SAR - International Congress

I was fortunate enough to attend the first annual SAR (Sarasota Association of Realtors) International Congress this past week. It was held at the Lakewood Ranch Country Club and many of the sponsors had businesses at LWR. The purpose was to inform realtors on how to do business with other realtors in other countries around the world. There was an economist that gave his professional opinion about where the real estate market really is and where it is headed. He backed it up with graphs and good resources. It was very enlightening and more positive for our area than negative although the general consensus is that we will still go through another 6 months at least of slow growth.

This seminar was two days for me (some realtors were there for three days). I was the only Interior Designer there and my purpose was to meet new realtors, inform them about my business services and suggest that I could help sponsor one of their overseas trips if they were to include my promo materials with theirs. I met many people who were open to the idea and want to explore it more.

There were many speakers who talked to us about how they do business in other countries, what to plan for and things that you might not think about when doing business in a foriegn country. It was suggested that you should focus on one country, study the culture, learn how to do business in that country and become an expert on that country. Better to focus on one country than to try and do it all everywhere. There was a panel of people from other countries and people who do business in other countries and they answered questions about what it is like in each particular country to do business in the real estate market. It was incredibly informative. There was also information about resources, and websites and programs that you can use to market abroad. They talked about making contacts abroad with other realtors and creating business relationships.

We also got to tour the Lakewood Ranch area on a guided tour bus. We stopped at some Pat Neal homes where they served lunch, then toured model homes at the Lake Club where they served us dessert!

The staff at the Country Club served up the most fantastic meals during the entire 3 day event. We took home goody bags filled with information on LWR and the sponsors and many promo items.