Commercial Investment Real Estate May/June 2017 | Page 14

CCIM
Q& A
Land Magnet
by Gina Orlandi
eginning his career in politics, Dean Saunders,
CCIM, learned diplomacy and negotiation skills
that have served him well in commercial real estate.
His commitment to agriculture and land have
become his professional specialty.
In 1992, Saunders served in the Florida House of Represen-
tatives after his time as a staff member with U.S. Senator and
Florida Governor Lawton Chiles.
During his four years serving in
the Florida Legislature, his passion
for agriculture and land led him to
become a trailblazer for land conser-
vation easements.
Now a real estate broker and owner
of Coldwell Banker Commercial
Saunders Real Estate in Lakeland,
Fla., Saunders excels at land and
conservation easements. “I love being
out looking at ranches, conservation lands, and groves,” he says.
“There’s never a day that I don’t enjoy what I do.”
He discusses his legislative career, the commercial real estate
profession, and the insights he has learned along the way with
Commercial Real Estate Magazine.
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May | June 2017
CIRE: How did you get your career start?
Saunders: I was a senior at the University of Florida, major-
ing in citrus, when I decided to get my real estate license. After
graduation, I started working for U.S. Senator Lawton Chiles
as an agricultural liaison. As Chiles’s career in the U.S. Senate
started to wind down, I later worked part time for the Sena-
tor as a Realtor. Soon after his retirement, I began working in
real estate full time, until Chiles got elected as the Governor
of Florida.
Then I served in the Florida House of Representatives,
where I focused on private property rights, as well as authored
legislation to get the state of Florida to purchase easements
for conservation.
CIRE: After your time in the Florida House of
Representatives, how did you transition into
commercial real estate?
Saunders: Once I got out of the Florida Legislature, a local
rancher called to tell me how important protecting his ranch
with a conservation easement would be for him and his family,
and he wanted me to help him get it done. I realized there may
be other landowners who need assistance with this as well, so I
made conservation real estate my niche.
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