REAL ESTATE

74VeroBeach32963lJanuary 27, 2011

Dale Sorensen Real Estate has banner year
D
ale Sorensen, Jr., managing
partner of Dale Sorensen
Real Estate, makes it his job
to spot trends in the local real estate
market, and he says things are look-
ing up on the barrier island.
Sorensen points to data over a
two-year period in the 32963 zip
code showing inventory trending
down and sales increasing, indicat-
ing that homes are being sold and
some pricing power may be coming
back to the seller.
Over the last two years (through
December 2010) you have inventory
down 26 percent, under contract up
almost 18 percent and homes sold
up 20 percent, he said.
It is still a challenging market to
be sure, but our market is not free-
falling which is what you might
think from the national media.
Sorensen says that while the sales
prices are down -- in the 40 percent
range from the peak -- buyers are
out there and they are making pur-
chases for homes that reflect that
new reality.
I tell our agents demand is there,
if you put a home out there at the
proper price people will buy, he
said. Every segment in Vero Beach
is different and you have to look at
the data and the trends to under-
stand each of them.
Despite the doom and gloom that
seems to be attached to anything
you read about real estate these
days, Dale Sorensen Real Estate en-
joyed a banner year in 2010.
The company, according to MLS
statistics, reached $129 million in
32963 sales last year, well over dou-
ble its closest island competitor. It
also initiated another $87 million in
purchases by buyers, also more than
double anyone else on the island.
Overall in 2010 the company in-
creased its sales in Indian River
County nearly 40 percent in homes
priced over $1 million compared
to double digit decreases for other
agencies. The one notable exception
in that category was Windsor Prop-
erties, which saw an increase of 287
percent.
Sorensen says there is lots of room
for sales to improve, but his com-
pany is poised to capitalize on that
opportunity as it becomes available.
That confidence is based on suc-
cess in the past as the top real estate
company in Indian River County
and belief that his associates have
an understanding of what moves the
local market.
The companys recent success has
been in no small part to the work
Sorensen plays behind the scene
managing day-to-day operations,
mining a wealth of MLS data and
working on securing and devising
unique marketing opportunities to
arm his agents.
He says he has learned to trust his
own instincts rather than follow the
BYIANM.LOVE
Staff Writer
DaIeSorensen,EIIzabethSorensen,DaIeSorensenJr.andMatIIdeSorensen.Photos by Tom McCarthy Jr.
REAL ESTATE
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lead of the experts who failed to see
the real estate bubble as it was form-
ing and continue to predict a dire
market for the foreseeable future.
It is basic economics, when sup-
ply went up demand plummeted
and now we are seeing in some areas
supply is coming down to what are
more normal levels and prices are
stabilizing, he said.
Sorensen Real Estate, started in
1978 by Dale Sorensen Sr. and his
wife Matilde, has been a force in the
beachside real estate market for a
generation.
The company boasts nearly 70
agents, including Matilde Sorensen,
who was the top-producing agent
in 2010 with just over $46 million in
sales.
The company is now comprised
of three beachside offices and one
on the mainland.
It also attracts some of the top
agents in the county. Of the top 25
Realtors in 2010, a quarter worked
for Sorensen Real Estate. Together
they generated a county-best $181
million in sales last year.
Our focus is to help our agents
grow their business which translates
into helping more buyers and sellers
than any other real estate company
on the island, Sorensen Jr. said.
It was under Sorensen, Jr.s direc-
tion that the company last year ac-
quired Coastal Signature Properties
to build up a presence on the main-
land, where he sees growth poten-
tial to rival his companys stake on
the barrier island.
Our market share on the island
is close to 25 percent, he said. Our
market share in the county was
about 12 percent.
My thinking was why we shouldnt
be 25 percent in the county as well.
Based on what we spend in market-
ing our brand, which reaches the
whole county, we should be able to
do that.
The agents affiliated with Dale
Sorensen Real Estate point to the
marketing power provided by the
company and the array of tools at
their disposal to not only help their
clients, but attract buyers as well.
Dale Jr., has his finger on the
pulse of not only the internet, but all
kinds of creative tools that are being
used by all different kinds of busi-
nesses, said Sorensen agent Tripp
Hernandez. He is focused not just
on what is going on in Vero Beach,
he looks at what is going on in Mi-
ami, or Tampa or New York.
Sorensen Jr., has forged relation-
ships with local media and an array
of national and international out-
lets through the internet. His latest
marketing move was to make Dale
Sorensen Real Estate the exclusive
provider of 3-D technology that first
provides an internet virtual tour of
the neighborhood and then takes
you inside the prospective home.
Both Dale Sr. and Matilde So-
rensen point to the addition of their
children Elizabeth (a sales agent
herself ) and Dale Jr. as the point
when their business really began to
move to its current stature.
The fact that Dale and Elizabeth
have moved back gives us four fam-
ily members to take care of the busi-
ness, said Sorensen Sr. I am not
sure if it was just me and Matilde if
we would have expanded the way
we did.
Sorensen, Sr., said he did not nec-
essarily expand willingly. It took the
children to do some convincing that
even in the lean times it was impor-
tant to ramp up marketing and take
advantage of all the opportunities
offered by the internet.
They brought and infusion of a
lot of fresh thinking and creativity,
he said. They were able to convince
us that if we did not invest and re-
invest into the company especially
into technology that we would be
left behind.
Matilide Sorensen says the addi-
tion of her children to the business
allowed everyone to find their niche
and capitalize on the strengths they
bring to the company.
I am very good at selling, but I am
a horrible manager, she said with
a laugh. Dale Jr., was so far in ad-
vance of the marketing and of how
real estate works, he had to take us
along slowly, but he showed us.
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