With foreign home purchases up, Sarasota-Bradenton gets overseas promotion

MANATEE -- Everybody knows foreign residents love to buy second homes in Florida. But how they actually wind up house hunting in the Sunshine State can be a bit of a mystery to those outside the real estate industry.

Nick Churton is no outsider. A Briton who heads London real estate marketing house Mayfair International, he may be responsible for one of the biggest chunks of marketing that bring sun-seeking Europeans to the Sarasota-Bradenton housing market.

For nearly a decade, Churton and business partner Annette Reeve have been advertising Southwest Florida homes in The Daily Telegraph, in magazines and online on behalf of their client, Michael Saunders & Co. of Sarasota. That advertising, and editorial coverage valued at about $1.5 million annually, is the reason United Kingdom residents make up one of every eight foreign buyers that work with a Michael Saunders agent.

Fresh off a two-week real estate tour in December that had them poking around Bradenton, Sarasota and other nearby markets, Churton and Reeve are selling the area as hard as ever. Working in their favor is political unrest in some of Europe's warm

er nations, where Britons and other northern Europeans had traditionally owned vacation homes.

"You're now going to think twice about France, Spain and Greece," Churton said during a recent interview from his London office.

The United States and Florida, in particular, are now the top destinations for Britons seeking vacation homes. Churton said about 90 percent of those buyers find a home in Florida, with about a third of them settling in Southwest Florida.

It's an enormous market segment. International home sales in Florida between June 2014 and June 2015 totaled 44,000 properties, about 12 percent of Florida's residential market, according to the Florida Association of Realtors. That compares to 4 percent nationally.

The dollar volume of those sales was $23.7 billion, or about 24 percent of the money spent in the Florida residential market. That was the highest level of international spending in the state in a decade.

Jen Horvat, the chief marketing officer for Michael Saunders & Co., said hiring Mayfair extends her company's reach to a pool of buyers that wouldn't necessarily first look to local real estate companies for available Florida properties.

"They know that audience the best," Horvat said. "They're striking deals and finding paths for us based on their experience."

Horvat said about one-fifth of the agency's sales are to foreign residents. Of those sales, 75 percent of buyers are from Canada.

Changing tastes

While the actual number of homes foreign buyers are scooping up in Florida has been dropping since 2010, the amount they pay for those homes is on the rise.

According to a Florida Association of Realtor's study, foreign buyers in the Florida home market paid, on average, $538,600 for a home here in 2014 and 2015. That's more than twice the median selling price at the time, $258,200.

Churton said some of that has to do with the fact that those buyers like to purchase new homes, which tend to be more expensive. Britons and other Europeans are looking for a few other big-ticket items, including smart-home technology and modern and sleek home designs that tend to be atypical in this market.

"'50 Shades of Grey' is in, heavy decorating is out," he said.

In some ways, the high prices Britons and other foreign residents pay for Florida homes is misleading. Churton said that while properties like the $22 million Ohana estate on Longboat Key his company is advertising overseas for MS&C draw attention, his countrymen do like a good deal and the odd fixer upper.

One standout in the "deal" category was a bright orange, $225,000 Florida bungalow he advertised. It defined a type of luxury that he believes all foreign buyers are looking for in Florida, namely the availability of sunlight, warmth and beaches. That makes even an old, beach-side shack seem like dream home.

"Real estate agents get hung up on luxury," he said. "But what is luxury."

Churton said he and Reeve will continue to travel to the Sarasota-Bradenton area annually to keep up with what is for sale and where his buyers might want to live. Knowing what it's like "to stand barefoot on Siesta Key" makes it easier to promote the area, particularly when dealing with potential clients face to face at real estate shows including an annual luxury property show at London's Hurlingham Club.

The majority of foreign residents working with Churton buy Florida real estate as second homes. Visa restrictions prevent those buyers from living full time in the United States.

Matt M. Johnson, Herald business reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7027 or on Twitter @MattAtBradenton.

This story was originally published February 7, 2016 at 11:31 PM with the headline "With foreign home purchases up, Sarasota-Bradenton gets overseas promotion ."