Anne Friend has been a Realtor with Amelia Realty in Fernandina Beach for seven years. She is a transaction broker so she works with buyers and sellers. “Sometimes I sell my own listings.”
WHERE WAS
SHE BEFORE?
In her first year in real estate, she was with All-Service Realty.
BEFORE REAL ESTATE?
She was a stay-at-home mom. “This is the first time I have really had a ‘job’ in my life. I raised two boys and was a stay-at-home mom all those years. I wanted to do something, so I got into real estate.”
HOW DOES
SHE LIKE IT?
“I like it very much. I seem to fall in love with the people who buy from me. Some of my very best friends are people that I have sold to. It is wonderful to have a relationship with someone.”
AWARDS?
“I have been very very blessed. I just jumped in and I’ve made the million-dollar club every year. I’ve also made the honor society every year that I been in it too!” Friend won the Amelia Island/Nassau County Association of Realtors Realtor of the Year award in 2002. “It was a wonderful award and it means an awful lot to me. It was a very outstanding thing for me.”
SELLING IN
AMELIA ISLAND?
Friend sells mainly higher-end properties from $400,000 and up. “I’ve got some of everything including some second home and some permanent homes. I have sold a little off of the island, but I primarily sell on the island.”
INVOLVEMENT WITH BOARD?
Friend is currently on the professional standards committee of the Amelia Island/Nassau County Board of Realtors and has been on the governing board, chairman of the membership committee and grievance committee of the Board of Directors in the past. “I have very strong feelings about being involved with the board. It has certainly helped me and it is very important in Fernandina Beach and the whole county. I feel like you need to give back. In any organization I’ve ever been in, that’s what I do. I don’t just sit there I’m going to take a part in it.”
WHAT DO YOU LIKE BEST ABOUT REAL ESTATE?
“The friends that I have met. I pride myself in that when a customer comes in the door and tells me what they want, I show them what they tell me they want to see. I pride myself on listening to what you say and that’s what I’m going to show you.”
SECRET TO SUCCESS?
“I think it is probably part of my makeup. I’m a people person. If I find someone is not communicating with me, I can usually say it’s not my fault. I’ve had people tell me I could communicate with a tree stump. I can pretty much talk to anyone about anything.”
ADVICE TO
A NEW AGENT
“You really have to work hard. It will not fall in your lap. I remember starting out eight years ago. I was scared to death. I just thought, ‘Am I ready for this? Do I know what I am doing.’ I’ll tell you, when you start out, you truly don’t know what you are doing. You need to get some sales under your belt, talk to people and promote yourself. You need to be in front of the public. You need to have your name out there so people recognize you.”
WHAT HAS HELP YOU MOST TO GET YOU WHERE YOU ARE TODAY?
“Hard work.”
PET PEEVES?
“My first one is people that don’t communicate with me. The second is when I go up to a home and the lockbox has grime and mold on it. I am so embarrassed. First of all, I don’t want to touch it because it looks so dirty. I have called an agent after I showed the property and asked them to go over and clean their lockbox. Also, when I go into a home and it’s dirty, you can’t see out the windows and you have to get the cobwebs off the door before you go in. If you took a listing have the people clean it or hire someone to do it. How can you sell something that doesn’t look clean and presentable?”
LESSONS LEARNED
“I’ve learned that no two sales are alike. I literally learn something every transaction that I have because no two sales are alike. That’s good because something will happen and I’ll say, ‘I didn’t know that’ or I’ll learn how to do something that maybe I hadn’t. There is always something in every transaction to learn. I am still learning.”
HOMETOWN?
She was born in Indiana, but moved to Americus, Ga. in her early teens.
RESIDES
Amelia Island Plantation.
MOVED TO NASSAU COUNTY?
“I bought property here in 1973 and became a full-time resident in 1985.”
WHAT DOES SHE LIKE TO DO WHEN NOT WORKING?
Playing tennis and golf.
CHURCH
Amelia Plantation Chapel.
FAMILY
She has been married to Jerry for 17 years. She has two children, Fred and Lee.
FAVORITES
Though she doesn’t have much time to watch television, she does enjoy tuning into “Frasier” and “Dr. Phil.” When traveling, she likes Callaway Gardens in Georgia. Friend has two favorite restaurants on the island and they are Plae and Joe’s Bistro. A book she has read and would recommend is “Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren. A movie she would recommend is “Chicago.”
-by Michele Newbern Gillis