What Our Customers Are Saying
I can’t say enough great things about working with Louise Cournoyer! From start to finish, she went above and beyond in every aspect of our home-buying journey. Louise was incredibly knowledgeable, professional, and responsive, always quick to answer our questions and provide valuable insights about the market. Not only did she help us find the perfect home within our budget, but she also guided us through the entire process with patience and genuine care. She even provided helpful tips for inspections, connected us with reliable contractors, and negotiated skillfully on our behalf to ensure we got the best possible deal. It felt like Louise was truly invested in finding us the right home rather than just closing a sale. We felt supported every step of the way, and it made what could have been a stressful process smooth and enjoyable. If you’re looking for a dedicated and trustworthy real estate agent, I highly recommend Louise Cournoyer with Stonebridge Real Estate!
Stu Sjouwerman confirmed that he paid $7.9 million for the property, a 12,935-square-foot home with 171 feet of water frontage. The seller, Laser Spine Institute founder Dr. James St. Louis, paid $10.25 million for the home in 2008, according to Pinellas County property records. It was first listed for sale in 2010, priced at more than $14 million.
St. Louis left Laser Spine nearly four years before the company’s sudden closure in March.
“We’re not planning any changes,” Sjouwerman said Friday. “We even bought it furnished because we loved what was in there. The one change, since you’re talking to an IT guy, will be to upgrade the security — cameras, the whole package.”
The home was listed for sale by Phyllis Franklin of Stonebridge Real Estate. Stonebridge partnered with Interluxe to auction off the home in April. The home didn’t sell at auction, but the auction did raise awareness of the property, said Brian Andrus, owner of Stonebridge.
Irene Rue of Charles Rutenberg Realty represented the Sjouwermans.
“That particular property has been with three other brokers that I know of for a total of about five years,” Andrus said. “It was a nine-month effort on our part that included everything from personal showings to auctions.”
Sjouwerman said his employees have been asking about a Halloween party at his new home.
“I kind of left it open,” he said, laughing. “I’ve been told though that the initial owner — he was rumored to have parties of 1,000 people at that property, so I may not be able to say no.”
KnowBe4 in Clearwater, a cybersecurity firm, is one of the Tampa Bay area’s fastest-growing companies.
We contacted Stonebridge Real Estate. They asked what type of place we were looking for and spent time with us all week looking at houses. After returning home, they stayed in great communication with both of us (one of us was in Boston, the other in San Francisco). She sent information on potential houses.
By November we found the perfect place, but that was just the beginning. It was somewhat complicated by the fact that the two purchasers were on opposite sides of the country. They walked us through all of the mechanics, and there are many: contacting the owners, the purchase agreement, deposits, house inspections, mortgage arrangements, title company contact, and more I can’t remember. They gently pulled the cycle along and helped us accomplish each step.
In mid-December we had the closing, and we love our purchase. They really made the whole cycle happen for us and we got a wonderful product. I highly recommend working with them, because they want to get you exactly what you want and will persevere until it is done. Thank you so much.
The final thing was that there were 5 other homes for sale in a two block radius and 30 days after our contract these 5 are still for sale and ours is sold!. My wife and I wholeheartedly recommend you to ANYONE who wants to sell or buy a home!
Before putting our property on the market I interviewed several agents/brokers. I liked the strategy suggested by Stonebridge including price point and promotion. Brian offered straight-forward reasoning as to what the market would be for our home.
The Stonebridge team handled each step of the process with competence and professionalism. When there was pressure from buyers to justify our asking price, he was able to present supporting evidence because in advance they had done the necessary homework that demonstrated the property’s true value.
The buyers and buyer’s agent were very happy in dealing with Brian, which went a long way to helping the potential transaction make it to closing. The Stonebridge team made this process easy by taking full responsibility to ensure each step of the process was done well and on time.
The condo we purchased closed today. We wanted to really thank Stonebridge for your help on this. Meghan was excellent
at managing the entire transaction. And Ariel was very reliable in showing us all the properties in which we had interest. We
look forward to more interaction in Clearwater.
Brian worked with us on a very complex project. Brian not only found the ideal site …but also provided us with invaluable information about the site including getting us an initial zoning opinion which was critical to the project. Negotiations for the parcels necessary for the project were extensive, tedious, and lengthy. Brian took the time to fully understand Goodwill’s needs and was able to convey those to the Sellers. There were several times along the way when the deal was on the brink of collapse and Brian (in a truly professional manner) was able to stitch things back together…
Probably the biggest example of Brian’s professionalism and his sole interest in serving his client came at closing when at the eleventh hour a Seller refused to sign off. Goodwill was under a very tight timeline to bring the project online. Brian knew this and even though he had an undeniable legal claim to the well earned commission he agreed to a lesser amount to satisfy the Seller which enabled us to meet our timeline. Goodwill Industries-Suncoast, Inc will be eternally grateful for the significant sacrifice that Brian Andrus made.
In summation, Goodwill Industries-Suncoast, Inc will seek out the services of Brian Andrus for all of its future real estate purchases. It would be my strong recommendation that you do the same.
I sincerely can recommend Brian and Donna Andrus and Stonebridge Real Estate to anyone looking for Real Estate in Clearwater, Florida. They are fabulous and wish them continued success!
This was probably the best real estate experience I have personally been involved with. I highly recommend Brian, Donna and the staff at Stonebridge Real Estate and would definitely use them again. Thanks again, Brian and Donna.
……. And there are dozens more in our office!
Great real estate transactions don’t just happen.
They are created.