by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
With all the legal woes Realtors face on a day-to-day basis, using services that are licensed, bonded and insured seems to be the only way to go.
Make It Happen Amelia is a licensed, bonded and insured concierge service in Amelia Island whose mission is to serve the absentee homeowner of non-rental property, specifically those who travel extensively or who are seasonal residents of eastern Nassau/Amelia Island.
“We have some clients who are here six months and gone six months,” said Melvin Usery, who owns the company with his wife Eleyce. “During the six months they are gone, we manage the property. We do not handle rental property. Some require that we only do security checks and make sure things are OK. Others have a full list of items that they want done while they are gone.”
Make It Happen Amelia only uses licensed and insured workers on the homes.
“What we have found is that when you hire someone who says they will do something for you on the side, they are generally not licensed,” he said. “They are generally not insured to do it and are not paying taxes on that money. We are licensed, bonded and insured. Anyone that we subcontract work from whether they are cleaners, handyman or whatever are also licensed and insured.”
The company only services the area from North Hampton east to and including Amelia Island.
“We provide a wide variety of home care and lifestyle packages for homeowners and their guests,” said Usery. “We are looking for a specific client who is only living here part time.”
Some of their services include pool services, transportation, out-of-town guest planning, grocery and specialty deli item shopping, provide fresh flowers, house cleaning, pay utility bills, service automobiles and minor handyman work.
The company opened 17 months ago.
Usery and his wife noticed that this type of service wasn’t offered in Amelia Island, so they decided to open a company to provide it to the community.
“Realtors are very important to us,” said Usery. “They are the ones who are selling the homes. They may have a client who obviously needs our services so we have visited all of the sales meetings in our area to talk to them about our services to make them aware.”
Usery said from attending the meeting, they have either gotten referrals or are have beem educated on some of the needs Realtors feel need to be offered by Make It Happen Amelia.
Prior to opening the company, Usery spent 30 years in human resources and his wife was a schoolteacher. They both retired and relocated to Amelia Island.
“We are both retired from our career professions and we wanted to do something together,” he said. “We fill a niche. We have lived in several cities and have been transferred around. We felt like there are many times when you have busy careers, you travel a great deal or have assignments that take you away from your home, it should would be nice to have someone to call to take care of your house while you are gone.”