by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
Geri Groenert knows what homebuyers want.
As a Navy wife, she moved nine times in 25 years and built six homes. She also was raised as a Navy brat and traveled all over Europe during her childhood.
Her experience as a “mover” led her to a career in real estate.
“It’s kind of a natural evolution of just my life and what we’ve done,” said Groenert, a site agent for Taylor Woodrow in Orange Park Country Club for seven years. “Over the course of our marriage we have bought and built six homes, so I have a lot of experience in that.
“I am just one who likes to go in and do my own thing and I have a background in decorating. I wanted to get in and do my own colors. I think you just kind of gravitate to what you are comfortable with.”
Groenert said every time they built a house, people would tell her that she needed to go into real estate, so the bug was planted early on.
“But, we moved so often and my children were small so I decided to stay home and spend time with them,” she said.
While her children were small, she took some decorating classes and had a wallpapering and decorating business at one point and time.
“It was something I could do while the kids were still at home,” she said. “I could stay home and keep an eye on them.”
When her husband retired, they moved to Orange Park and purchased one of the first homes built in Orange Park Country Club by Taylor Woodrow.
“We built our home in 1994 and Taylor Woodrow had just started building there about a year before that,” she said. “The community was developed in phases and they had about 100 lots. I purchased in Phase 2 and we’ve gone through Phase 10 since then. We are down to our last 10 homesites and expect to be built out by December.”
She decided to get into real estate first with GMAC Vanguard Realty in 1996, but general real estate wasn’t her calling.
She received a call from Taylor Woodrow to become their site agent at the Orange Park Country Club in 1997, and she couldn’t think of a better fit.
“I really liked the idea of working with new homes and helping people build their dreams,” said Groenert. “I had done it over and over again and I felt I had something to contribute, some insight and things that I could help them with to make the transition more smooth.”
Since she has lived in the neighborhood for so long, she has experienced the lifestyle and can give people a comfort zone of the neighborhood and a face they know.
“I’m really good at keeping in touch with them during the building process,” said Groenert. “There are not many site agents who could live and work in the same neighborhood. I mean we have a good builder and they build a good product, but if they weren’t I couldn’t live back there. I’d have been tarred and feathered a long time ago.”
When she started with Taylor Woodrow, she worked with Judy Darling, who she said took her under her wing and helped her learn more about the business.
Groenert has been the sole agent in Orange Park Country Club for the past two years and recently was awarded Taylor Woodrow Community Associate of the Year for North Florida in 2002.
“It was self-fulfilling,” she said. “It gave me the warm fuzzies. Compared to what the company is doing throughout the rest of the state, North Florida is a very small cog in the wheel. I closed on 42 homes last year and the company had its best year ever. I know I held the fort down for them, was available and made some sacrifices. I was proud of myself.”
In Orange Park Country Club, the buyers get a package deal. They buy the lot, choose a floor plan and then the company will customize the floor plan to meet the customer’s needs. With only 10 lots left, they have decided to go ahead and pull permits, decide which floor plan would fit each lot best and build spec homes on the lots.
“Now people coming in don’t have to deal with the 90-day upfront time while we pull permits and have plans reviewed,” she said. “The house is what it is, but they can still choose colors. We plan to have all of them built by the end of the year.”
Not all are complete, so if buyers hurry, they can still have some say in the construction of the home.
Groenert said a lot of her customers are from the local community and who are moving up in price range.
“They want a bigger house and a community with more amenities,” she said. “Although this last year we have had quite a few relocation customers come in. So, it seems the relocation market the last couple of years has caught up with us also.”
As the community faces build out, Groenert faces a new job — she will move over to St. Johns Forest, a new Taylor Woodrow community, located at the intersection of I-95 and CR 210.
“There will be about 650 home sites there,” she said. “We are moving dirt now and putting in the infrastructure. We should be in there by the first part of next year with presales.”
For the past seven years, she has only had to drive the three-mile radius around her community.
Now, she has a long hike to get to her new job.
“It will be 21 miles one way, I’ve already measured it,” she said. “But, what is exciting about St. Johns Forest is this is the first community that Taylor Woodrow has done where we have done everything. All of the other communities we are in, someone else developed it and then we would go in and purchase lots and build. It will be gated, no golf course and very family oriented. It’s still in the planning stages.”