Mark Hendry : Blue Ridge Real Estate Pro in the North Georgia Mountains

There were a lot of great "green" ideas at the Green Designation class I attended this week. One of my favorites for agents specializing in eco-friendly properties is the Green Closing Gift Basket. It contains CFL bulbs, cloth napkins, green cleaning products and cloth rags, a water saver kit for faucets and shower heads, outlet insulators, soy candles, homemade soaps, and other natural gift items for a home owner.

The best item was a couple of reuseable shopping bags that you can have imprinted with your logo on it. It's not only good for the environment, it's good advertising!

I'll list more ideas in future blogs, but I find the best part of thinking eco-friendly is it's not just good for the planet...it's FUN! If you have any other ideas for Green Gift Basket items, I'd love to hear them!

I need to apologize to my business broker, even though he has no idea that I slighted him in any way. Although I never really said anything wrong publicly, my wife and I made comments to each other about his performance. 5 years ago, our business broker sold our business in only 5 days. At the time, we thought, because he never really had any time or expenses invested in the transaction, he was lucky to get the full 100,000 dollar commission. I realize, now that I am an agent myself, how short sited we were.

This misconception became unavoidably obvious the other day, when a client of mine made a comment to me that smacked of that same misguided viewpoint. Of course, being a Realtor now, I find myself on the other side of things. From this vantage point, I can see how easy it is to loose sight of what you’re paying for with a commission. Life is an amazing teacher, isn’t it?

My client made a comment to me that because I managed to sell his house in only a month, I really never had a chance to earn my commission, and because I was the agent bringing the buyer for his home, I was taking him for double.

Before I was an agent, I thought the expenses of being an agent were primarily advertising & time, and because my broker had no time to advertise and no time to speak of invested in our business sale, he had no costs, so I deduced that perhaps he didn’t deserve the full commission.

By being stunned at how fast he sold our business, I lost sight of the bottom line; what we were actually hiring him to do: sell our business. The fact that he did so in just 5 days, for full price... just means, who better to give a full commission to. He not only did the job in record time, but the buyer was qualified and willing to pay what we were asking. That’s miraculous. I’d say he deserved a bonus (if I didn’t have to pay it), but 100 thousand was what he earned, and our undying gratitude is what he deserved. My point is, even before I became a Realtor, I made that same mistake as my client, so I can’t get mad if my clients are going to make the same mistake from time to time.

If an agent sells your home the day it’s listed, they have more than earned a full commission. If they take 2 years to sell your home, will you feel they are more deserving than someone who procures a quick sale? What people don’t realize is that when they hire an agent to list their home, they should not think of that person as the agent who will actually bring the buyer to them. A good agent is the person who will cause their home to sell. A good listing agent is the marketing promoter of your home. Although they might actually bring a buyer, if they don’t, their work is the reason your house gets shown by other agents, and ultimately sold.

So, in case we didn’t say it at the time, God bless you, Steve, wherever you are, and much thanks for getting our business sold in such a short time. It was nothing short of a miracle. You earned every bit of your commission and more. We will always be grateful. Sincerely, Mark & Ginny

What a whirlwind. I got home at 2:30 in the morning from our Green Designation course, and got back up bright and early to hit the office to catch up on what I’ve missed. I haven’t really had time to process all I learned in the past 2 days, but I am energized like a solar battery on a sunny day over all the concepts and information I learned from our seminar.

For one thing, I sell property in a beautiful mountain community that is up in arms about the uncontrolled growth we are experiencing. Several other communities in this area have been overtaken by commercial enterprises and franchises to the extent that they have lost their natural beauty. In the course of taking this course, I have gained an understanding of the core principles of eco friendly building and I have been given a plethora of resources for Green planning, which I belive is exactly what our area is looking for, in terms of smart growth.

I thought Green building would be a less than riveting subject matter, but I actually got very excited by the material taught in the class. The instructor was quite animated, and we had a great guest speaker who is building zero energy homes. For those, like me, who never heard of this concept before, the home, through careful planning and utilizing new technologies, is powered primarily by it’s own energy. The exciting thing was that it is affordable, which was also new to me.

There are so many exciting concepts that it has my head spinning. I just think I need a good night’s sleep to process the raw data a bit more. That and a week in front of a computer to visit all the websites we were given as resources for all things “Green.”

I’m still really not sure what I will do with all the information I have learned, but the core objectives of the Green movement are right in line with my core beliefs about personal responsibility for stewardship of this earth we all live on. I feel moved to action; I’m just not sure what that action is, yet.

I get to take one more day of class in Atlanta in 2 weeks, in order to receive my GREEN designation as a Realtor, and I can’t wait. I have a really good feeling about making Green living part of my, and my family’s life. I’m just a little green behind the ears still.

I feel very dedicate to be attending this Real Estate convention. It took over 8 hours to get to Amelia Island, and it felt like 20. The company is enjoyable, however, but 4 Realtors in a car for 8 hours is a lot of phone calls to listen to. It is actually really enjoyable to get to know my co-workers more as people. If I learn nothing more on this excursion, I have enjoyed learning more about each of them. I have had my share of laughter, if nothing else. I can always use a good laugh.

It's always good to get away, even if I am spending two hours answering emails, and returning calls. Tomorrow, class starts at 8am, and my phone gets set to vibrate. My clients will just have to learn to live without me, at least until the break. Truth is, I told everyone I work with that I was going to be away these 3 days, but somehow, no one remembered.

I am even working with a couple who went to Hawaii for 2 weeks,so I nver expected to hear from them today. Sure enough, the called today, desperate for me to preview a home they are very interested in. When I reminded them that, as I had told them already, I am going to be away until Thursday, they were quite insistent that someone else from the company go preview it. How does it never fail that when I leave town, something comes up that requires me to be in town. It's like Murphy's Law.

It's bad enough to be guilty when I take a vacation, but now, even when I am on a work trip, I get to feeling guilty for being away. I'll get over it, I know, but I just hope this seminar turns out to be a good one. I'll let you know.

It never ceases to amaze me how many visitors to Blue Ridge have an experience akin to the one my wife and I had when we first visited this area. There’s a peace that fills your soul as you drive towards town. You just feel right here: calm, centered. It’s as though you’ve journeyed back to a simpler time: far away from the frantic hustle and bustle of modern life. It’s as though this place casts a spell over you that causes you to fall madly in love with it. Be it the landscape, the people, or the lifestyle; before you know it… you’re hooked. It’s a part of you.

For over a decade, my wife and I took our family up to the tri-state area for fall vacations, and spring breaks. We travelled south, round Pine Mountain and Stone Mountain, East to Gatlinburg and Nashville, West to Hiawassee and Young Harris, and North to Ashville and the North Carolina area, but it wasn’t until one year when we rented a cabin in Cherry Log, that we got to know the Blue Ridge area. One visit was all it took to know that here was where we wanted to have our second home, and immediately, we started looking at available real estate.

We didn’t make an offers during that trip, which was much to my wife’s dismay. It wasn’t long after leaving Blue Ridge, however, that we felt we’d left a part of us behind, or more like something was beckoning us back. A month later, we called and made on offer on a little fixer-upper we had looked at while visiting, and a month after that we drove up to close on the property.

It was December 19th when we arrived for the closing. The next day, it snowed, just in time for Christmas. Huge white flakes filled the air, and the glistening snow-covered landscape was nothing short of spectacular. We were in love with Blue Ridge. As we walked around the streets of downtown, through the quaint shops and galleries, we started to wonder what we might do for a living if we moved up here, some day. My wife mentioned several types of shops one could add to the Main Street array, and my mind wandered to building rustic furniture or building rustic homes, and selling them.

We went home for Christmas on the 23rd, and drove back up with the whole family on the 25th, after gift opening, Christmas day. Our entire family helped with the renovations of the new home we were creating, and we didn’t end up returning to Florida until the day before the kids went back to school.

It wasn’t a month before we journeyed up again, to work on the cabin, and this time, my sister came up with me, and she too felt right at home in Blue Ridge. Every month we found an excuse to return, and every season was more beautiful than the one before it.

It wasn’t long before we entertained the thought of someday moving up here to Fannin County full-time. We decided to put our business of 20 years up for sale with a broker, at a hefty price. We naturally assumed it would take many years to sell, being that it was a specialty business that not one just any one could run or afford. Be careful what you wish for. I have found, where Blue Ridge is concerned, anything is possible. After only 5 days on the market, a buyer came along and offered us full price for our business. Blue Ridge, here we come!

After travelling all over this part of the country, we chose Blue Ridge, Georgia to be our new home. We could have picked anywhere in the world to relocate, but there’s just something about Blue Ridge that speaks to you, if you listen. It says slow down and set a spell: make yourself comfortable. Remember what life’s all about. And once you hear what Blue Ridge has to say, it soothes your soul. Of course, you don’t use your ears to hear this message. Ears are good for hear'n voices, but you’ll find only your heart will hear this calling. Welcome to Blue Ridge.