Sarasota Sees New Luxury Condos

BY KATE TALERICO | ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON DECEMBER 30, 2022 | MANSION GLOBAL

Throughout the pandemic, inventory was tight across Sarasota as people sought to move to Florida for its lower taxes and less burdensome Covid restrictions, said Steve Walter, an agent and partner in Walter Group Real Estate based in Longboat Key. Traditionally a second-home market with median prices around $3 million, his area of Sarasota suddenly drew people looking to make a permanent move.

“In 2020 and 2021, people bought throughout what would typically have been our slow season from Easter to Labor Day,” Mr. Walter said. Now, he’s seeing the return to a “more typical seasonally oriented market” where sales decline throughout the…

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Reposted from Richard Lawrence, Esq. December 5th, 2022

Any time there is a condominium or homeowner’s association applicable to a particular property being bought and sold, the title and closing agent should obtain an estoppel letter from the association.

The term estoppel essentially means reliance.

In effect, the title and closing agent is obtaining a formal letter that they can rely upon from the association as to the status of the applicable dues or assessments and ownership aspects with respect to the property governed by the association.  This means that the association will be confirming whether the applicable general dues or assessments have been paid up to date, whether there are any special dues or assessments pending, and whether the…

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Longtime Michael Saunders & Company Realtors Brokered Both Deals

 SARASOTA, FLA (Dec. 1, 2022) – Two distinctive luxury waterfront properties on Longboat Key set residential sale records in November. A 6,052-square-foot single-family home in an exclusive boating community sold for $10 million, the highest-ever bayfront sale on Longboat Key, and a more than 6,000-square-foot Gulf-front penthouse sold for $8.2 million, becoming the highest-priced beachfront condominium sale on the barrier island.

Janet and Steve Walter of the Walter Group Longboat Key Realtors with Michael Saunders & Company represented the buyers in both sales – a magnificent estate at 550 Harbor Point Road in exclusive Bay Isles Harbor on Longboat Key, 

and a remarkable…

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Chris Angermann
Special to the Herald-Tribune
Published: 5:59 a.m. ET June 15, 2022 Updated: 2:02 p.m. ET June 15, 2022
THOMAS BENDER/HERALD-TRIBUNE
Although the name may conjure up visions of an expansive community with large acreage and a long shoreline, Bayview Estates is actually a tiny neighborhood. Only 28 single-family homes line its single street, Bayview Drive, which runs just one block from Gulf of Mexico Drive to Bishop’s Bayou at the northern end of Longboat Key.

But what the enclave may lack in size, it more than makes up for in location, ambiance and convenience. Because it is a subdivision of Sleepy Lagoon, a larger community occupying both sides of Longboat Key’s main thoroughfare, Bayview Estates has neighborhood…

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Great question.  The answer is yes – subject to certain conditions. 

First, it’s important to understand that there are (2) categories of vehicles that are often referred to as ‘golf carts’.

Longboat Key Golf Carts

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles defines the two categories of golf carts:

1.  Unmodified - as-if straight off the golf course and not capable of exceeding 20mph, and
2.  Converted - stock golf carts which have been modified to become Low Speed Vehicles (LSVs) with the following accessory equipment
      - Headlamps
      - Front and rear turn signals
      - Stop lamps
      - Tail lamps
      - Reflex reflectors, red – one each side and one on the rear
      - Exterior mirror on the driver side and an interior rear-view mirror or…

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The annual reader-sourced “World’s Best” list invites Travel + Leisure’s audience to vote on the best destinations and experiences worldwide.

Longboat Key New Pass Travel + Leisure

September 15, 2021, Longboat Key, Florida

Travel + Leisure recently ranked Longboat Key as the No. 5 best island in the U.S. in its 2021 “World’s Best” awards. The annual reader-sourced list invites Travel + Leisure’s audience to vote on the best destinations and experiences worldwide. The awards honor the top travel destinations, hotels, companies, and, for the first time this year, national parks. Normally released in August, Travel + Leisure moved the issue to October to allow for more time given the restrictions brought on by the pandemic.

Longboat Key, which straddles both Sarasota and Manatee…

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SRQ Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport Sets Passenger Volume Record


More visitors than ever are enjoying the freedom of traveling to Florida to live, work, and play.  Easing of government imposed lifestyle restrictions throughout Florida create a welcome refuge for Covid weary travelers (Sarasota, FL). Passenger traffic at the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ) soared to 277,590 passengers in March 2021, breaking the all-time record of 255,247 passengers for a single month at the airport. Passenger numbers increased 74 percent over the previous month of February; it was was 81 percent higher than the March 2020 level of 153,246.

Florida is open for business.  Call us for help finding your Sarasota Island luxury real estate retreat.  Walter Group Real Estate.  Longboat Key's top real estate team,…

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Top Longboat Key Realtor

Janet and Steve Walter - Walter Group Real Estate.  2020 Top performing Real Estate Team in units and total volume.  Helping our clients achieve their Longboat Key Luxury Real Estate goals.  Michael Saunders & Company, Licensed Real Estate Broker


Janet Walter - 941.232.2000 Janet@WalterGroupRealEstate.com
Steve Walter - 941.809.0907 Steve@WalterGroupRealEstate.com

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TerraNova Equestrian

A state-of-the-art facility has emerged on the Gulf side of Florida, just to the southeast of Tampa near Sarasota. Designed with no expense spared and horses in mind, TerraNova Equestrian in Myakka City is a dream project for owner-operators Hannah Herrig and Zach Ketelboeter. Enlisting the help of eventing professional Sara Kozumplik Murphy and an “A” team of designers, builders, and crew members, the team at TerraNova plans to offer a true eventer’s paradise that puts the horse first and welcomes more riders into the sport.

It began as a simple idea. Hannah and her husband, Zach, are both eventers, starting out under the tutelage of Brad Hall in the Midwest. Hannah and Zach knew they wanted to go into business with horses, but Hannah’s parents,…

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Pricing Unique Luxury Real Estate Comparables versus Competitives

As realtors, we have a very narrow definition of what constitutes a comparable property. And when we generate a CMA for a prospective client, we carefully comply with the strict REALTOR’s definition. But the comparables for a property are just one factor we use when establishing the price we suggest to market and sell a client’s property - given their desired time frame

There’s another ‘comp’ that is often overlooked when realtors attempt to determine a suggested listing price; COMPetives. At Walter Group, our job as listing agents is to establish a price that will generate offers and sell our client’s property, and Comparables only tell part of the story. The best marketing plan cannot be effective unless considered in the context of the homes…

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