Is anyone having success with on-site sales offices in oceanfront highrises? I have an opportunity to do three but I will have to take on more agents to make it work. thoughts?
Clay Branyon
North Beach Realty
www.northmyrtlebeachrealestatesales.com

They had one at the high rise we stayed at in Destin this summer. During our seven nights there, he was NEVER in the ofc. Of course with such pretty beach only steps away who can blame him!

I have managed on site sales offices for lakefront home/townhome sales for 5 years steady and at times it can be very rewarding and at other times it is not so fun. For awhile I was managing 2 different projects but dropped one of them last winter as it got to be too much of a headache keeping both staffed.
The good side is that just this weekend I was on site and got both sides of a 500k sale and almost have another 475k deal together and again both sides...makes up for some of those slow days.

The offices we are considering were manned by another company that stopped showing up. Makes me wonder why?
Clay Branyon
www.northmyrtlebeachrealestatesales.com

Do you have a way of checking for liens on the county/state website?

yes, but I don't understand why you ask?

To see if the development is in financial trouble..I don't know of many Realtors in my area that would walk away from a development unless the project was in financial trouble and they weren't going to get paid or sales were very slow and they weren't making any money..either way chances are the staff walking away has something to do with money.
JMHO

Check the tax records to see if they are selling. The other company may have walked because they do not have a marketable product. ie. they owe too much

The project is solid, long term, building. This office is just for re-sales. I should have mentioned that before. We are hoping to get general leads from being there, no matter where they end up buying.

Its tough to get agents to sit in an on-site office that isn't getting much traffic.

Im in Myrtle Beach too - I bet I know who and where you are talking about.

I can certainly understand your reasoning here. I manage and have worked with a number of succesful developments and my number #1 priority has always been to sell my product. I know the area around my developments extremely well and very seldom have I tried to flip potential buyers to another location and in general everyone seems to like this approach. My market is second/vacation homes and most buyers already have a second home/condo and know the market well and are looking to move up.
A development can get a Realtor lots of exposure and can plant the "seed" in many potential buyers minds when you or your team members present your representation of a development. My market dictates low pressure sales and I am extrememly good at this
I have never undertook a development to just get leads or encouraged team members to flip to another product and call me old fashioned but I just done feel that this concept is serving my clients to the best of my ability.