Melissa Meide
Job: Site agent with Mercedes Homes
Hometown: Jacksonville.
Resides: San Jose area.
Marital status: Single.
Hobbies: Boating,shopping and traveling.
Recommended movie: “Million Dollar Baby.”
Church: St. John’s Cathedral.
Stacey Birkholz
Job: Site agent with Mercedes Homes
Hometown: St. Paul, Minn. She moved here in 2003 to be closer to family.
Resides: Southside.
Marital status: Single.
Hobbies: Shopping, playing tennis and doing home improvement projects.
Recommended book: Any Mary Higgins Clark book.
Favorite movie: “The Sweetest Thing.”
They work together for Mercedes Homes at their newest community, St. James Place West.
HOW DID THEY MEET?
Working at Mercedes Homes. Meide has been a site agent for three and a half years and Birkholz has been a site agent for two and a half years. They both worked in various communities, but never together until now.
HOW DID THEY BECOME A TEAM?
“Management came to me first and said they wanted to put me in St. James Place and that I needed a partner,” said Meide. “They asked me who I wanted to partner with and I said Stacey. We have both worked in the same types of communities and with the same type of clientele as we would be working in at St. James Place West. It was just a good fit. We have the same interests and are the same age.”
TAKIN’ IT TO THE STREET?
Since their model is not built yet at St. James Place West, Meide and Birkholz meet at the Mercedes office in Southside first and then load up in the Mercedes motor home to drive to the site on the Northside. They sit in the motor home onsite which serves as a sales center until their model is ready later this year. “We basically sit onsite as if it were our model,” said Meide. “People come up and we show them what we have to offer. We show them the land and make them visualize what their home would look like on a certain lot.”
MEIDE’S HISTORY?
Before Mercedes, she worked as a general real estate agent with Watson Realty and before that she was a kindergarten teacher for one year. Meide has a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of North Florida.
BIRKHOLZ’S HISTORY?
Before Mercedes, she worked for Synovus Bank of Jacksonville as a loan assistant for one year. She has a bachelor’s degree in marketing from The University of Georgia.
HOW DO YOU LIKE BEING A SITE AGENT?
“I like being a site agent because I like a more structured atmosphere than the freedom of being a general real estate agent,” said Meide. “It works better for me being somewhere everyday knowing what I have to do each day because I am very organized and structured and I need to have a plan everyday. I like working in one community and really getting to know what I sell and not just the whole city.”
Birkholz likes the fact that every day is different in sales.
“I didn’t like working at a desk every single day,” said Birkholz. “That’s what I like about being a sales agent, the change. Everything is different every day. It’s never the same. I like meeting different people and never really knowing how my day is going to be.”
WHY DID YOU GO INTO REAL ESTATE?
Birkholz’s family background is in real estate.
“My whole family is in real estate, so that’s how I got interested in it,” said Birkholz. “When I worked at the bank, I realized lending wasn’t for me and joined Mercedes Homes.”
STRENGTHS EACH OF YOU BRING?
“We are both very much alike in our organization,” said Birkholz. “She’s (Meide) is more to the point, upfront and blunt with the customers.”
Meide said Birkholz is good at getting the customers to fill out the quick application and gets them to the contract very quickly.
Meide reels them in and Birkholz gets the deal closed.
“I’m the outgoing person who reels them in and makes them feel comfortable and then Stacey is like ‘OK, let’s fill out the quick application,’” said Meide.
HOW DOES YOUR BACKGROUND HELP YOU IN REAL ESTATE?
“I know how general real estate agents feel when they come in with a buyer because I was in their shoes before,” said Meide. “I can talk to them because I know what they are doing.”
TELL ME ABOUT YOUR COMMUNITY?
St. James Place West is going to have 52 oversized home sites. “We have been open since Oct. 1 pre-selling and taking lot reservations,” said Meide. The community is on the Northside off U.S. 1 on Garden Street. Prices range from $157,990 to $260,990. Square footage ranges from 1,251 to 2,710. Amenities include playground, baseball field, volleyball pit and a multi-use recreational field.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING DIFFERENT IN THIS BUYER’S MARKET TO DRUM UP BUSINESS?
“What our focus is going to be are the first-time home buyers who don’t own a home and are renting,” said Meide. “We want to target those people who want affordable homes. We have a huge interest list from the Internet. Mercedes has been advertising the community online since July, so we have over 150 people that we have been continually calling and following up with.”
BEST PROFESSIONAL ADVICE EVER RECEIVED?
Birkholz said to treat everyone like they are going to buy today.
“The best professional advice I’ve received is to have a business plan in place,” said Meide. “Even though you might work for a builder, you still have your own obligations to fulfill according to what the builder wants you to do and you have to have your own plan in place. They don’t tell you what to do because you have to run your own store. We have to run our own store and you better know what you have to do every day.”
ADVICE FOR WORKING AS A TEAM?
Have an open line of communication and don’t hold anything back because it will cause problems.
MOST VALUABLE LESSON LEARNED IN REAL ESTATE?
“Whatever they love, I love,” said Meide. “If they love it, then I love it and it’s the best house we build.”
Birkholz said she has learned that everyone has their own likes and that she should respect that.
“I’m always surprised because everybody has a different view of what they like,” said Birkholz. “It surprises me because I think they should like what I like.”
ADVICE FOR NEW SITE AGENTS?
Meide said to follow-up, follow-up and follow-up in this market because it takes people four or five months to buy a house now. “So you have to follow-up,” said Meide. “When they walk out the door, you’ve lost them. If you don’t sell them while they are in your model, you better follow-up immediately because somebody else will get them.”
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
Northeast Florida Builders Association’s Sales and Marketing Council and Jacksonville Women’s Council of Realtors.
- by Michele Newbern Gillis