32963 island on track to set new one-year record for home sales topping $10-million
STORY BY STEVEN M. THOMAS (Week of September 19, 2024)
With three-and-a-half months to go, the 32963 barrier island appears on track to set a new all-time record for the number of $10-million-plus home sales in a single year.
“The existing record was set in 2021, with four sales at or over $10 million,” says ONE Sotheby’s International Realty agent Richard Boga. “There have been three of those sales so far this year and we aren’t even in the fourth quarter.”
“We think we know what numbers four and five will be,” added his partner, broker associate Cindy O’Dare.
The surge at the top end of the island market mirrors a wider trend of increasing ultra-luxury sales in Florida and across the country that has proceeded despite challenges in the overall real estate market, which has been hampered by high interest rates and low inventory.
O’Dare and Boga, who sold two of the three $10-million-plus homes closed so far this year in Vero – one for $15 million and one for $11.5 – say their ultra-luxury buyers have a new intensity, and that the island’s most expensive homes are selling more quickly than they used to.
“The caliber of buyers we are seeing is incredible,” O’Dare says. “We are seeing serious, serious buyers, more serious than ever, and we are also seeing quicker sales.”
O’Dare and Boga have two $10-million-plus island properties listed now and are “preparing six more oceanfronts, getting them ready to list, including four priced over $10 million,” according to Boga.
Their top current listing is a just-built, 11,560-square-foot home on a 1.4-acre oceanfront lot in Ocean Pearl that is offered for $25 million. The other is a 2.18-acre estate in Riomar Bay listed for $20 million.
Besides those two properties realtor.com shows another dozen homes on the island listed between $10.9 million and $33 million by Matilde Sorensen at Dale Sorensen Real Estate, Melissa Talley at Premier Estate Properties, Michael Merrill at Douglas Elliman and other island agents.
In addition, John’s Island Real Estate has three $10-million-plus homes on offer in that island community, including one that is under contract. Three oceanfront lots are also listed for more than $10 million.
If just one of those dominos falls, 2024 will tie the record for ultra-luxury sales set in 2021. If two or more get to a final handshake, as seems likely at this point, a new record will be set.
The pandemic and post-pandemic surge in ultra-luxury buyers helped make the 10-person O’Dare Boga Dobson team at ONE Sotheby’s main Vero office the top producer last year in all of the company’s 29 offices, which include markets like Miami Beach, Key Biscayne, Coral Gables and other large spots where property prices run much higher than in Vero Beach.
“I think it’s amazing that we had the highest sales total right here in little Vero Beach,” says O’Dare. “We are a small, but mighty market!”
“The O’Dare Boga Dobson Group is not only the leading team within our company, which has 1,400 agents, but also ranked No. 1 in Indian River County and No. 7 in the state of Florida in 2023 according to Real Trends,” says Michelle Farr, managing broker for ONE Sotheby’s seven offices in Indian River and Brevard counties.
The good times have continued for O’Dare, Boga and their team in 2024.
“As of Aug. 31, we had closed $187 million, which is more than all of last year in just the first eight months,” Boga says.
That is up from $142 million in sales in the first eight months of 2023, a 30-percent increase.
Besides buyer intensity, O’Dare says her group’s success is due to a loyal cadre of repeat buyers, a strong referral network, extensive, targeted advertising, and the reach of ONE Sotheby’s website and social media networks.
“Richard and I spent more than $500,000 advertising our listings last year, which is more than most brokerages,” says O’Dare. “We spend like there is no tomorrow.”
“We have a dedicated PR firm that works closely with the group ... and their listings frequently garner over 100 million views online,” says Farr. “They also leverage print and digital marketing in our top feeder markets to showcase the beauty of Vero Beach and their portfolio.”
Besides Vero Beach 32963, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and other obvious periodicals, O’Dare Boga and Dobson drill down to niche publications that target the world’s economic elite, such as Malibu Magazine and Private Air Luxury Homes.
Private Air says it “reaches out to a captive audience of the world’s wealthiest individuals, providing them with information and editorials on the desirable luxury items they covet.
“The magazine is distributed six times a year to private jet owners and guests, both private and corporate, provided through all major United States FBOs (fixed base operators).”
“Cindy and Richard have a history of working with many celebrities, sports figures and Fortune 500 CEOs who they bring to town,” says Farr. “For many of their sales, it is the client’s first time visiting Vero Beach. The team has an incredible knack for delivering top-notch service. Their concierge-level care consistently earns glowing reviews as they go above and beyond for their clients. It’s nice to see these folks settle into our beautiful beach town.
“They have such a wide client base, with buyers across the globe, but they are also extremely in tune with our local landscape and the island market. Their deep roots in Vero Beach and expert knowledge of both the community and the market combine to rank them among the most highly sought-after real estate advisors on the Treasure Coast.”
O’Dare expects business to boom in the fourth quarter and says that 2025 will be a banner year for island real estate. “There is a lot of pent-up demand,” she says. “Buyers are always a little hesitant in an election year and we have a lot of people on the sidelines who will buy as soon as the election is over, no matter who wins.
“They aren’t saying, ‘If so and so wins, I will buy.’ They are just waiting to rebalance their finances,” based on the fiscal and governing priorities of the winning candidate.
“We have a lot of clients like that,” says Boga.
With inventory low and a floodgate set to open in November, O’Dare is encouraging clients who are thinking of selling to get their homes ready now, so they are set to list after the election.