2nd, 2008 my client just puchased this home for $512,000 (public record and I asked their permission to post this). This home in Lakes Estates offers 3 bedrooms, a den, office, 2.5 baths, a lake view, swimming pool, remodeled…

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Looking for a beach getaway to take the family? Think about a trip to Siesta Key, Florida. This 8 mile long barrier island is located just off the coast of Sarasota, Florida. It is easy to catch a flight to Tampa Bay and then drive about 90 minutes to Siesta Key. You can even fly right into Sarasota International Airport and be on Siesta Key beach within about 15 minutes.

Want to take a short vacation? Take a look at Palm Bay Club on Siesta Key. This is a great beachfront condo complex that allows short term rentals. Come for a week or long weekend and enjoy some time catching rays and frolicking in the aqua blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Is a week not enough time? Thats ok, spend a month at the popular Peppertree condos. This a gulf to bay complex…

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A few months ago Dr. Beach came out with "America's Top 10 Beaches" of 2008. Number 3 on the list was Siesta Key beach in Sarasota, Florida.

Dr. Beach is also known as Dr. Stephen Leatherman, Director of Florida International Univertsity's Laboratory of Coastal Research. He has selected the annual top 10 Beaches since 1991. 50 criteria are used to judge the beaches, including sand and water quality, as well as facilities and environmental management.

Siesta Key truly is a very pretty beach. The beach is very wide with sand that is the powdery, sugary white sand that feels good under your feet. Many of our second home buyers are people who have been vacation on Siesta Key for many years.

2008 Top 10 Beaches

1. Caladesi Island State Park,…

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If you work with prospects that come to you from out of town here are 8 questions that you might find useful. Usually, out of town buyers are made of people relocating and those looking for a 2nd or vacation home. I work the Sarasota real estate market and have been using these questions on many of the vacation home prospects. 

•1.      Have you been to [city] before? 

If the prospect has never been to your town before chances are that they need to be sold on the town before they can be sold a property. I am much happier to work with someone that has been to Sarasota many times versus someone who has never been there. However, all is not lost with someone who has never been to your city before. It generally just means that they will require more time.…

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Here is my previous post - http://www.realestatewebmasters.com/blogs/marc-rasmussen/5139/show/. In a nutshell, I made the goal about a month ago to get my newest sarasota real estate website on the first page of Google for 'sarasota real estate'. I have not been working on it as diligently as I could have. I have been busy selling real estate (knock on wood). I ran into a string of buyers that were ready to do something now. That seems to be rare in this market. My partner and I have 8 deals pending.

I have noticed some movement with my site. It is strange. One day I will be on the first page and then I trade places with another site that was not previously on the first page. Then we rotate. We have rotated several times now. It looks like Google is…

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Accountability can be a good thing. I figure if that I post my goal here in front of everyone it will give me more motivation to accomplish it. It is like telling everyone that you are on a diet.

Goal:

To get my new website - Sarasota real estate on the first page of Google for 'sarasota real estate' by the 4th quarter of 2008. I will mostly stick to the basics in my efforts to get there. You know, the stuff we talk about about on the REW forums and blogs.

The Competition:

Below are the top 10 sites as of today. Google has been moving these around a lot lately.

1. www.thesarasotamls(dot)com - Great site. ;-)  Lots of content with a nice IDX. Tough competition. I don't really want to beat this site.

2. michaelsaunders(dot)com - Very authoritative.…

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I am curious to hear what real estate commissions are doing in your area through this current real estate roller coaster. Here in Sarasota, Florida the average real estate commission is on the rise. 

When I started selling real estate in 2000 I remember a good mix of 7% and 6% commissions with probably the majority of listings at 7%. Back in 2000 you could purchase a nice starter home for $90,000. It seemed to stay this way from 2000-2003.   Like most areas from 2003 to 2005 we took off. Our prices went through the roof. We, of course, are paying for this now. During those boom years commissions started to dip below 6%. We saw discount brokers pop up everywhere. The market was so good that Realtors had a hard time justifying more than 6% because they… Read Full Post

Last week I wanted some articles written to promote my new luxury sarasota home website. I had a good buyer in town last week (they were good buyers because they bought) and did not have the energy to write an article. So, instead of scanning the realestatewebmasters forum to find a good vendor I just did a quick search on Google. Does REW write articles? Sorry Morgan that I don't know this. Below is one of the articles that was written for me. What do you think of the quality? I paid $20 for it.

Investing in Sarasota Real Estate  The real estate jitters. Rightly so. If you’re new to real estate or if this is the first time you’re investing in a Sarasota home – be it a single family detached home or a condo in a high-rise, the standard advice… Read Full Post