Sander Scott has been closely watching the real estate market since he used pop can and lawn mowing money to buy his first parcel. Scott was a senior at Northport in 1989 when he teamed with his brother to purchase 23 acres off Johnson Road.
So when Scott says milliondollar homes in Leelanau County are still hot commodities while sales of homes priced from $400,000 to $600,000 have slowed, he brings real-life experience to the table.
“Really it’s the homes below that $800,000 range, and especially in that $400,000 to $600,000 range, that are lagging. Those categories aren’t selling nearly as quickly as they were in 2021,” he said.
High interest rates are driving the slowdown, Scott continued. Rates stubbornly remain above 6.8% nationally with no clear sign that they’ll be coming down soon.
That has driven potential buyers who are unable to afford higher monthly payments away from the market.
Scott has a philosophy for such a time.
The danger of waiting for interest rates to go down is that sales will go up right away. So guess what demand will do once interest rates do come down? Everyone will rush into the market.
“My recommendation to buyers is to marry the house, but not the interest rate,” he said.
For those who can sustain higher mortgages for awhile, short-term loans that lead into future negotiations during times of low interest rates may be an answer, Scott said.
History is clear, he continued, about the propensity of the Leelanau County property market to turn profits. It’s shown an ability to sustain value even during times of recession.
“What I tell people is once you cross M-72, it’s just a different real estate market. You can go all the way back to the great market crash of 2008, and our real estate values did not fall like other parts of the nation. The market in Leelanau County, especially for waterfront, remains an awesome investment,” Scott said.
Home sales in the county are off to their best start ever, according to statistics provided by Aspire North Realtors, the multi listing service for the Grand Traverse area.
Some 125 units sold in the county for $93.3 million during the first five months of 2024. That’s a nearly 36% jump in total volume compared to 2023, when 101 housing units sold for $68.8 million from January through May.
The work-at-home trend picked up steam during the pandemic, and so did the real estate market in Leelanau County.
During the first five months of 2019 some 141 homes sold for $56.6 million, which were shortly lived records for both categories. 2021 will be remembered as a break-out year for home sales. From January through May, 185 housing units exchanged hands for $93 million.
Much of the increase in total volume during those five months in 2021 can be linked to a steep jump in the median price of homes in the county, which moved from $302,000 in 2020 to $375,000 the following year. The median price hit $550,000 over the first five months in 2023 and 2024.
Last month was particularly strong for median price advancement, which finished at $617,500 for May. Scott points to continued robust sales of upper-end homes for the increase.
“What I’m seeing is homes above $1 million are selling much quicker,” he said.
Scott participated, brokering the sale of a $1.825 million home off Leland Estates Drive in Leland Township.
He worries that people working in the service and skilled trade industries are being priced out of the county, but acknowledges that market trends control costs. Son Samuel is a skilled carpenter; son Sawyer owns his own painting business. Both reside in Leelanau.
And neighborhoods have changed, Scott acknowledged, including the Northport he grew up in.
“When I walk around the village, I look at a lot of homes that are rental. I sold a few of them. When I was a kid there were families living there with threeto- four kids. Now they are weekly rentals. But some of them are owned by kids I grew up with and the only way they can keep those properties is to use them as rentals for part of the year. They know if they sell, they’ll never be able to move back into the market. It’s a way to keep the family property.
“So I’m of two minds,” he said. Scott spent 28 years in education, starting as a teacher and coach before finishing his career in 2019 as superintendent at Glen Lake Community Schools. He started his real estate career as an agent for Coldwell Banker Schmidt, Realtors, and now owns his own brokerage firm called Net Real Estate. The name represents a nod to his basketballplaying days. The logo depicts a home inside a basketball net.
Basketball is related to his penchant for real estate.
Scott saved all the money needed to buy his first property by mowing lawns and picking up pop cans with the intent of using it for college tuition. Turns out he didn’t need it as he finished the 1987-88 season as a Mr. Basketball finalist for the state and as Leelanau County’s most prolific scorer with 2,348 points. Northport won the Class D state title. Scholarships rolled in.
At Central Michigan University the 6-foot guard was named to the all-MAC freshman team and made first team all-conference as a senior, averaging 16.7 points per game.
The CMU scholarship allowed Scott and his brother Stephen to invest in 23 acres off Johnson Road, which they bought for $1,000 an acre. It wasn’t too long before a local bank lent them $25,000 to purchase an adjoining 37 acres of mostly swamp land. The siblings eventually split up the property into smaller chunks and sold it.
“After we bought the land, I went into the principal’s office, playfully pounded my fist on the table and said I was a taxpayer and I wanted some answers on things,” Scott said. “Mrs. Finnerty, who was principal at the time, told me to get the hell out of her office. We thought we were land barons, but looking back we sold before buying farm land became vogue.”
