Tad Yeatter, CEO of Schooner Bay Realty Inc., a real estate development, sales and management firm, based in Cape Coral. -PHOTO CREDIT: ANDREA STETSON

Tad Yeatter and his sons Tyler, Tanner and Trey in a photo taken more than 30 years ago. His three sons now work with him at Schooner Bay Realty. -PHOTO CREDIT: TAD YEATTER

When Tad Yeatter began selling real estate, a waterfront condo cost as little as $37,800. Now, Yeatter, who founded Schooner Bay Realty, is celebrating 50 years in the business and is selling homes ranging from $300,000 to $2 million. He’s seen tremendous growth in both buildings and prices during the past five decades as his company has sold more than 17,000 properties.

“I remember coming down to Florida and starting in real estate and I was one of the youngest real estate brokers, and now I am one of the oldest,” Yeatter began.

It all started shortly after graduating from high school and leaving his rural roots on a chicken farm in Ohio, to visit his grandparents in Englewood. He liked the area so much, he didn’t want to leave. So, in 1973 he attended Edison Community College (now Florida Southwestern) got a job stocking shelves at Sears and then started selling real estate at Schooner Bay Condominiums, a North Fort Myers waterfront community. He bought himself a prime corner condo for just $50,000.

“Prices were quite different back then,” he recalled. “When I moved down here, Pine Island Road had maybe 5-10 buildings. It was basically a two-lane trail. There was one gas station. There was really just nothing there. When I moved here, the town pretty much ended at the Edison Mall. Going south, then you had a 25-minute drive (just seeing fields), going to Naples. I did witness a lot.”

Schooner Bay when it was in North Fort Myers by the Robert E. Lee Hotel. -PHOTO CREDIT: TAD YEATTER

After two years, the condo complex was sold out, and in 1975, Yeatter founded his own real estate company using the Schooner Bay name. He worked out of a small 1300-square-foot office right by the Best Western Robert E. Lee Hotel. He said it was a great location for business, being on the well-traveled US 41 and having guests at the hotel who loved the area and were looking to buy.

He had three agents working with him back then. They sold brand new houses on the water for $80,000.

“Maybe we could get $100,000 if it was really decked out,” he described.

He sold a lot of property in Waterway Estates in North Fort Myers.

“It just sort of evolved from there,” he explained.

Yeatter remembers when interest rates were as high as 18 percent. He also recalls many years with a 12 percent interest rate.

“We lived with 12 percent interest rates forever, but people could afford 12 percent on a $50,000 house. They can’t afford 12 percent on a $500,000 house.”

Selling real estate wasn’t as easy back then. There were no internet listings or videos of properties. Every other week, Yeatter would go to the Board of Realtors and pick up a 12-inch thick (MLS) book of property listings.

Tad Yeatter, CEO of Schooner Bay Realty Inc, used to play basketball with Deion Sanders. -PHOTO CREDIT: TAD YEATTER

“It had all the homes for sale, and that was our Bible,” he described. “That is what you had to work from. You had one little black and white picture in there of the property and that is all. In the old days, we had to wait for the book every two weeks and see if there was anything in there.”

Yeatter and his agents would then drive to all the properties he had listed to check their condition before taking clients to see them.

“Back in those days, we would preview homes so our agents would have eyes on them,” he said. “It was good that gas was only 80 cents a gallon. The salesmen had to do that extra step. Now you can tell what it looks like from the marketing online.”

Since clients could only see one small photo, they had to take them to more houses to see what they looked like.

“You had one little picture to look at. It was kind of crazy,” Yeatter said. “Back then you would show quite a few until there was one they would like,” he explained. “Back then you might need to go to twice as many, and it might take 3-4 months to find something. Now we take them in a boardroom with all our monitors, and we can limit it to 4-5 properties. Now people fly in and they already know what they want to see. They have already seen it on their phone.”

In the 1980s Yeatter branched out a bit and teamed up with Randy Henderson to build Fort Adventure in Fort Myers that featured mini golf, bumper boats, batting cages and arcade games. He also built three car washes.

“You never know where you will end up in this business,” he said about his ventures.

Schooner Bay Realty has its headquarters in Cape Coral. -PHOTO CREDIT: ANDREA STETSON

By 2010, Yeatter and his staff had outgrown their little office in North Fort Myers, and he was looking for a change.

“We needed more room,” he stressed. “There was the potential for growth in Cape Coral. There were close to 100,000 sites built on at that time with approximately 60,000 more vacant lots to build on in the future. Cape Coral was only about 60 percent built out, so there was enormous potential.”

Schooner Bay made an interim move to an office on Hancock Parkway for two years before moving into their current location; a 7,000 square foot building on Del Prado.

“We picked Del Prado because it was right in the middle of everything,” Yeatter said.

While Yeatter said the core of his business was residential, he also made commercial deals.

“I did a fair amount of commercial land entitlement for builders,” he explained.

He also helped with some big land deals.

“One of the projects that I am proud of is I brought the VA hospital to Cape Coral,” he said proudly. “They were looking for property from Cape Coral to Naples, and I sold them the piece in north Cape Coral. There were several companies working with them, but I brought them their site. That was nice. My son is a vet. My dad was a vet, and it is a great facility over there. Before that most of them had to drive up to the VA in Sarasota.

About 500 people packed a recent 50th anniversary party for Schooner Bay Realty. -PHOTO CREDIT: TAD YEATTER

He is also proud of helping to save some environmentally sensitive land near Four Mile Cove.

“We had a parcel next to Four Mile Cove that was zoned for a national builder to build, and we had people come and say, ‘we want it to be natural’,” he explained. “We were able to put a deal together and sell that to Conservation 20/20 to add to Four Mile Cove. That was a real nice deal.”

With more space and a growing staff, that is now at 65 employees, Yeatter decided to expand. Seven years ago, they got into the construction business and opened Schooner Bay Builders. They build 20-30 homes a year and also do renovations.

“We like investing in Southwest Florida,” he said. “We just like being involved in the overall business.”

Yeatter said the secret to his success and the longevity of his business is customer relations.

“One of the biggest things in our business is if you give really good service, you get referrals,” he explained. “We have always tried to focus on the relationships. Take good care of your people and it will feed you down the road and it has. We have been blessed with that. We grew out of that to where we are today.”

Tad Yeatter and his staff in front of their office on Del Prado Blvd in Cape Coral. -PHOTO CREDIT: TAD YEATTER

Yeatter says he has no plans to retire. But when he does his three sons will be there to take over. All three of his boys, Tyler, Tanner and Trey, work for him now.

“The unique thing is that all three boys ended up back here,” he said. “It just warms my heart. I get to see them every day.”

Some of the boys he used to coach in baseball also work at Schooner Bay.

“When I am gone, this is in good hands,” Yeatter concluded. “We have the boys and their friends who have been with the business for years and years. I think the boys will keep it going. I think they love real estate just like I do. Hopefully, it will go another 50 years.”