Re/Max Unlimited is at 106 Canal Blvd. located off Roscoe Boulevard in Ponte Vedra Beach. It opened last September.
MOVING SOON
Their new office building at 183 Landrum Lane should be ready by June.
THE BROKER
Jack McCarthy. McCarthy was the owner and broker of Saint Johns Realty since 1999 before to changing over to Re/Max. Saint Johns Realty consisted of McCarthy and his wife Margarita.
WHAT DO YOU DO?
“I’m a working broker. I list and sell property just like everyone else. I oversee the marketing and the advertising of the office and the general policies and procedures of how we operate.”
WHY MAKE THE CHANGE?
“We were considering expanding and Re/Max had been talking to me for about four years. They wanted to have a second office at the beach. They wanted me to convert from Saint Johns Realty to a Re/Max.”
WHO IS IN THE OFFICE?
Brenda and Ron Horst, Len and Mary Caryl Knight and Margarita McCarthy are the agents. Erika Valenti is Ron and Brenda’s assistant and Michele Sylvain is the office coordinator.
WHY ‘UNLIMTED?’
“From the day we opened up our doors we have offered unlimited amount of services to our clients. Concierge services worked well for us. When we list a house or sell a house, we really take care of everything. If they need a plumber, we arrange for a plumber to come out. We have a lawn man, painters and everyone you can think of to help our clients. When our clients go out of town we monitor their home if needed.”
SPECIALTY
Estate and waterfront brokerage all over St. Johns and Duval County.
GROWING THE OFFICE?
“We are now adding agents and that’s why we went to Re/Max. Re/Max has great national recognition. It’s a great company to work for particularly for agents. We figure that we will probably have 40 agents.”
COUPLES ONLY?
Currently, the agents in the office are all married couples working as teams but McCarthy said he would certainly hire individual agents as well. “It just turned out that way. These were people who contacted to me when they heard I got the Re/Max franchise. It just so happened that they were married couples who work together like my wife and I. We have two more couples coming with us shortly.”
HOW DOES THAT WORK?
“I think it is good. My wife and I have always worked together and we find it very helpful. We are virtually available at any time for our customers. If someone wants to see a house, one of us is always available. We’ve never said no, we always say yes. That’s what a team offers.”
TELL ME ABOUT CR 210 AREA?
“Most people have been interested in building out there. There are a lot of older homes that would either need to be remodeled extensively or knocked down. Many of the homes are so small that it’s easier just to knock them down and start all over again.” McCarthy said that since he is in a neighborhood that is already built, the combination of new homes and old creates a wide variety of prices.
TYPE OF AGENTS YOU HIRE?
Experienced agents. He does not have a training program so he does not anticipate hiring any inexperienced agents. “We are interested in maintaining that we have experienced exceptional agents.”
NETWORKING?
“We do believe in networking. We haven’t done as much as we would like to, but we hope we will have more time for that as we grow and add more agents.”
RELATIONSHIP WITH BUILDERS?
McCarthy and his wife started in the real estate business as developers. They developed a 27 single-family home community from buying the dirt, doing the zoning to putting in the infrastructure. After they sold the lots, Margarita became the site agent. “We have a lot of experience in that area, so what we would like to do with Re/Max Unlimited is to do more builder representation since that is our background.”
HOW DOES EVERYONE GET ALONG?
“When I opened Saint Johns Realty, I had an idea of how ethically and fun I wanted the office to be. As we are building Re/Max Unlimited our criteria for hiring new agents is that in addition to being experienced, they must be extremely ethical and fun to work with. We want to have a fun and friendly office.”
ADVANTAGES OF HAVING A SMALL OFFICE?
“I hope that the advantage of being a small office continues as we become a large office. As a small office, if someone comes here because they need an agent whoever they get is one of the better agents in Jacksonville, in my opinion. So, everyone here is a top quality agent. As we grow we want to continue to keep the agents at a very high caliber as far as their knowledge of the business goes. So, no matter who they end up with they have someone who will do a great job marketing and selling their house or finding them a new house.”
- by Michele Newbern Gillis