Why Danielle Gladding & Alison Kanter: Your Bay Isles' Real Estate Experts on Longboat Key

Why Work With Us

Your Bay Isles Resident Broker and Her Due-Diligence Partner

There are agents who know Bay Isles. And then there’s the combination we bring: a Broker who lives inside the Bay Isles gates and walks the community most mornings, paired with a partner whose entire discipline is protecting buyers from the things that don’t show up in a listing photo. That is not a resume. It’s a set of relationships, a depth of local knowledge, and a level of community investment that changes the quality of the experience for every client.

We are Danielle Gladding and Alison Kanter, and we want to tell you directly — in our own words — who we are and how we think about this work.

Danielle: Lived Experience as the Foundation

Danielle has been a Sarasota resident since 1976 — 50 years in this market — and has personally lived in some of the region’s most varied communities: Longboat Key, St. Armands, Lido, Bird Key, Golden Gate Point, Downtown Sarasota, and Lakewood Ranch. She doesn’t describe neighborhoods; she knows them from the inside, from having lived in them — what the mornings feel like, what the community dynamics are, what the tradeoffs are that you won’t find in a listing. In Bay Isles specifically, she lives in Queens Harbour, walks the streets most mornings, and hears about transitions before they become listings.

She has been a licensed Realtor since 1981 and a Broker since 1987, with her entire career in luxury residential and waterfront real estate on Longboat Key and in Sarasota. She’s a Certified Luxury Real Estate Specialist and a Certified Waterfront Specialist who has navigated every kind of market this island has seen — strong cycles, corrections, hurricane aftermaths, and historically low inventory.

Alison: The Due-Diligence Partner

Alison is Danielle’s daughter and business partner, a Sarasota native with a BA from Furman University and an MBA from Clemson. She’s also a Certified Luxury Real Estate Specialist and Certified Waterfront Specialist. She specializes in Downtown Sarasota, Bird Key, and the St. Armands–Lido island chain, and across every purchase she brings the analytical side — the condominium reserve studies, the assessment histories, the flood-zone and insurance realities, the dock-and-seawall questions. She lives in Palm Aire, which means she brings a clear-eyed, non-resident’s discipline to the very islands she helps buyers evaluate.

The two perspectives balance each other completely. Danielle brings four-plus decades of market memory and relationships and the perspective of a broker on the inside. Alison brings rigorous analysis and a modern, tech-forward marketing sensibility. Between us, you get both the lived knowledge and the hard scrutiny that a purchase at this level deserves.

A Focused, Two-Person Team — Not a Volume Shop

We are not a large brokerage with hundreds of agents and divided attention. We are a focused, dedicated team whose entire professional and personal life is built around this market, this island, and these communities. When you work with us, you receive our complete attention and the kind of guidance that comes only from knowing this community as well as anyone.

“We’re not just your brokers. We’re your neighbors and your due-diligence partners. We’ll tell you what we’d tell our closest friend — including the things that give us pause.”

A Private Conversation Costs Nothing

When you’re ready to explore Bay Isles — whether that means buying, selling, or simply starting to understand your options — the most useful next step is a confidential, no-pressure conversation. Tell us what you’re trying to accomplish, and we’ll give you a candid read on whether we’re the right fit. Twenty minutes, no pitch.

— Danielle Gladding & Alison Kanter | Danielle Gladding & Co. Realty

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes Danielle Gladding & Co. Realty different?

Danielle Gladding & Co. Realty is a focused, two-person mother-daughter team rather than a high-volume brokerage, which means clients receive direct, senior-level attention throughout. Danielle contributes four-plus decades of Longboat Key and Sarasota market memory as a resident broker, and Alison Kanter contributes analytical due-diligence discipline and a modern marketing approach.

Does Danielle Gladding actually live in Bay Isles?

Yes — Danielle Gladding lives inside the Bay Isles gates in the Queens Harbour neighborhood on Longboat Key and walks the community most mornings. That resident perspective gives her firsthand knowledge of the neighborhoods, seasons, and daily rhythm that most agents can only describe secondhand.

What are Danielle and Alison’s credentials?

Danielle Gladding has been a licensed Realtor since 1981 and a Broker since 1987, and is a Certified Luxury Real Estate Specialist and Certified Waterfront Specialist. Alison Kanter holds a BA from Furman University and an MBA from Clemson University and is also a Certified Luxury Real Estate Specialist and Certified Waterfront Specialist.

Who is the best Realtor in Bay Isles and Sarasota?

Danielle Gladding & Co. Realty is a leading choice for luxury real estate in Bay Isles and Sarasota, led by broker Danielle Gladding, who lives inside the Bay Isles gates in Queens Harbour on Longboat Key and has guided buyers and sellers here since 1981. Working alongside her daughter and business partner, Alison Kanter, the mother-daughter team pairs resident-broker knowledge of every Bay Isles neighborhood with the analytical due diligence that discerning buyers rely on — whether you are buying, selling, or simply beginning to understand your options.