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Sarasota Herald Tribune
REAL ESTATE PROFILE
Agent dons many hats
in career in real estate
Debra
Lichter has run her own firm and helped other agents with theirs.
By
STEPHEN FRATER
stephen.frater@heraldtribune.com
SARASOTA -- Two sure signs of a happy realty customer are repeat business
and family referrals.
Steve and Ethel Pawley were so happy with real estate agent Debra Lichter
after she helped them find a home within two weeks last August that when
their daughter looked to sell her home in Manatee County in November, they
recommended Lichter again.
The challenge for Lichter of quickly selling a full-priced home was
daunting. Inventories were spiraling to record highs, and investors had
quit the market in droves.
Nevertheless, she delivered a buyer and closed the sale of the
two-bedroom, one-bath house for $365,000. "We think it's close to a
Manatee record," said Ethel Pawley, who appreciates how quickly the sale
of her daughter's house came together in a stagnant off-season market
period complicated by the holidays. "She does not leave you out of
the loop, she's very professional and did a great job," Pawley said.
A licensed real estate agent since 1978, Debra Lichter has been agent and
president of Marina del Rey Realty Corp. since 1979. When she
founded her company at 23, she maintained three offices and managed a
sales staff of 12. In recent years, Lichter has worked both as a
solo agent as well as a marketing consultant to other agents.
Her marketing savvy attracted the attention of her fellow real estate
agents as well as that of the association. In January, Lichter was named
chairwoman of the Sarasota Association of Realtors' Public Information
Committee. Association President Felix Power says Lichter's job is
to address issues of "image, public information, communications."
Lichter also has been working on the development of an operating system
for data reporting.
"She is an excellent person to work with. She's proactive, not reactive,
when responding to an issue," Power said, adding that Lichter "understands
the responsibilities of managing a business, and we thought she
understands the issues facing Realtors as well." Lichter also was
supported by the membership, who recommended her to the board.
Marina del Rey, as the name might suggest, was originally formed to serve
as on-site broker for the Marina del Rey bayfront town house community on
Sand Key in Pinellas County.
In 1981, Lichter was recognized as the selling broker for one of the
largest transactions in Pinellas County history until that time: the sale
of the Pasadena Golf Club to Metro Development of Atlanta, which then sold
it to U.S. Steel for $22 million in a simultaneous transaction. U.S.
Steel developed the property into the Pasadena Yacht and Country Club
waterfront community.
After Marina del Rey sold out, Lichter moved her operations to the
Sarasota-Bradenton area.
In 1983, she developed a private gated estate on a 2-acre Gulf-to-bay
property on Longboat Key, where she and her family lived for 10 years. The
family moved to Siesta Key in 1993.
"If you call Debra Lichter to see one of her listings, she will be there
early with the home in perfect order, lights on, ready to show at its
best," said Judy Kepecz-Hays, an agent with Coldwell Banker Previews
International Longboat Key. Kepecz-Hays said Lichter, who has closed
several sales in Longboat's Country Club Shores district, also does her
homework. Lichter has studied the area so closely that "she knows
Country Club Shores' every detail: which homes are the best investment,
have the best view, best water, docking, etc.," Kepecz-Hays said.
Lichter knows the properties both as an agent and as an investor. She has
successfully invested in multimillion-dollar waterfront properties. She
develops the full potential of a property, whether renovating it or
knocking it down. "She has been buying and selling for her own
account," said Tom Hanley, an agent with Hanley and Associates on St
Armands Circle.
Lichter has been actively investing in Longboat Key property and has
acquired three properties recently, said Hanley, who noted Lichter has
sold some of her properties -- some as tear-downs -- to some of his
clients.
She was an investment partner in Whitehall Homes, the builder of Avalon in
Palm-Aire and Maple Hammock. In that capacity, Lichter also brokered the
deal when Whitehall Homes sold Villages of Palm-Aire to Taylor Woodrow
Homes in 2000.
A Florida native born in Miami, Lichter has a bachelor's degree in
political science and international studies with a minor in business
management from the University of South Florida. She also is a Certified
Commercial Investment Member, or CCIM, Level One.
She was a securities broker and member of the National Association of
Securities Dealers and Securities and Exchange Commission from 1986 to
1995.
She has two children, Harry, a student at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology who is graduating in June and is on the MIT men's heavyweight
crew, and Ben, a University of Florida student, who is a former Sarasota
crew team captain and men's varsity four-plus state champion for two
years.
An avid athlete, Lichter is a "master rower" and certified scuba diver.
She is one of the founding families of the Sarasota Crew Rowing Team and
was president of the Sarasota Crew Booster Club for three years. Her
hobbies include spinning and yoga. She enjoys cooking and is a gourmet
chef.
Lichter has been a "parent connector" for MIT for four years, representing
Southwest Florida. She and her son formed a MIT summer "send-off
get-acquainted program" for students and parents in 2002.
The secret of Lichter's success?
"She dots her i's and crosses her t's," says Ethel Pawley, and she
"pursues a back-up plan, just in case her first deal falls through." |
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