Back to Basics

It was supposed to be an easy win against a team that wasn’t even rated. We were number one in the district with a good shot at going all the way. What happened was a sloppy loss in the last minutes of the game.

It was my junior year in high school in a tobacco and textile town in North Carolina where people take basketball serious. This is an area of the country that follows Blue Devils and Tar Heels with a frenzy that only ends each year after “March Madness”. That passion for the game is as intense in most of the high schools and mine was a regular competitor in the annual state finals.

We had won 4 straight games and were feeling pretty sure of ourselves…cocky some would say. But this attitude and our careless play got us into trouble. We were shocked and embarrassed by the loss. As the final buzzer sounded, I felt faint and it seemed like the world was spinning in the wrong direction as the visiting team celebrated their come-from-behind win.

In the locker room, coach gathered us around for our post game talk. These were usually talks about what we had done right and a time to congratulate each of us for our efforts. A look of disappointment was apparent in his face as he said three words, turned and walked out of the room: “Fundamentals boys… fundamentals”. We spent the rest of the season practicing passes, dribbling, and simple lay-ups for hours and hours until we had sharpened our skills and dulled our bravado.

As the end of 2009 approaches and we start looking for signs of where we are going from here in the real estate market, I’m reminded again to look at the fundamentals. Let’s start with the things that make Sarasota so appealing in the first place. The weather, beach, restaurants, golf courses, theaters, state parks, low crime rate, boating and fishing, sporting events, appealing neighborhoods, and good health care facilities. Stack them up against any town around the world and you’ve got a winner in anyone’s book. I’m especially encouraged by the foreign buyer who can afford to live anywhere in the world and still chooses Sarasota for all she has to offer. At Signature Sotheby’s International Realty, we’ve seen more and more of these buyers this year…truly a good sign for our future.

About a year ago, when we seemed buried in Ponzi schemes, mortgage frauds, flippers and foreclosures, and prices looked like they would never stop falling, my brother, who still lives in North Carolina, called and said ”Now let me get this straight, it still doesn’t SNOW in Sarasota, right? What’s the average daytime temperature in January compared to the rest of the country? Can you still catch snook right from your dock, play golf most any day of the year, and ride your bicycle to the beach?” After a short pause he then said “don’t worry about it…it will come back.” You see he was a senior on that basketball team from high school when we lost that game and he took this moment to remind me how simple things really are.

The basic fundamentals have not changed. Sarasota will continue to be an attractive place to retire, move your business, raise a family and enjoy life for many, many years to come. Sure, some of us got a little cocky and thought prices could never come down. But these attitudes have a way of correcting themselves. Today’s prices reflect a unique opportunity for those savvy enough to recognize how soon we will all get back to the basic fundamentals.