'Dream the impossible'

Michael Saunders, one of the most prominent real estate executives on the Gulf Coast, if not all of Florida, is a forward-looking executive in charge of a firm that surpassed $2 billion in total property sales last year.

But Saunders, 73, recently looked back, in an interview with the Longboat Observer, sister paper of the Business Observer, for a section about the 60th anniversary of Longboat Key.
Here are two highlights:

On going from teaching high school and working as a probation officer to founding Michael Saunders & Co.: “I believe buying real estate or selling is one of the most important decisions you can make. I felt I could bring higher standards. 

Real estate offices in the 1970s were like the Wild West and had a hodgepodge of mismatched chairs with grumpy agents smoking behind them. It's not the way to make a first impression. I determined I should focus on waterfront property because I love it and understood if you could afford it, you want to live on the water. 

I got my real estate license in 1972 and started the company in 1976 in a 1,000-square-foot space on St. Armands Circle. My mother was an artist, and I borrowed an easel to display my listings and some of her furniture. I had the only real estate office in the area that looked like an art gallery. It lured people in immediately. 

We did $12 million in business in 1976, which meant I could pay my bills.

Hurdles to success: “I always wanted to be a lawyer. I got a full scholarship to attend the University of Florida but needed a fellowship, too, because we had no money. I was the only female invited for fellowship interviews, and when I wasn't being interviewed and inquired about when I would be called, they apologized and told me they only gave fellowships to men and only invited me because my name implied I was a man.

Later when I needed a $5,000 bank loan to start the real estate company, I was turned down because I was a woman. I had to get a male friend to co-sign for me. It was the last time I needed a man's help for anything. The bank is no longer there, and I am. 

My father always said to dream the impossible dreams but warned me I would pay the price to make them come true. I always believed I could do anything because of that advice.”