Waterfront Real Estate Specialist · St. Petersburg & the Gulf Beaches
A waterfront specialist is not a marketing title.
It's a checklist most agents don't know exists. Seawalls, dock permits, depth at low tide, elevation certificates, here's what working with one actually looks like.
Waterfront specialist
Any agent can show you a waterfront house. The photographs do most of that work anyway. What you're hiring a specialist for is everything the photographs are hiding: the seawall whose tieback system is quietly failing behind the cap, the dock permit that never got closed out, the canal that carries three feet at low tide when your boat draws four, the elevation certificate that swings your insurance by thousands a year. Those aren't exotic edge cases. On the water, that's every transaction.
My clients don't pay for that knowledge, it's the same commission either way. They just get an agent who walks a property looking at the things that cost money after closing, not just the things that look good before it.
I got into real estate the way I do most things, all in, no backup plan. But the water came first: my first job and first apartment were on Tierra Verde at 18, bartending at the old Sandbar before it was torn down, learning boat people one shift at a time. I've been on this water ever since, and I own and run my own boat today. So when a listing says "deep water" or "no fixed bridges," I don't take its word for it, I know which canals that's true on, because I've idled down most of them.
Five years in, the practice is still deliberately small. Fewer clients, deeper involvement, and the kind of attention a high-volume team structurally can't give. When you call, you get me.
Buying waterfront
What Clients Say
"She helped us purchase a home while we were literally on a ship off Antarctica. Not many agents would have handled that." , Mike
"Carly doesn't just help you find a house, she helps you make a smart, informed, empowered decision. It shows in every email, every walk-through, every conversation." , Becky
"She found us the perfect house before it even hit the market." , Anne
St. Petersburg, St. Pete Beach, Treasure Island, and Tierra Verde are home turf, with the full Pinellas waterfront map in range, Pass-a-Grille and Vina del Mar, Gulfport, the northeast St. Pete islands, Madeira Beach, and the condo markets in between. Every one of those has its own guide on this site, written the same way I work: the honest version. Start with the neighborhoods page if you're still choosing your water.
A conversation, not a pitch. Tell me what you're trying to do, the boat you own or want, the timeline, the honest budget. If I can help, I'll tell you exactly how. If what you need isn't my lane, I'll point you at someone whose lane it is. I respond to every inquiry personally, usually same day, because a boutique practice means the person answering is the person doing the work.
The top of the market
At the luxury end, from Snell Isle and Venetian Isles to Pass-a-Grille Gulf-front and the Tierra Verde Grand Canal, the technical side matters more, not less. A $5M buyer with a sportfish is specific about lift capacity, seawall engineering and the exact route to open water, and I bring a structural engineer with no stake in the repair work to every one of these. I'm a Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist and a Guild Member, which is the credential; the boat is the qualification.
Selling waterfront
Waterfront value is the house plus the water behind it, and the online estimates only see the house. Seawall age, lift capacity, depth at low tide, the bridge on the way out, flood zone and elevation can separate two identical houses by hundreds of thousands of dollars. I price the water first. Send me the address and I'll tell you what a buyer would actually pay.
From the water, mostly. Instead of a regular brokers' open I do a listing caravan by boat. The agents who sell the most high-end waterfront around here pull up to your dock, see the house the way a buyer would, and film it for their own people. I show it to buyers by boat too.
What's my waterfront home worth?
A real number from someone who looks at the dock, not an algorithm. Usually same day.
Waterfront specialist, demystified
One who lives it. I'm Carly Majorana, Carly on the Water, with NextHome Gulf Coast. I live on the water on Treasure Island, I keep a 30-foot boat with a tower on a lift, and I sell waterfront across St. Petersburg, St. Pete Beach, Treasure Island and Tierra Verde.
The technical diligence: seawall and tieback condition, dock and lift permits, depth at mean low water against your boat's draft, bridge clearances, elevation certificates, flood-zone economics, and the 50%-rule status on older structures. On waterfront property those items routinely swing deals by five and six figures, a specialist checks them before you offer, not after you close.
Both. Buyers get the walkthrough-what-the-photos-hide version of me; sellers get pricing and marketing built on what actually drives waterfront value, dock, depth, access, and documentation. Either way the practice is boutique: fewer clients, more attention, and you work with me directly.
The Pinellas County waterfront: St. Petersburg, St. Pete Beach, Treasure Island, and Tierra Verde as the core, plus Pass-a-Grille, Vina del Mar, Gulfport, the northeast St. Pete islands, Madeira Beach, Belleair, and the surrounding condo markets. If it has a seawall in this county, I've probably run past it by boat.
No, commission structures are the same conversation with me as with any agent, and I'll walk you through exactly how that works when we talk. The specialist part isn't a premium; it's just what you should expect the standard service to include when the property floats boats.
Earlier is genuinely better on the water. The most expensive waterfront mistakes get made before an agent is involved, falling for a house whose canal can't fit the boat, or budgeting from a listing that forgot to mention the flood premium. A thirty-minute conversation up front routinely saves months. No pitch, no pressure, no obligation.
Hire someone who can explain your dock to a buyer. The lift, the seawall, the depth at the dock and the bridge on the way out are a big part of what a waterfront buyer is paying for, and most listings say "boater's paradise" and stop. I market from the water, with a listing caravan by boat instead of a brokers' open, and I show to buyers by boat too.
Let's Talk
Buying, selling, or still deciding, tell me what you're working with and I'll give you the honest read. I respond personally, usually same day.