Foriegn Buyers Ice the Cake this Holiday Season

In an era when the media seems to relish in continuing to deplete consumer confidence, it is refreshing to see some bright spots starting to surface in the Sarasota real estate market. Michael Saunders and Company has continually charted and shown the resilience of the Sarasota market over against the rest of the state. One of the largest factors contributing to the trend of stabilization in our local market is foreign buyers. My personal experiences over the last months have led me to encounter two sets of buyers from Canada. Both groups of wonderful people, these Canadians share one key aspect in common: they have more confidence in our market and our economy than we do!

As the media and other pundits continue to decry the woes of the dollar and the housing market it is encouraging to me to see buyers from several foreign destinations begin to take a stake in our market. Foreign nationals make for some of the most motivated buyers in the market right now. They seem to believe in the market more than most local residents do and they want to take advantage of the favorable exchange rates and pricing that might not always be there. It would serve Sarasotans well as a community not to forget our seasonal visitors from the north and from foreign lands- they just might be the catalyst that starts what will be an interesting and long road to full market recovery.