Real Estate Insider: Dennis Wells Talks Lakewood Ranch Market and Client Relationships With Annie Jordan

The Agent Who Watched Hundreds of Closings Before She Ever Had One of Her Own

Dennis Wells welcomed Annie Jordan of EXP Real Estate to the Real Estate Insider podcast for a conversation about the Lakewood Ranch and Manatee County market, the new construction versus resale decision that relocating buyers face, what it actually takes to build a real estate career, and the genuine warmth that makes Annie one of the most refreshing conversations Dennis has had on the show.

Annie grew up in Punta Gorda, a small Florida town that longtime residents know well and that Hurricane Charley gave a dramatic facelift when it reshaped the area's demographics and housing stock entirely. She spent thirteen years managing a medical supply store, helping people find what they needed to live better and more comfortably in their daily lives. Then her daughter was diagnosed with type one diabetes and Annie stepped back to be available for school appointments and insulin management. The career pivot that followed ultimately led her to real estate in a roundabout way.

Before getting her license she became a full-time mobile notary for local title companies, sitting in on closings at Fidelity and First American day after day. She watched buyers and sellers reach the finish line of one of the most significant transactions of their lives. She saw the gifts being exchanged, the emotional reactions, the visible relief and excitement of closing day. She kept thinking she wanted to be part of that journey rather than just the closing table witness to it. After four years of mobile notary work she took the plunge, got her license, and is now beginning her fourth year in real estate. Her daughter Hannah got her license in November and they are building the business together as the Jordan girls.

The Lakewood Ranch Market and What Is Happening Around It

Annie's primary focus is Lakewood Ranch, which has held the title of one of the top places to retire and live in the country for six or seven consecutive years. The community recently celebrated its thirty-year anniversary. The sustained popularity has produced a predictable consequence. Land in Lakewood Ranch itself is becoming scarce and development is pushing east into Parish, which is experiencing significant new construction activity and growing rapidly as a result.

Annie works both the established resale market in Lakewood Ranch and the new construction activity in Parish and surrounding communities. She describes it with genuine enthusiasm as a Cracker Jack box because you never quite know what you are going to find in any given week.

New Construction Versus Resale: The Honest Comparison

When relocating buyers arrive with their hearts set on new construction Annie does not simply accommodate the preference. She shows them both options and lets the experience inform the decision rather than letting assumptions drive it.

New construction has real appeal. Lower interest rates through builder incentive programs, red tag sales, brand new systems and warranties, and the appeal of a home that has never been lived in. But it also comes with realities that photographs and virtual tours do not fully convey. Dump trucks. Truss deliveries. Construction activity in and around the neighborhood for months or years while adjacent phases are built. Some buyers embrace that environment and love watching a community take shape around them. Others want nothing to do with it.

Resale properties offer mature landscaping, trees that have been growing for decades, a neighborhood aesthetic that is finished and settled, and communities where the amenities, the neighbors, and the character are already established. For buyers who want to move into a fully formed environment rather than a community still becoming itself resale is the right answer.

The other variable is life stage. A retired couple whose children are grown and independent who want beach access, golf, and low-maintenance living have completely different needs than a young family who wants space, privacy, and good school districts. Annie asks enough questions before showing properties to understand which profile describes the buyer in front of her so the search is meaningful from the first showing rather than exploratory for weeks.

The Wildlife Reality Nobody Mentions Until After the Contract

Annie handles the Florida wildlife conversation with the humor it deserves. People moving from other states are often startled by lizards. She gently prepares them for the broader ecosystem including alligators near water features and the various creatures that thrive in Florida's climate. Greyhawk Landing, one of the communities she works in frequently, has deer in backyards regularly. She has seen them in her own yard near State Road 64. For buyers coming from the Midwest or Northeast who find this charming it is a selling point. For buyers who find it alarming it is important information to surface before contract rather than after.

What She Would Tell Anyone Getting Into Real Estate

Annie is a mentor at EXP and takes the responsibility seriously because she benefited from strong mentorship when she was learning the business herself. Her first team held her hand through everything she needed to know. She returns that investment by doing the same for agents coming in after her.

Her first piece of advice is practical and immediate. Answer your phone. She hears it from clients constantly. They clicked on a listing inquiry and she was already calling before they had put their phone down. They find it remarkable. She finds it obvious. Someone asked a question about one of her listings. That is her job. The bar she is setting by simply picking up the phone consistently is lower than it should be in a professional industry, which means anyone willing to hold to that standard stands out immediately.

Her second piece of advice is to remember the details that matter to people. If a client mentions their dog's name she writes it down the moment she gets back in the car. Because that dog may be more central to the client's daily emotional life than their commute or their HOA concerns, and referencing it in a future conversation signals that she was actually listening. She brings baby gifts when clients have children. She does pop-by visits around holidays. Halloween treats for the kids. A bottle of wine for a couple who just settled in. The relationship does not end at closing for Annie Jordan. It is just beginning.

Her third piece of advice for new agents is that the first year is about learning the trade, not maximizing income. Learn how to open a lockbox. Learn how to negotiate. Learn how to read an appraisal. Learn the disclosures. Most of what matters in real estate cannot be found in the licensing textbooks which she describes with characteristic honesty as being mostly about how to stay out of jail rather than how to actually serve clients.

The Philosophy Behind Her Practice

Annie sums up her approach in a line that Dennis reinforces immediately. People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

That is not a marketing slogan for Annie. It is a genuine reflection of why she loves the work. She describes first-time homebuyers as her favorite clients specifically because they know nothing about the process and she gets to teach them everything. What homestead exemption means. What capital gains means. How to read a disclosure. What the monthly payment actually includes beyond principal and interest. She was that person once when she bought her first home and she did not have someone who took the time to explain what she was signing. That experience shapes everything about how she works with buyers now.

She is also candid about the challenges of real estate as a career. It is not easy. It does have its moments. But at its core it is about people, and if you genuinely like people and want to make their lives better the rest can be learned. If you do not like people it does not matter how much technical knowledge you accumulate.

The Florida Homestead Exemption Amendment

Annie weighs in on Amendment Three with enthusiasm and specificity. She is voting yes without hesitation. Her property taxes have climbed to approximately ten thousand dollars annually and she sees the amendment as meaningful relief for primary homeowners without meaningfully harming the community services that opponents point to as a concern. School taxes remain. Fire and police funding continues. The people most affected by the reduction are investment property owners, Airbnb operators, and second home owners whose properties are not homesteaded anyway.

She also offers a specific and useful timeline clarification for buyers who are thinking about this strategically. To qualify for the amendment's benefits if it passes buyers need to establish Florida residency before the end of the current year. The benefits themselves roll in gradually. The year following passage would provide up to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in exemption. The full two hundred and fifty thousand dollar exemption comes in the year after that. Anyone who does not establish residency before the deadline will need to wait five years before the full benefit applies to them.

Her practical observation is that if the amendment passes rental demand in November and December could spike as people accelerate plans to establish Florida residency before year-end, which could push rents higher during that window for buyers who are still looking.

Passing the Business to the Next Generation

Having Hannah on the team has changed the texture of Annie's daily work in ways she clearly enjoys. She went from doing everything alone to having a partner in the car, at open houses, and at showings. They do vlogs together. They make coffee stops and film content. She learns from watching Annie handle situations in real time and Annie benefits from Hannah's facility with social media and the content creation skills that younger agents bring naturally.

Annie is direct that real estate school teaches almost nothing about what real estate actually is. The actual education happens by watching experienced practitioners navigate real situations with real clients and real stakes. Having Hannah alongside her means Hannah is getting that education at a pace that would take years to replicate by sitting alone in an office trying to figure it out.

Annie also acknowledges with characteristic self-awareness that she started later than some people might. Her response to that observation is Colonel Sanders, who did not fry his first chicken until he was in his sixties. Starting at any age is a function of mindset and willingness to learn rather than a function of when the calendar says it should have happened.

How to Reach Annie Jordan

Call 941-740-0126. Visit thatlakewoodranchgirl.com. Email [email protected]. She answers her phone, she answers quickly, and if she is with a client she calls back. She serves Sarasota and Manatee Counties with regular work in Parish and occasional ventures into Charlotte County where she grew up.

Dennis Wells works with buyers throughout the Gulf Coast Florida area on mortgage financing. Reach out to Dennis Wells to connect on the lending side of any transaction in the Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota, and Manatee County market.

Sources

SarasotaAssociationofRealtors.com
NAR.realtor
MortgageNewsDaily.com
ConsumerFinancialProtectionBureau.gov
Investopedia.com