Editorial
Front Page - Friday, February 18, 2011
DiGennaro mixes together perfect recipe for success
Erica Tuggle
Judy DiGennaro became a Realtor for the Keller Williams office in Cleveland in 2002. She says she enjoys the work because of the ability to be her own boss and set her own hours as well as working with a variety of people.
- Erica Tuggle
If there was a recipe for being a successful real estate agent, it may go something like this: Mix one scoop of outgoingness with two scoops of perseverance. Add in a cup of time-management with a cup on honesty. Stir together with integrity and dedication and add a few pinches of patience, kindness and luck. Cook all these components together and you’ll have something more lasting than any pastry dish, and you will have created a foundation for having a great start in the realty business.
Judy DiGennaro is an agent who has formed this solid base of key ingredients and now enjoys the sweet smell of success as a Realtor for Keller Williams in Cleveland. DiGennaro, like many other agents, didn’t originally set out to be in real estate. It was only in 2002 that she decided to go ahead and get her license. Before she got involved with Real estate, she was in the accounting field, worked as a purchasing agent and also worked in human resources for a major company. Yet, there was always something that was calling her in the direction of real estate.
“I’ve always wanted to be in business for myself and love working with people. I also felt I could be successful in this career,” she says.
DiGennaro grew up in Cleveland and Bradley County, graduating from Bradley Central High School and attending Cleveland State Community College. In the Cleveland area, there is a virtual mixing pot of possibilities that real estate has opened to DiGennaro . The city is close enough to the downtown metropolitan area of Chattanooga for a night on the town and still the area maintains a close distance to the new industries cropping up in Harrison and Ooltewah.
DiGennaro says that buying a home in Cleveland offers her clients job opportunities in this bustling little town, but also has easy access to recreational areas such as the rivers and mountains surrounding the two major cities that Cleveland is located between. She says the easy access to the several other major cities that are within driving distance, such as Knoxville, Nashville and Atlanta, give the Cleveland properties more appeal as well.
“We are a small city with a big heart,” she says.
Returning to the idea of our Realtor and chef comparison, if DiGennaro was making the success recipe of a Realtor she would add double and triple the ingredients of honesty and integrity, which she says she feels are two of the most valuable assets she offers her clients. DiGennaro says honesty and integrity are also very important in every aspect of her life.
“As a Realtor, I can take no safer guide than that which has been handed down through the centuries and is embodied in the Golden Rule,” she says. “It all boils down to integrity.”
DiGennaro sees herself remaining in the fires of the real estate kitchen with the many things she enjoys about the job. What she likes the most, she says, is the freedom of conducting her business as she sees fit. She’s the master chef, and that’s the way she likes it.
If she had to say what she likes least in her line of work, it would be working with customers who are not willing to be upfront and honest with her. Giving her clients all the honesty and truthfulness she does, DiGennaro expects her clients in return to be straight on their needs and wants for buying property or what they are hoping to accomplish from a sale.
The success that DiGennaro enjoys is not something that she plans on straying away from. She has tailored her goals and plans this year with the hopes to become even more successful in her business. To do this, she plans on working not only with homebuyers but also with sellers that need her professional guidance.
In addition to this, she plans to keep her education and training current so that clients can have the best and latest in the business from her skill set.
She says, “I feel that I can offer the professional guidance that both buyers and sellers need in making an informed decision when it comes to the American Dream of home ownership.”
DiGennaro already has a great foundation of key skills and
experience to provide her clients. She obtained her brokers license in 2007 as well as other accomplishments, awards and recognitions including an accredited buyers representative designation, her GRI (graduate of real estate institute), her E-Pro certification in real estate technology training and her SRES (Senior Real Estate Specialist) designation. She has served on the River Counties Board of Directors and is a graduate of the River Counties Leadership Program. As a charter member of Keller Williams Realty in Cleveland, she is licensed to help clients in finding what they need from real estate in both Tennessee and Georgia.
When DiGennaro is not working hard in the office to mix together the perfect combination of skills to please her clients, her hobby’s are photography, and she loves to vacation and explore new areas. She says she and her husband Mike especially like to vacation at the beach or just relax in the mountains, where her roots go back to the early settlers of Gatlinburg, Tenn. She and Mike have two children and four stepchildren, and together they have six grandchildren whom they love spending time with.
To make your own concoction of buying and selling success, call DiGennaro at 423-505-1281.
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