by Miranda G. McLeod
Staff Writer
The Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra has had a new cellist for sometime now but for last 26 years, the principal cellist was Dave Cedel. He’s since left the JSO and is now an agent with Atkinson Realty Group.
Cedel has been with Atkinson Realty for six months and the company’s owner, Doriana Atkinson, can’t say enough about him.
“He’s one of the biggest assets at this office. You would think he’s been in the industry for years,” said Atkinson. “In his first 45 days he qualified for top lister. He was the associate of the month for July. He works non-stop and leaves no stone unturned.
“He reminds me of the way I was. He has an imagination to no end. In his next life, he should belong to Scotland Yard.”
Cedel said he’s just part of the team but, then again, he’s used to that. He said there are some similarities to performing in an orchestra and being at Atkinson, but there are a lot of differences.
“Working with people takes the same energy as performing,” said Cedel. Selling houses is more mentally tiring, he said.
DFid You Know?
• The typical buyer walked through nine properties, searched eight weeks to buy a home and moved 12 miles from their previous residence.
(2005 National Association of Realtors Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers)
“You’re aware you want to be at the best for the person or couple or family,” said Cedel. “I had to learn to be inquisitive without being nosy — to listen to the needs and desires of clients, and help them prioritize. It’s great when you have a chance with a fantastic property or a million-dollar home, but it’s also great helping people find something they can afford and like. It’s very gratifying.”
Cedel trained with another real estate firm locally and was recruited by Atkinson, whom he had known through mutual friends. He said working Atkinson is different.
“Atkinson (Realty) does have a reputation for selling not only high-end properties, but special properties — interesting properties,” he said. “A lot of companies sell according to a formula. Here, you’re encouraged to do what takes, use different approaches to serve the buyer and seller and in some cases serve the property itself.”
Cedel said he’s always been a fan of houses.
“It’s interesting to see how people lived, how rooms would function,” he said, noting antiques are of interest, too. “Antiques are just shrunken architecture. I began to see and feel the ornamentation. It’s the same kind of movement whether it’s literature, music or architecture. One ripples the other like a stone in a pond.
“You can see it in excavations in Greece and Rome and how that affected art and music. If you believe there’s life in music, there’s life in architecture.”
Cedel transformed that same emotion for details within a house to his own home.
His first house was in Jacksonville’s Springfield district. He said he didn’t know anything about restoration or renovating, but “just threw myself into it.” Cedel would come home from cello practice and work on different aspects of his house, and that house at 1524 Pearl Street won the Restoration of the Year in 1986.