by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
Angela Beard of Realty Executives The Elite Group was the big winner at the Realty Executives Northeast Florida awards event held last month at the Jacksonville Marriott to honor their top producing agents. Beard was recognized as Top Number of Listings and Top Commission Dollars Earned.
Beard was followed in Top Number of Listings by Steve Preis of Realty Executives of Jacksonville, Jackie Darby of Realty Executives of Amelia Island, Chris Breccia of Realty Executives The Preferred Group and LaToshia Hall of Realty Executives Powerhouse.
Top Commission Dollars Earned winners following Beard were Randolph George of Realty Executives of Jacksonville, Darby, Nilsa Bibiloni of Realty Executives The Preferred Group and Hall.
There are 10 Realty Executives offices in the Northeast Florida region with over 200 agents.
During the event, Bruce Vinnick and Mark Vost, the regional developers of Northeast Florida and Great Lakes region, welcomed the guests and introduced two new updated Web sites for the company, www.RealtyExecutives.com and www.RealtyExecutivesJAX.com.
“They are improved sites that allow our executives to have unlimited pages of pertinent information for both buyers and sellers to help the consumer make the most educated decisions in their real estate transactions,” said Vinnick. “The sites will also be integrated into a national IDX search.”
The Jacksonville site was up and running in mid-July.
“We are really excited about this,” said Vost. “It is the first step to what should promise to be additional or more leads for you coming from an optimized and international Web site.”
Glenn Melton, COO of Realty Executives International, addressed the group.
“It is a challenging time for real estate, not only for us, but for the consumer,” said Melton. “That is typical of the real estate business. You have good times and bad times. People are looking for real value, real contact and a good business model.”
Melton said that Jacksonville is a good place to consider when retiring or moving.
“The country’s economy is strong,” said Melton. “The interest rates are reasonable and there are great opportunities to buy properties. Now two years ago, the economy was good, interest rates were good and there were not good opportunities to buy properties.
“In my mind, a good quality real estate professional is like an elevator operator. He’s needed when the elevator is going up and when the elevator is going down.”