by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
Pat Troxel of ReMax Professional Group in Fernandina Beach has been involved in real estate for over 20 years and feels it is very important to give back to the community and board office that supports you.
She started her career in Atlanta and continued it in Nassau County when she moved there three years ago.
“I love it, it is a great place to live,” said Troxel. “It has great beaches and golf courses. The people are wonderful and there is such a sense of community here.”
She said there are so many volunteer opportunities in Amelia Island area.
“Everyone is very welcoming and it is easy to get involved and you do want to get involved because there is such a great volunteer resource,” said Troxel. “There are people who are retired and are only here part of the year, but they jump in and volunteer. Everyone seems to rally around whatever effort is going on.”
Last year she was heavily involved in the Amelia Island-Greater Nassau County Association of Realtors as chair of the Communications Committee.
“I think it is very important to keep involved and stay involved,” said Troxel. “We have a great association and a great alliance with the Nassau Builders Council. The board is a close community and everyone in the association helps one another.”
Troxel feels it is very beneficial for the members to get more involved in the association.
“It is our responsibility to be involved,” said Troxel. “It is a great source of education to do your continuing education. It is on the cutting edge of new technology and you learn about real estate issues like mold. It is important to get to know your fellow Realtors because they can help you so much. We can help each other — not only in sharing information, but it is great when you show a house with a Realtor that you know. You know them and you know that they are easy to work with and that they are easily accessible.”
This year, she has continued to stay on the Communications Committee to help the new chair reach some of the goals they started last year.
“We try to get information from the association members and get that out to the media,” she said. “We also try to keep our association informed about things going on in the community and ways they can get involved.”
One of their main goals is to get more media coverage for the members who are involved in charities.
“There are so many association members that are involved in so many charities and a lot of time, that’s not the thing that gets out to the public,” she said. “We want to find out what things the members are involved in individually and collectively and try to get more media coverage on that.”
Aside from her board involvement, Troxel still managed to be a $14 million producer last year and shared a few of her secrets.
“To me, it’s all about building relationships,” she said. “I’m definitely in it for the long term. I’ve always felt that if you put the customer first then everything else will come. It’s important to be a good listener and try to get a sense of what they are looking for and try to go in that direction.”
Troxel said she got into real estate because she enjoys working with people.
“Every day is different, you never know what to expect,” she said. “Every day is not great, but you know it will be different when you get up in the morning. You know there will be some surprises and I like that. It is a service business and whether you are listing or selling, it’s all about service.”
She said it is a very exciting time in Nassau County.
“You are going to see a lot of growth,” said Troxel. “There are new developments that are coming near the airport that will be priced at $250,000 and under which I think will be affordable housing for some of the retirees and for people who can’t afford a $750,000 house. There is an awful lot of movement in the resale market too.”
She said the fundamentals of what they have there is so important to their longevity.
“We have a great pristine beach, lots of bird life, fishing, marshland, intracoastal area and historic areas downtown,” she said. “We have a lot of exciting things going on.”
Prior to real estate, she was in financial services and investment banking until her children were born.
She has been married to Dick, who was a builder and is now a ranger at the Golf Club of Amelia, for 38 years. They have two children: Pam, her partner at Prudential Island Realty, and Chris, a home builder and remodeler in Atlanta. She also has a grandson, Hudson, who is 18 months old.
When she is not working, she enjoys working out and walking on the beach.