Kerry Fullford has been a site agent with Prudential Network Realty at the Beach Terraces site located at 19th Avenue between First and Second Street in Jacksonville Beach for nine months.
BEFORE PRUDENTIAL?
She was with Devlin Properties as a site agent at Ocean Grande at Serenata Beach for two and a half years. She started her real estate career at Queen’s Harbour Yacht & Country Club as a marketing coordinator. “I was encouraged by the agents there to get my license and go into real estate. I was able to start my career there as the listing agent. It was so wonderful to be able to work under agents who had that much experience. It was a very good experience for me.”
WHY DID SHE GET INTO REAL ESTATE?
Fullford has a marketing background with a bachelor’s degree in public relations from Jacksonville University. “I knew I liked marketing and working with the public. I hadn’t considered real estate before, but after working behind the scenes I realized it was a perfect combination for public relations, working with people and marketing. There is so much marketing involved in real estate.”
HOW DID SHE GET THE JOB AT OCEAN GRANDE?
She knew John Palumbo, the director of sales and marketing for Ocean Grande at Serenata Beach, through her work at Queen’s Harbour. “Through him and one of the agents who was moving over there to be the sales manager told me about the opportunity and asked if I was interested. Condominiums were just coming out of the ground then in Jacksonville so it was just a very interesting opportunity to be a fulltime agent.”
HOW WAS IT BEING IN A START-UP COMMUNITY?
“It was neat to be part of a start-up, which now I’ve been able to do twice. It’s so nice to be able to meet with developers and to be involved with looking at the floor plans to decide what works and what doesn’t work. You really get to be in on the beginning on picking what your standards and selections are going to be. You get to put input on pricing and marketing.”
AFTER OCEAN GRANDE?
After the first phase of Ocean Grande was complete and she had won a Laurel Award for Top Producer of the Year 2002, Fullford decided to take a break. “It was a pretty exhausting experience, even though I learned a lot. I just took a six-month break to spend some time with my children and get my house back in order. After six months, I was getting the itch to get back to work.” She had kept in contact with Mary Anne Hashem, who used to be at Queen’s Harbour but was now the director of builder services with Prudential Network Realty. Fullford called her and asked if she had any interesting opportunities at Prudential and Hashem just happened to be working on Beach Terraces.
WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT REAL ESTATE?
“I enjoy interacting with people and problem solving. I like the interaction with contracts, working through issues and working through until the end to get someone into something they really like.”
TELL ME ABOUT BEACH TERRACES?
“It will have 18 units, each about 2,000 square feet with three bedrooms and three baths. It will be a gated community with garage parking. Prices range from $500,000 to $780,000. We only have five units left.”
CUSTOMERS SHE IS GETTING AT BEACH TERRACES?
Fullford said surprisingly most of her customers are from Jacksonville rather than out of town. “Some are move-up buyers in the sense that since the interest rates are so low they are wanting to make that jump into a higher price range that they couldn’t afford before. Others just want to get within walking distance to the beach.” She said the project is attracting a lot of young professionals and single people who just want to live at the beach.”
ADVICE FOR OTHERS INTERESTED IN SITE SALES?
“Be to be willing to start anywhere. If you can get your foot in the door and you are good at it, it will lead to other opportunities. Be willing to take that job that you think maybe isn’t the best one, but it will get you experience, educate you very quickly to how the process works and lead to other opportunities.”
PET PEEVES
“In new construction, a pet peeve that I have that is also teaching me patience is that things change constantly. One of the most important things is that I want my customers to trust me. Especially in new construction, I am painting the picture for them and I want them to trust me. Things change constantly as you are building. For example, a cabinet line you were going to offer has been discontinued and you have to change it. Inevitably you will always have one buyer who wanted the old cabinet line. You always have to deal with those changes and be flexible.”
LESSONS LEARNED?
“To always be proactive in dealing with problems and be positive in finding solution. You can calm everyone down very quickly by the way you handle it.”
HOMETOWN
Jacksonville.
RESIDES
Hampton Park.
CHURCH
Eastpoint.
FAMILY
She is married to Brian, a systems analyst with Bank of America. They have two children, Evan, 9 and Sara 4.
WHAT DOES SHE LIKE TO DO WHEN NOT WORKING?
She enjoys trying new restaurants with friends and spending time bowling, going to movies and the beach with her family.
PERSONAL SIDE
A book Fullford would recommend is “Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren. At home she enjoys tuning into the Fox News channel “My Wife and Kids” and “Vegas.” Traveling usually entails taking a cruise to various locations with her husband at least once a year. When dining out, she enjoys Bistro Aix and a movie she saw recently was “Spiderman 2.”
- by Michele Newbern Gillis