Realtor David Freeman has done the corporate thing, the new construction thing, and now the boutique thing. Although he seems to have found a niche that suits him, he says change could be a phone call away. It’s unlikely Freeman will return to the corporate world. He called it home for 25 years at Provident, now Unum, and he continued in that vein when he went to work for Keller Williams in East Brainerd. Although he has good things to say about the people with whom he worked, he found the corporate environment to be too impersonal for his tastes.
“When you work for a corporation, you don’t necessarily get to know the owners of the company. You can’t put faces with the names,” he says.
Freeman loves working with new construction, but that has its downside, too.
“As a Realtor, you like having the ability to set your own hours, but when you work with new construction, your hours are not your own,” he says.
After leaving Provident in 2004 to pursue real estate, Freeman bounced back and forth between the corporate world and new construction. From Keller Williams, he went to work for home builder Pratt & Associates, serving as community resident manager at Horsecreek Farms, located at the foot of Signal Mountain. While he enjoyed the work, the job “took over” his life, to the point where he was unable to help take care of his elderly mother, so he went back to Keller Williams and worked with Jenny Frost at the Georgia Avenue office.
Changes there promoted Freeman to return to Pratt to work at a community in Ooltewah, but once again, the work was overwhelming, so he went back to work for Frost, this time at Live It Realty. Once again, he enjoyed the people, but the building was inaccessible to a significant portion of his client base – senior citizens – so he signed up with Bridge City Realty, located on the Southside of downtown Chattanooga.
He likes knowing owners Denise Leach and Tanjia Landreth by name and face.
“I enjoy working for a smaller company. It’s easier to find local charities and events in which to participate, and the more you’re seen, the more referrals you’ll receive. Also, I’m a big believer in shopping and investing locally,” he says.
While Freeman both lists and sells residential real estate, his passion is working with buyers. To that end, he’s earned the Accredited Buyer Representative designation. Even though there are currently fewer buyers than sellers, Freemans’s reason for preferring to work with people who want to purchase a home is simple: he likes instant gratification.
“I enjoy opening the door to a house and seeing their eyes light up. They’ll know within the first couple of minutes whether or not they’ll be able to call that place home, and I like that,” he says.
Freeman isn’t concerned about the imbalance between buyers and sellers, either. Rather he seizes every opportunity that comes his way, regardless of the payoff.
“A guy wanted to buy a plot of land for five hundred dollars. My commission was sixteen dollars. I could have said, ‘My commission won’t be worth my time,’ but I thought, ‘Big picture. Down the road, he might want to buy or sell something else,’” he says.
Freeman says his love of real estate in part stems from the satisfaction he derives from being a problem solver. Given the number of short sales and foreclosures on the market, there’s no shortage of dilemmas for him to tackle. While finding a solution is rarely easy, obstacles appear to bring out the best in Freeman.
“When something is right, I’ll fight for my clients. That’s my responsibility as a Realtor. When we’ve signed a buyer agency agreement, we’re responsible for protecting their rights,” he says.
Freeman also likes that every day is unique and can bring something unexpected.
“I have a to-do list I go through in the morning, but my phone could ring, and it could be anything. The other day, a couple from Texas called wanting to lease a place. They were going to be in town for three days, and needed a place by January, but didn’t want to make an impulse decision. I said, ‘I can help you,’” he says.
Freeman has carved out a unique life in Chattanooga. He’s single, likes going to estate sales, and enjoys living and working in the Southside.
“I like the eclectic nature of the community, I like its diversity, and I like the shuttle. From where I live, I can catch the shuttle at the Choo Choo and go almost everywhere I need to go, including appointments. It’s one of the best things we have downtown,” he says.
Freeman also helps his siblings take care of his mother, who’s 88. He smiles as he says she’s the HOA president at Continental Condominiums, the location of most of his listings.
Freeman is also a fervent St. Louis Cardinals baseball fan, to the point that his office is decked out in red, and his Facebook picture is of a cardinal. “I need to change that,” he says.
Freeman appears to be comfortable at Bridge City, and he likes Leach and Landreth. But the phone could ring tomorrow, and his life could change again.
“A builder could call me back,” he says. “I like working with new construction. I like seeing new communities evolve and a mix of people coming in. But there’s got to be a better balance.”