In 2008, David Fite, CFO of Douglas Elliman, brought The Corcoran Group, a top New York City real estate company, to Palm Beach.
“I came down from New York, pulled agents from everywhere and helped build a luxury, full-service agency. After three years, we were No. 1 on the island,” he noted proudly.
In 2018, they were looking to expand and did a joint venture with William Raveis, combining two family businesses. “My wife Nadine was in charge of marketing; she’s now an agent.”
The Fites formerly lived in Bronxville, and are still members of Westchester Country Club, but they and their children, then 4 and 8, transitioned to the year-round outdoor lifestyle in Palm Beach with ease.
“It’s incredible how Palm Beach has grown up since we came down here,” Fite said in a telephone interview. “This is not your grandmother’s Florida.”
He points to the top-notch facilities and parks, the Kravitz Center for the Arts, the thriving theater in Boca Raton, the fact that Delray has become a “very happening place”, the explosion of golf communities in Palm Beach Gardens and Jupiter.
Many of his clients are buyers from New York City and its suburbs who are willing to pay a premium to live in South Florida — because of the lifestyle as well as the low taxes.
“The demand is high, so we’re training buyers to look and act quickly.” With young buyers, he and the rest of The Fite Group focus in on what is most important to them — walkability, proximity to the Intercoastal or the Atlantic Ocean, a quieter life than they had in New York, a brand-new planned community with services and shops close by.
“Every community here is unique and worth getting to know,” he said. And with a flagship office in Palm Beach, three satellite offices, and daily flights from Westchester County Airport, David Fite invites you to take a crash house-hunting course any weekend.
