Some area Realtors doing OK despite market downturn - Daytona Beach News-Journal

He had worked as a chief financial officer for various companies, but after the last company he worked for folded and he was out of work for a year, he gave selling homes a shot. Back then, the housing market was starting its ascent into high prices. Fewer people were buying homes -- many were just trying to stay without being foreclosed upon. Yet today, with the market still a shell of its former self, Sommer says he is doing as well as he's ever done as a Real Estate agent. Methods for excelling agents range from incessant networking to checking up as much as possible on potential buyers and sellers without being a nag. Last year, Cortez said, was her best so far, and this year also is going well. Cortez attributes the increase to slowly developing and maintaining Relationships with other agents, title companies and clients. Ask almost any real estate agent who was around in the mid-2000s and they'll tell you that clients practically fell into their laps during the last real estate boom. So Cortez has used those relationships for referrals, and works on getting new ones by attending as many networking functions as possible held by the Ormond Beach Chamber of Commerce. The most important one, in Cortez's view, is the sales leads group, where professionals from a wide range of industries are invited to mingle. Homes are much cheaper, but fewer people are buying them, area Realtors acknowledge. Kelley Desoto, a real estate agent with Ocean Properties as well as the brokerage's director of marketing, says his sales are up 50 percent over last year's numbers, but noted that 2010 was not a good year for sales for him. Staying on top of prior customers is key to maintaining their business and getting new referrals, he said. Anderson said he is convinced that a positive upswing is coming. Prices continue to somewhat fall, but a positive is its gaining momentum and it takes momentum to turn the market. Realtors