Carlene McDuffie and Marlene Frost are co-owners of Palm III Realty at 474303 East State Road 200 in Fernandina Beach. McDuffie is the broker. The office originally opened in 2004 and McDuffie was hired by the previous owner in 2006 to manage the office. Nine months later, she and Frost purchased the office.
HOW DID MCDUFFIE AND FROST BECOME PARTNERS?
“It was my choice,” said McDuffie. “I still actively sell real estate and I wanted shared responsibility.” McDuffie focuses on working with the agents and training them. She has been in real estate for 30 years.
WHAT DOES FROST DO?
“I don’t work in broker capacity because I am not a broker,” said Frost. “But, I do answer a lot of the questions in the office. I can help Carlene in many ways because I have 32 years experience in the finance and mortgage industry. I can offer a lot to the agents as far as title, survey and mortgage questions. My experience is being able to sit down with the agents and offer them different types of solutions and different people to go to as far as what types of loans they need.”
TRAINING?
Palm III Realty has an interesting take on the training cycle. “Normally there are four Tuesdays in a month,” said McDuffie. “The first Tuesday of the month we have a two-hour training session. The following Tuesday we go to the Realtor luncheon at the association. The third Tuesday we have another two-hour class and the fourth Tuesday we caravan. So basically, they were getting four hours of training from me as a group and then whatever was needed one-on-one. We also do classes on caravan.”
WHAT TOPICS DO YOU TRAIN THE AGENTS ON?
Contracts, closing statements, easements and county boundaries, negotiations and product knowledge.
PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE?
McDuffie said she quizzes her agents when they go on caravan about not only the property they are listing, but the neighborhood surrounding the house as well. “A recent lesson was on product knowledge,” said McDuffie. “Sometimes you have to push your point with a bulldozer.”
FROM THE REALTORS IN THE OFFICE
“In my opinion, we have a broker who is well involved with the agents,” said Teri Stevens, an agent in the office.
Another agent, Sharon Silva, said that McDuffie is unique in her ability to hand pick the agents that all work together like a team and a family.
“I love the way Carlene encourages us to participate all together in group activities related to real estate,” said Teresa Fulghum, another agent in the office.
WHAT DOES THE OFFICE DO?
Residential real estate and property management. There is a company within the company, Palm III Referring Network, for referring agents.
WHO IS IN THE OFFICE?
Chaundra Berghoefer, Gulsevil Bridges, Ken Bridges, Teresa Fulghum, Brandon Gill, Sandy Goodman, Diana Gray, Paul Kelly, Brenda Liddell, Cathy Mulrain, Sharon Silva, Teri Stevens, Pat Alvey and Diane Graham are the agents. Sandy Mick and Patricia Turner are property managers.
Rachel Governale is the office manager, Jennifer Savage is the assistant to the Bridges and property managers. Carol Dildine is the assistant to the officer manager and Stephanie Lunt is the bookkeeper.
TODAY’S MARKET?
“The focus now is to teach the agents that they truly have to work this market different,” said McDuffie. “Unfortunately, so many Realtors, especially here in Fernandina, were very spoiled. They were used to being what I called order takers. They had people waving them down saying write me a contract. I found a house I love. Today’s market is very different. It’s not bad, it’s just different. It’s a market, that if they can learn to work in this market and make money, they can work in any market.”
WEB SITE
www.palm3realty.com
- by Michele Newbern Gillis