WHEN DID THE COMPANY OPEN?
Chaplin and co-broker Hugh Williams opened the company as Chaplin Williams Real Estate in 1999. They bought the Prudential franchise two years ago. They just recently opened a second office in Yulee.
WHAT DOES SHE DO?
Chaplin works with her 29 agents directly on their needs, customers, listings and contracts. “I am also a working broker.”
HOW DID SHE GET INTO REAL ESTATE?
She was working with Jim Hardwick, a developer at the Plantation, when Aaron Bean, a former broker of a Prudential Realty in Amelia Island and now a banker and a state representative, asked her to get her real estate license. She worked with Hardwick for 14 years. She had given Bean and Jay Mock, the other broker of Prudential, referrals over the years, so they said for her to get her license and then they could pay her a referral fee. When she left Hardwick’s office, she opened her own office with Williams.
DIFFERENT WAY OF DOING BUSINESS?
“We operate as a team here. We really do work as a team here in our decisions, what we do as a company and in our policies. We have a policy manual, but there is not a policy in there that the whole office hasn’t discussed and voted on. There are always different ways to do things, so whenever we get a new agent, we tell them that if there is something that they would like to suggest to do differently, we are more than willing to listen. We’ve probably done floor duty 50 different ways. It’s their time, we want it to be efficient and something they feel comfortable with. As long as the floor is covered and our customers are taken care of, we really don’t care what that looks like. We’ve finally gotten it figured out.” Her agents are invited to help create a company that they and their brokers want to work in and are happy to stick with. “Our agents are what make Prudential Chaplin Williams Realty and if they can’t be involved in the decisions, why would they even want to be here?”
WHY CHANGE TO PRUDENTIAL?
Chaplin said the Chaplin and Williams names were pretty well established in the Amelia Island/Fernandina Beach area. “My in-laws own the only residential home on Centre Street; it’s across the street from the courthouse. My husband’s grandmother was born there and died there. Hugh’s parents used to own the Palace Saloon, so we are well entrenched in this town. People were familiar with it and comfortable with it, but in our location with the Amelia Island Plantation and Summer Beach on either side of us, that’s a lot of transients who don’t know the name. We had been approached by several different franchises over the years and learned different things each time we discussed the opportunity. None of them caught our attention the way Jay Mock, owner of the Prudential franchise did.” Mock had closed his office to turn his focus to development. “Jay decided he was ready to sell the franchise, so he called me and said he would love it if we were the ones to buy it. I went to Hugh and we met with Jay and it worked out beautifully.”
INVOLVEMENT
IN THE AMELIA ISLAND/NASSAU COUNTY BOARD OF REALTORS?
Chaplin is the president-elect of the organization and will take office next January. “They approached me a few years ago to be a director. I am a broker and I feel that many of the brokers aren’t very visible in the board, so I wanted to do what I could. I enjoy it. Once I started serving on the board, I started learning more about the association then I had by just going to the luncheons. My thing is to reach out to those who are new and who don’t know the value of being involved. It is such an easy thing to get involved in and it doesn’t always look like it. That will be one thing I focus on when I am president.”
DEALING WITH GROWTH
Chaplin said they now have 345 members. “We had 72 new members last year. It is growing rapidly.” Chaplin said most of the board’s recent discussions have been about the growth and how to handle it. “We are actually doing a business plan. We just bought the lot next to our building so we could either expand the building or move, whatever we’ve got to do.”
WHAT DO YOU LIKE BEST ABOUT REAL ESTATE?
“Everyday is different. Every hour is different. I could never say that my job is monotonous.”
SECRETS TO SUCCESS?
“It’s important to be honest with people. If you don’t know something, you find out. I don’t think that anyone in our association knows everything there is to know about every piece of property on this island. I think that is the most important thing, to do the research, know what you are doing and go about finding out what you don’t know. Knowledge and following-up are very important.”
ADVICE FOR
A NEW AGENT?
“Don’t get discouraged. Typically when I am interviewing, I make sure they have enough financial backing for a year. Some people say six months, but things are very expensive. A lot of people are used to having that check coming in each week or month, so I want to make sure they are comfortable with that or otherwise they will be coming from a place of lack. When you come from a place of lack you come from a place of frustration and fear and that does not make a good salesperson. Learn everything you can about marketing and your area.”
PET PEEVES
“People not taking the time to learn what they need to know about their business, not being professional and giving us bad names.”
HOMETOWN?
Baytown, Tex.
MOVED TO AMELIA?
In 1974. “My brother-in-law was the director of tennis at Amelia Island Plantation, so I came for a visit. I just fell in love with the area and decided to move here.”
RESIDES
Amelia Park.
PERSONAL SIDE?
When Chaplin is not working, she enjoys traveling to the Caribbean and spending time with family and friends. She has been married to Davis for 17 years. Together, they have two children and three grandchildren. When traveling she enjoys St. John or St. Barths islands. When dining out, she enjoys K.P.’s Deli or PLAE. A movie she would recommend is “Something’s Gotta Give.” Her favorite all-time movie is “Arthur.” “I love that movie.”
- by Michele Newbern Gillis