Tom O’Connell is a real estate agent with Watson Realty’s Fernandina Beach office. He’s been there since 1999.
SPECIALIZE
Primarily resort residential and golf course communities.
BEFORE WATSON
He was a defense consultant for several defense contractors working in the simulation and training center in the Orlando before moving to Fernandina Beach in 1998.
BEFORE REAL ESTATE?
He was a pilot in the Air Force for 27 years. He was a Colonel for the last four years. He did tours in many countries including Vietnam. “It was a lot of fun. I was a second lieutenant at the time and didn’t know any better. Everything was fun then, I was only 23.”
HOW DID HE GET INTO REAL ESTATE?
“I’ve been buying and selling real estate in Florida for 35 years since I got back from Vietnam in 1968.” He retired from the consulting business and took a little time off before deciding to go into real estate. “I got tired of watching my grass grow. I retired in November of 1998 and by March 1999 I needed something to do. It took me about four months to relocate to Fernandina Beach and decide that I couldn’t just retire retire.”
AREA HE CONCENTRATES ON?
Amelia Island.
WHAT DOES HE LIKE ABOUT REAL ESTATE?
“The interfacing with different people in different areas of the country. I like learning a little bit about their background and finding out that most people that come into this particular area share the same quality of life values that I have.”
WHAT IS THE BEST ADVICE THAT AN ASSOCIATE HAS EVER GIVEN YOU?
“Learn the inventory. You can’t sell what you don’t know about.”
HOW DOES HE MEET CLIENTS?
“Quite a few of them are people that are relocating here. Also, I meet them through personal contacts, referrals from past customers and floor calls. I’m a firm believer in floor duty, particularly here in a resort area. We get a lot of walk-in traffic.”
HOW DID YOUR PAST EXPERIENCE IN THE SERVICE HELP YOU IN THIS PROFESSION?
“Basically, the same goals that you have in the military to accomplish the mission can easily translate over to real estate. There are four basic phases to getting the mission completed. You gather intelligence, you plan it, execute it and then you accomplish the mission. If you break it down, intelligence gathering is finding out what your customer needs. Once you have that, you move into the planning phase, which is researching homes that would fit into that particularly category and setting up a plan to show the property on particular days that the customer is available. The execution phase is when you write up the purchase offer, that starts the process. From there onto the closing table is all part of the execution phase. The mission accomplished phase is at the closing table, where the buyer buys and the seller sells and I walk away with a check.”
WHAT HAS HELPED YOU MOST TO GET YOU WHERE YOU ARE TODAY?
“I don’t have any problem with the math and the dollar signs within the real estate transaction. I’ve found that to be fairly straightforward. I’ve always been fairly administratively organized. I can normally plan a transaction and track the paperwork fairly well. I think that is my strong suit.”
ADVICE FOR NEW AGENTS?
“Probably the same advice I got, which is to know the inventory and you must keep on top of current market trends. With the Internet being so popular, if you are not computer savvy, you might as well find something else to do. Probably 65 percent of the contacts I get have done their homework in advance on the Internet, so you have to be as smart as they are when it comes to technology.”
LESSONS LEARNED?
“It’s never over until it over.”
INVOLVEMENT WITH BOARD?
O’Connell was the activities chair three years ago and communication chair for the Amelia Island/Nassau County Board of Realtors for the past two years. He is now taking a sabbatical from the board to work on his golf game.
SHOULD PEOPLE BE INVOVLED IN THE BOARD AND IF SO WHY?
“They absolutely should be involved for a number of reasons. One is that the more people that are involved, the less burden it is on the rest of the individuals. If you share the workload, you get the same thing accomplished with a lot less effort. In this business time is money. If you can get 10 people to spend one hour, then that means one person doesn’t have to spend 10 hours. Involvement is critical, especially for new agents. You can get a lot of feedback from the more experienced agents who are serving on the committees with you. You build a certain report with the more experienced agents and just soak up the information they impart on you.”
HOMETOWN
Philadelphia.
WHY MOVE TO AMELIA ISLAND?
“In 27 years in the Air Force, I lived on five different continents, visited 82 different countries and never found a place that quite suited me like Amelia Island. I found this is the nicest part of Florida. The only reason you are on Amelia Island is that you are either lost or this is your destination. It’s not on the way to anywhere and I like it that way.”
COLLEGE
He has a bachelor’s degree in English from St. Joseph’s College and a master’s degree in management from Central Michigan University. He also graduated from Air Force Air Command and Staff College and Air Force Air War College.
FAMILY
He has been married to Libby, a former schoolteacher, for 34 years. They have a Yellow-Headed Amazon Parrot who is 28 years old.
WHAT DOES HE LIKE TO DO WHEN SHE IS NOT WORKING?
Play golf, read and walk on the beach.
CHURCH
St. Michael’s.
FAVORITES
He cites his favorite movie as “Top Gun.” A book he read recently and recommends is “How I Play Golf” by Tiger Woods. When relaxing at home, he enjoys tuning into to Home and Garden Television to see shows like “Trading Spaces” and “Designing on a Dime.” When traveling he likes Southern France and his favorite restaurant on Amelia Island is Horizons.
- by Michele Newbern Gillis