ANew Place to Call Home

With their new office location now open for business, Matt Varney shares why being part of the community is the cornerstone to being the leader in Ocala’s real estate.

OCALA HORSE PROPERTIES’

MATT VARNEY was the top realtor of Ocala and Marion County in 2022. While many agents are strong in either sales or listings, Matt is a strong leader in both, with numbers for both sales AND listing volume coming in at nearly $75,000,000. His listings and sales volume totalled an impressive $149,104,800. The next closest agent totalled $48,277,655, more than a hundred million dollars less.

“One of the secrets to our success is we spend an enormous amount of money on marketing to make sure people see what we’re selling, but also to educate new buyers about the area.” said Matt.

We focus on educating the buyer first — where to buy, what to buy how much, what not to do, what improvements, etc. — it’s all part of the experience with us.

As a longtime Ocala agent, as well as a farm owner who is married to a successful equine veterinarian, Matt truly understands both sides of the story.

“There are a lot of listing agents and selling agent out there,” he said. “The reality is, I do both well: I’m good at bringing buyers and sellers together and we list some of the best equestrian countries in the country. Being incredibly involved in the equestrian industry lends itself to our success. We’re giving advice out of true experience; anything people want to do on their farm, we’ve probably done on our own properties.”

Common Mistakes

Matt said that some of the biggest mistakes he see with buyers and sellers is when they hire someone to help them that will only tell them what they want to hear.

“When agents do this it comes from lack of understanding, lack of confidence or lack of experience,” he said. “I’ve always prided myself on telling people what they need to hear, both the seller and the buyer. We’re not doing that for a sale in the moment, we’re doing it for the relationship going forward. We really take the avenue of, ‘If I was in the position of the buyer, knowing what I know about the market, how much would I spend on this property before I become uncomfortable?’ And if we’re not comfortable then we’ll say so.”

With the market strong and interest rates low over the previous couple of years, there are many new agents on the scene. But just because someone has a real estate license doesn’t mean they’re qualified to sell property; Matt said that the vast majority of these new agents don’t last a year.

“Real estate isn’t easy, it’s a hard job, and you have to understand what you’re doing,” he said. “Buyers and sellers are very intelligent. You’ll get found out if you don’t understand what you’re doing.”

He points to his own sales and listings numbers as evidence of consistency.

“It’s very rare to have someone both list and sell at $74 million dollars –they’ll typically focus on one end of the spectrum or the other – but at Ocala Horse Properties, we do both,” he said. “Because of that knowledge of both sides of the transaction, listing and selling, we have a better understanding of the local market and it helps us establish relationships for the future.

Part of Matt’s success is due to personal investment of his time and interest. For example, he said, “Today I’m going to a property that the owners bought four years ago; they renovated over that time. Even though they have no intention of reselling, they want my opinion about how to make the house better for resale. I often do this, with both houses and bare land. To do this well, you need to understand what type of person is going to be the buyer, so if you’re just a listing agent you won’t know what you’re talking about. You have to understand both sides.”

Things To Watch Out For

Matt cautions that when you’re selling a property, don’t just hire someone out of convenience, like a family member or friend. Be sure that you understand the market and that you understand the agent’s statistics. Ask them, ‘Who is the buyer for my property and why?’

Ocala Horse Properties is constantly investing real time and dollars in advertising. “Our listings are not just posted on social media, and we’ve created a database that’s lasted over 15 years now of people that are real buyers.”

While the market was hot in 2021, things slowed down in 2022. Still, Matt saw only a 23% change in his sales numbers, while his next closest competitor saw a 98% drop in sales. He said, “My big thing is that you hire a realtor — you hire me — because I have a proven track record, not over the past couple of years, but for more than a decade, of significant sales and bringing people to the table.”

Matt acknowledged that in recent years, low interest rates made the real estate market uncharacteristically strong.

“During the ‘Covid boom’ where people were buying left and right at low interest rates, as a realtor you didn’t have to work that hard to make money,” he said. “But through 85% of my career the case has been that you do have to work hard, it’s not a side gig! For the past 15 years, we’ve invested the same money when numbers are down as when they’re up, which is why we’re so consistent.”

The Future Is Bright

Matt sees a bright future for Ocala and greater Marion County. “The World Equestrian Center (WEC) is more settled, and they still have plans for expansion,” he said.

“We’re busy in our office, but a lot of offices aren’t that busy any more. The market remains strong with us; we have good properties listed, and good buyers coming to town.”

For equestrian clients, choosing Ocala Horse Properties makes sense financially and personally. “We’re invested in the area, and our knowledge of both the listing side and the selling side is unsurpassed. This area is really important to us: we’ve invested our time in organizations like Horse Farms Forever, and there’s no truer sense than we walk the walk.”

OCALA HORSE PROPERTIES’ MATT VARNEY WAS THE TOP REALTOR OF OCALA AND MARION COUNTY IN 2022.

SALES AND LISTING VOLUME NEARLY $75,000,000

HIS LISTINGS AND SALES VOLUME TOTALED AN IMPRESSIVE $149,104,800

THE NEXT CLOSEST AGENT TOTALED MORE THAN A HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS LESS AT $48,277,655 (352) 615-8891