Stephanie Lee has been a Realtor with Atkinson Realty in Jacksonville’s Riverside area for six months but that may not be her career. She’s a history major at University of North Florida and is thinking of going to nursing school. “I’ll probably be a professional student because I don’t know what I want to do.”
WHAT ELSE DOES SHE DO?
You might call Lee a multi-faceted person. “I am a Realtor full-time and I work at Clear Channel radio in promotions part-time. Also, my mom and I have a vehicle title service business, Norsman Title Service. So, I stay busy.”
WHAT MADE HER GO INTO REAL ESTATE?
“My boyfriend’s mother, Mary Alice Lundy, works at the Atkinson Realty office in Ortega and I had just finished my semester at school and didn’t have anything to do. So, I went to real estate school. I got my license and figured I’d have it if I ever wanted it. Mary Alice talked to me about this office in Riverside and I decided to give it a try. At first I just intended on doing it part-time on the side, but I really love it here.”
COMPETITION?
“What I’ve learned from going to Realtor meetings is that a lot of these places, even within their offices, are very competitive and cutthroat. This office is the opposite. Everyone helps you. They are always there for you and bend over backwards to help you. It’s completely different than any other company that I’ve met out there. Everyone is here to help each other. That’s why I love it here. It’s fun to work here.”
HOW DOES HER PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE HELP HER NOW?
Her parents own a motorcycle shop and she ran it for about two years. “I did everything. So, that has helped with the selling. I did the bookkeeping and new parts sales. I definitely learned how to run my own business.”
BAD TIME TO GET INTO REAL ESTATE?
No way, she says. She has been focusing on rentals and it’s working out. “For me, I figured it’d be a great time to get in to learn. I didn’t want to be thrown into the middle of it when it was crazy. When it’s slow, I figured it would be perfect because I’d have plenty of time to learn and I wouldn’t be stressed out. In our office we do a lot of rentals and that’s what I love to do.”
AREA SHE COVERS?
Riverside and Avondale.
DESCRIBE THE AREA
“This is a very busy area. There are a lot of restoration projects going on in the area. One of our listings is the oldest house in Riverside. It used to be downtown. The owner bought the lot here, put the house onto a barge and floated it down the river to the lot. All the houses have very interesting stories. They are so different. They have so much character and are not just little plop houses, which is why I love this area. I fall in love with every house I go into.”
WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE AVONDALE?
Sales have been slow but rentals have been booming. “The tenants are looking to rent because they can’t afford to buy and the owners are looking to rent their properties because they can’t afford to make their mortgage payments or to sell them.”
WHAT IS SHE DOING TO GET BUSINESS?
“We do a lot of flyers, mailouts, utilize our Web site and put all of our listings on www.jacksonville.craigslist.org. We do everything and anything we can think of to differentiate ourselves. Atkinson Realty has been in this area for so long and has such a firm client base. Everyone in this area knows Atkinson Realty. When they are looking for a Realtor, they come straight here. With the rentals, once they rent from us, eventually they are going to buy and come back to us.”
BEST ADVICE?
“Punctuality is a virtue.”
ADVICE FOR A NEW AGENT?
“Not to listen to all the hearsay. It is what you make it. You are your own business. If you listen to everyone about how bad everything is right now and you put yourself in that negative mindset, things probably aren’t going to work out so well. But it will pay off if you keep your chin up and go out there with a go-get-’em attitude, work hard and put in an effort.”
PET PEEVES?
“When people are not on time or don’t show up and don’t call.”
LESSONS LEARNED?
“To keep your head up and not let all gossip get to you.”
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS?
Northeast Florida Association of Realtors.
- by Michele Newbern Gillis