Where the CEO’s Live
Five of the Top Housing Markets for Executives are in Florida
When it comes to real estate, many chief executives take a sunny outlook: Five of the top housing markets for CEOs are in Florida, including Miami, Sarasota and Vero Beach.
“These guys didn’t get to where they are by making poor financial decisions.” said Doug Grant, an agent with Coldwell Banker in Naples Florida, who says sales of $2 million-plus, single-family homes are up 83% in the first quarter, compared with last year.
Florida is also a popular destination because there is no individual state income tax – a fact that attracts buyers from New York and elsewhere, according to Elana Bluntzer with ONE Sotheby’s International Realty in Miami.
Charles DallAcqua, the 59-year-old chief executive of Leading Response, a marketing-services company, moved to Sarasota, Fla., from Annapolis, Md., in part because it was near one of his company’s call centers at the time. He and his wife, Valerie, live in a 3,600-square-foot waterfront Mediterranean-style home.
Mostly, though, CEOs are attracted to other CEOs, says Barbara Ackerman, a Sarasota, Fla.-based agent with Coldwell Banker. “Once you please one CEO, they refer you to the next,” she said.
