Pettingell tops 2017 real estate sales volume

Realtor Roger Pettingell wasn’t surprised about breaking another personal sales record. He was amazed that record was a sales figure he thought was unobtainable.

Pettingell, a Coldwell Banker Residential agent based on Longboat Key, sold 65 properties for $105.43 million in 2017, topping all real estate agents in Manatee and Sarasota counties for the sixth straight year. He also became the first individual agent or team in either county to sell $100 million or more in one year.

“If I was honest with myself, I would have thought ‘that’s what a whole company would sell,’” Pettingell said. “I take a real pride in reaching that level.”

Jason Sato of Anna Maria Island-based Sato Real Estate was second in the two-county area with $93.93 million in total sales volume. Michael Saunders & Co. agent Lisa Morris was third with $84.49 million.

These totals were among the highlights of a strong year for area real estate. Though single-family home sales totals in January and February were 2% below the previous year’s pace, the market sprung back beginning in March and ended the year at 2.57% above the annual total from 2016.

Pettingell outpaced the market with a nearly 27% year-over-year increase following $77.54 million in sales in 2016. He attributed that in part to an uptick in high-value property sales, including eight properties sold for more than $4 million in 2017.

He said those sales opportunities were the result of an increase in online referrals bolstered by his 20-year reputation selling in the region.

“They could go to our website and see what the track record was,” Pettingell said. “We got that chunk of business we haven’t seen, which was great.”

Pettingell said another key to his success was supplementing new business outreaches while retaining repeat customers. He said “old-school” marketing techniques like mailing flyers and hand-written thank you notes helped retain business and stand out among other sellers.

“I find that one of the things that we’re showing people, and that we’re doing, is that if you do what you say you’re going to do, you’re already ahead of the game.” Pettingell said.