The company has been open since 1969. It became ERA Heavener Realty Co. in 1972 and moved to its current location at 2602 University Blvd. West in 1973.
BROKER/OWNER
The company was originally owned by Mac Heavener Jr., who has now retired and handed down the company to his son, Matthew Heavener, who has been the broker and co-owner since 1997.
WHAT DOES HE DO?
“I handle the issues that would need attention from the agents. In addition to that, I figure out what the strategy for the company is as far as where we are going to market and where we are going to spend the marketing dollars. I pretty much manage the office, troubleshoot with the agents and train them.”
TEAM MEETINGS
The company meets once a month on the third Tuesday of the month. “We do training on whatever issues have come up over the month. Since I review all of the contracts, if I see someone is making a consistent mistake or that everyone is making a consistent mistake, I’ll do a training course specifically designed to that problem. Or, if I see a unique opportunity that’s coming down the pipe, like when the market turned south, we had our seller’s security plan. It was a plan where if we don’t sell your house, ERA will buy it. We’ll spend our team meetings going over programs such as those to make sure everyone understands it.”
NEW AGENTS?
Heavener only hires new agents. “I don’t recruit agents from other companies. I only hire new agents and I train each one personally. I believe in on-the-job training, one-on-one training, role playing and we mix that with the formal training we get from ERA. I go out personally on all my new agent’s listing appointments. They watch me do the appointments, then they’ll do three themselves. After that, they’ll watch me again one time. Everyone who comes into my office has to learn how to identify their sphere of influence and market to that sphere of influence.”
WHO IS IN THE OFFICE?
The agents are Andrew Atkins, Sanel Cizmic, Mark Coon, Izeta Dzinic, Michelle Foreman, Martin Hersey, Joseph Gaudino, Melissa Gibson, Troy Gibson, Dustin Jones, Jay Kerns, Claudia Lara, Bruce Lowe, Nance McLeish, Drew Messer, Tina Page, Stephanie Shott and Rhett Williams. Connie Cawthon is the office coordinator.
HOW DO YOU COMPETE IN THIS MARKET?
“This market is actually pretty good for us. We are a full-service company so we focus on mass customization. That means we try to do what each individual customer needs. You either are product driven or consumer driven. Our commission is service driven, not a fixed commission. I actually try to find individuals who need a specific service and then I will charge them whatever is appropriate for that service. There is very little in the way of residential real estate that we are not equipped to handle. So, we try and hit those people with unique situations, such as relocating, and they have to have their house sold in three months, or they got behind in their payments and need to liquidate their home. Whatever the situations are, we have special training and products driven to that specific need. We customize our services to the masses.”
WHAT IS UNIQUE ABOUT YOUR COMPANY?
“My father was one of the 18 founders of ERA. He was president of ERA national from 1985 through 1996. We have a rich history with ERA and know their products and services better than anyone because my dad created most of them. In addition to that, we are very focused on satisfying certain niches.” The office has agents who speak Chinese, Bosnian, Spanish, French, English and German. “My uncle owns the ERA master franchise in Europe. Because of that we have a lot of European connections and are very multi-lingual here in the office.”
WHAT TYPE OF QUALITIES DO YOU LOOK FOR IN AGENTS?
Heavener said he looks for someone who has good character, communication skills, fairly decent cognitive skills and an effective sphere of influence.
HOW BIG ARE YOU PLANNING TO GET?
“My objective is to have no more than 10 agents that produce $10 million each. Right now, we are about half way there.”
AREA THE OFFICE FOCUSES ON?
Arlington, Southside, Mandarin, Lakewood, Westside, Argyle Forest and OakLeaf Plantation areas.
HOW ARE THINGS IN THOSE AREAS?
“The higher end is struggling a little bit. When you get above $350,000, it’s getting difficult to find buyers for them. The majority of the reason for that is because most of the people who have the means to buy half a million dollar houses, don’t necessarily have the pressure to move quickly. They want to stay where they are until the market turns around. They’ll wait until they can sell their house for a higher price before they enter the market. That makes relocation extremely important.” Heavener said 60 percent of the people who are purchasing in Jacksonville are local and the majority of those are first-time buyers. Forty percent of the market is coming from out-of-town, so capturing the relocation market is important.
ENCOURAGE PROFESSIONAL INVOLVEMENT?
A Realtor in his office, Drew Messer, is the nephew of Daniel Davis, executive director of the Northeast Florida Builders Association’s. “Drew is the construction liaison. He attends the builder’s meetings and brings the information back to the office for us.” Other than that, Heavener encourages his agents to attend the Northeast Florida Association of Realtor meetings as well as the national and state Realtor meetings.
WEBSITE
www.era.com.
- by Michele Newbern Gillis