Why Abode? Our Values, Vision, and The Possibilities of Luxury Orlando Real Estate.
Buying a luxury home isn't a normal real estate transaction. It's not only often the biggest purchase of your life, but it's bigger than the average real estate purchase. So, it's important that you work with expert real estate agents to ensure your house buying experience is smooth, seamless, and comes off without a hitch.
Real estate agents who have the experience and know-how to handle the unexpected surprises that spring up as they guide you through the labyrinth of regulations and paperwork that appear in the housing market.
Real estate agents who don't see their job as finished once they secure your listing or disappear until it's time to sign the closing documents.
We — Linda Sitek and Steven Ritz — became Orlando real estate agents because we believe in making a difference in people's lives. The future someone builds with their family starts with their home, and we take that responsibility very seriously.
To help you understand how Abode will work for you, we want to give you a glimpse into who we are, what we stand for, and where we see the future of the Orlando luxury housing market.
How Did Abode Get Started?
We got our start in what many people thought was the worst time to become real estate agents: during the Great Recession of 2008-09.
Linda was running her own marketing and advertising agency in 2009, and Steven had been in pharmaceutical sales until the industry imploded and he wanted “out”.
We had been best friends for nearly 13 years by that point, and would often share our tales of woe about our careers and how much we wished we could do something different. In 2009, Linda learned there were just shy of 8,000 realtors in the Orlando housing market, down from 16,000 in 2005. So she took real estate classes that June and earned her real estate license that August.
That was really the best time to become a real estate agent because it was a sink-or-swim time. You learned how to hustle, how to make your clients happy, and how to generate interest in every home you listed. This wasn't like the previous few years, where being a realtor meant just being an order taker, as houses were selling as fast as they were being put on the market.
In October of that year, Steven, Linda, and their families were on a trip together when the two got to talking about Linda's work in the housing market.
She pointed out that two agents working together in one business could make more money than two agents working individually in their own businesses. So, Steven said those famous last words: "What do I have to do?"
That was on a Sunday. Linda checked her smartphone (which was so very smart in 2009) and learned there were real estate classes starting on Tuesday. So Steven enrolled and started taking night classes that week. His schedule let him work during the day, as well as study hard for his upcoming real estate agent's exam. He passed and joined Keller Williams Realty in January 2010. Our very first listing was that same month, and we marketed it together as the Ritz-Sitek Team, which soon became the Abode team.
Linda has been able to bring her marketing and advertising expertise to all of our listings, and she applies many different techniques to each one. After years of pharmaceutical sales, Steven understands the sales and prospecting process, and how to listen to buyers and sellers to find out what they really need.
In fact, that's the number one skill we bring to all our clients: we listen carefully to what each buyer and seller wants, and we make sure we understand their goals before we ever put a house on the market or show a buyer a new listing.
Bottom line: we have a great working relationship. We trust each other, put our friendship first, and are smart about how we work together. We laugh together and calm each other during stressful situations. We have fun every day, which is easy when you're working with your best friend. Neither of us knows how we could run Abode by ourselves and stay sane, so we're glad we're such a strong real estate team together.
Our Vision & Values
When we first started our realty team, we carefully mapped out our vision for Abode. We had been working with clients and learning "both sides of the front door:" buyers and sellers, and what it meant to be a buyers' agent and a sellers' agent.
That first year was really tough. We got our first listing in January 2010, but we didn't sell our first home until that June. We were working 70-80 hours a week on this one luxury listing - doing open houses, knocking on doors, handing out flyers, and reaching out to our spheres of influence. We kept plugging away and even got another home listing for a $1 million, 2-acre piece of land in Winter Park.
The following year, after we started seeing some sales and successes with our efforts, we realized our experiences and skill sets matched our working preferences. Steven was better as a buyer specialist, which is like an outside sales consultant for buyers; Linda was better on the house-listing side, serving as the account executive and marketing strategist.
That's when we began to really develop our client-centric vision for our business. We didn't just want to find homes by calling expired listings or dropping in on For Sale By Owner open houses. We wanted to generate leads from referrals — friends, happy clients, and people who knew our Abode reputation.
So we focused on client appreciation and letting our sphere know how important they were to us. We gave away pies and special gifts; we even had a margarita machine. (We still have it, in fact, and we loan it out for special events.)
Our compassion and our emphasis on listening are what set us apart from our competitors. We don't just see everyone who walks in as a buyer or a seller. We see them as individuals who have goals and hopes. Some are looking to move on to their next stage of life, looking for our help to leave the place where they are now. Others are looking for that new start, depending on us to help them find their new upscale Orlando home.
Our most important value is that we focus on what's best for the client. We provide housing knowledge and expertise, but most importantly, we have compassion for our clients. We want what's best for them; it's not about what's best for us. We think that's why we're successful in our work within luxury real estate.
What Drives Us to Help Our Clients?
Linda loves being able to help people, using her deep knowledge to guide them through the house-selling experience. She loves talking with clients about their big picture goals and then helping them make the real estate decisions that will best guide them to that finish line.
When Steven bought his first home, it was the most eye-opening experience he could have had. It helped him learn how he wanted to be treated as a real estate client, which informs his selling philosophy today.
We love to see the joy and excitement in others when they buy their home. The joy that comes from knowing they can paint their walls whatever color they choose. Or imagining raising a family within those four walls. Or watching their friends and families gathering together in the backyard. We thrive on their overflowing joy at knowing they're on their way to building a family history in their new luxury home.
And for some clients, we're helping them with their wealth and wealth building. Sometimes, if a purchase or sale is not a good option for them, we'll say so. Or we'll bring smart opportunities to them, telling them when it's a good time to sell.
On the flip side, sometimes buying and selling real estate isn't a happy venture for our client. Sometimes they're forced to move, or they're dealing with a death in the family. Sometimes it's not joy and exuberance, it's loss and sadness.
That's when we go back to our foundational skill: we just listen. We listen to what they're going through and what's important to them. And we have the compassion of heart to have those hard conversations with them. By listening, we can learn what's important to them, and make sure they get what they need.
What Do We See for the Future of Orlando Real Estate?
We love Orlando. Our hearts are here. It feels like a small town, even though Central Florida is home to over 1.6 million people. (Plus, we like that it doesn't get cold over the winter.)
Orlando is also more than just tourism and theme parks. We have a world-class performing arts center, an outstanding food scene, and there are plenty of cultural and arts events and social organizations to get involved in. Linda is involved in the Audubon Society and loves watching and learning about birds of prey. Steve spends his time in Winter Park with family and friends and often visits the largest collection of Tiffany stained glass in the world.
There is a lot of potential in the Florida real estate market. People are continuing to move here, even now, because of our low tax rate and the fact that we don't have a state income tax. We're seeing a lot of luxury buyers coming from the Northeast, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut because of the Florida tax situation.
Another thing we appreciate about Florida is that you can have more than just a home, you can have a lifestyle. You can live on a lake or live in the city. You can be close to nature or have some seclusion.
People are often surprised, not only by the prices here in Central Florida, but that luxury lakefront homes sell faster and for more money than non-lake luxury homes.
Central Florida is also a haven for a lot of frequent travelers. It's a big city, but it's easy to get to the airport. For example, there are a lot of professional golfers who live in Lake Nona, not only because of the golf courses in the area but because it's fairly close to the airport and they travel almost every week.
Of course, not all lakes and lake properties are created equal. That's where our Orlando real estate knowledge and experience comes in handy. We know where the water skiing lakes are, the fishing lakes, and the ones that are still up and coming.
In “Closing”
2020 may be a tough year, but we're still here. People are still buying and selling houses. They're living their lives, starting families, and taking their next steps.
And so we're still here. We're still committed to listening to our clients with compassion and heart, and focusing on them. We can't do the same client appreciation events and activities that we could last year, so we're structuring them differently. We're focusing more on care-calls to see how people are doing, how their health is, and if there's anything we can help with. We’ll still be doing our annual Thanksgiving Pie-Day, but we’ll use our “take-out” window and wear face masks.
If you're ready for your next step in life, whether moving in or moving out, we're here to help you. If you're not where you want to be, and you want some help getting there, we're here to help. If you want to learn more about investing in luxury real estate around the Central Florida area (or just want an excuse to get some of your favorite pie), please contact us.
You can subscribe to our email newsletter, you can send us a message, or you can call us at 321-277-8271 to reach Steven (Buyer Specialist) or 407-963-6544 for Linda (Listing Specialist).
