july2017

90 91 MURRAY HOMES awareness, which leads to a lot of cranes going up for condos, hotels, etc., which leads to more people coming down, and, subsequently, sus- tained business. I think without where we live, my job would be a lot harder.” Murray adds that a portion of that sustained business comes from clients fleeing high-tax states, such as California, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, and relocating to income- tax-free Florida. “People are trying to get away and make Florida their primary residence,” he explains, “and as a result, we’re building nice homes with the money they’re saving from not paying taxes.”And those nice homes don’t come cheap. “We’re not in the $200,000, knock ‘em up quick range,” he avers. “Our price per square foot is anywhere from $375 to $800. So, the opportunity for luxury within that price range is absolutely there in the marketplace.” Over the last several years, Murray Homes has built more than 85 unique custom waterfront residences in the finest neighborhoods around Sarasota, including Longboat Key, Bird Key, Har- bor Acres, and Casey Key. “Everything is within a ten-mile radius of my office in downtown Sara- sota,” says Murray. “Ten miles will get you up as far as Anna Maria, down as far as Casey Key, and inland as far as Lakewood Ranch. So, we have a big conforming area, which is a lot of water- front and a lot of high end real estate.” Being in the middle of one of the hottest real estate markets in the country was actually part of the plan, when, in 1999, Murray followed his father, John, a master builder of luxury homes in their native London for more than 30 years, to Florida’s west coast. “The goal was to set up a custom home building company that deals with the luxury end because that was our history and experience in London,” Murray says. “It was really bolting it into the geography and how it translated, based on where we were.We’ve got a lot of waterfront here in Sarasota, and the opportunity for waterfront construction was absolutely there. So we took it by the scruff of the neck and gave it a shake.” Today, Murray Homes has a sister company– Murray Realty, a full service real estate company specializing in waterfront residential real estate on and around the keys of Sarasota. Together, the two companies allow Murray’s clients to