The recession has caused even big name Realty offices in town to cut back in many different ways. When Coldwell Banker Hamilton and Associates decided to consolidate their Hixson office into their Cleveland office, this left some Realtors with an important decision: stay in Hixson or set up shop in Cleveland?
For Linda Palacio and George Patton many factors influenced their decision to remain in Hixson and join the realty center at Prudential.
For Palacio, she wanted to remain in Hixson because it is where her kids go to school, her husband works, and they live. She said her decisions have always been based on where she could be near her children, and it was also important to her that she had an office in Hixson.
“I loved working with Coldwell Banker and thought they were a great company, and they still are. I think they are going to prosper wherever they are at, but in this economy it was a wise business decision for them to do what they did,” Palacio says.
George Patton, who also worked at Coldwell Banker, lives in Hixson and wanted to stay in the area for work. He says one of the reasons he picked Prudential in the switch is that he knows and has worked with several agents at the office over the years.
“I’ve been with Prudential before, and so the convenience of the office, familiarity with some of the agents, and knowing their system, a little bit, I felt comfortable,” he says. “They’ve got a great system and Prudential is one of the largest franchise firms in the country. We have all the Internet, Web access and marketing promotion that competes with anybody.”
Palacio says Patton influenced her decision to give Prudential a look, and when she met everyone in the office she felt very welcome.
“Being able to talk to them, and as gracious as they were, I knew they would be a good fit for me,” she says.
Palacio says Prudential also made sure she could provide service to her clients comparable to what she was accustomed to with Coldwell Banker to maintain the sync in her business.
Palacio grew up in Los Angeles, Calif., and attended East Los Angeles College. Her husband is a chef, which brought them to the area eight years ago. Palacio had worked in hotels and resorts for many years, and took a few years off when she had children, but when the family moved here, she decided she wanted to change her career to real estate.
The customer aspect of the business and the great opportunity to learn the city are reasons Palacio says she is glad she chose to be a Realtor.
Patton grew up in Chattanooga and began in the manufacturing business before entering real estate about 10 years ago. He says he wanted to go into real estate because he didn’t think the company he was with would grow, and wanted to avoid being in a dead-end job. Real estate has been very good and interesting for him, he says, and he enjoys it and the people he helps find houses for.
With more and more Realtors making changes due to the market and recession repercussions, Palacio says she advises Realtors to go back to the basics.
“It really is a customer driven service and it’s very Internet savvy, so we need to be up on our technology. When clients come to you, they need our expertise to write up that contract to get where they want to be, but otherwise, they pretty much know what they want because everything’s out there on the Internet,” she says.
Patton says consistency is also key as well as being patient with the market.
“People used to buy and sell homes like they changed clothes, but it has changed to selling and buying according to needs of age and family size,” he says. “What we are seeing now is there is a pent up demand that has been created over the last few years, and now people are pricing it to sell it.”
With the market being primarily driven by people’s needs, Patton says he works to stay in touch with past clients and his circle of influence, and markets his services as anyone else does in letting people know that real estate agents are out there and they can provide services when people have a need. Patton says this move is an opportunity to refresh and jumpstart himself, and he is excited to advertise that he’s with Prudential.
Palacio and Patton agree that in moving, it was important that they found an international name to work under that everyone knows.
“It’s important when you put a sign in the yard that when the buyers see that sign, they think positively on that company which reflects on the agent that is listing it,” Patton says.
The things that Prudential does that many don’t do, such as touring their homes, also attracted Palacio to Prudential, she says.
Since Palacio has been a broker for the past year, she says her goal for this year is to get back into the Realtor part and work on her sphere of influence more.
“My goals are really to get my number of listings up, learn our new company, further my business, to get where I need to be and give our clients the level of service I think they deserve,” she says.
Patton says he wants to maintain his associations with his contacts this year and continue promoting his business plan to receive and increase his referrals. He works with his daughter, Margaret, who was also with Coldwell Banker, and together, they attract two different segments of the market.
Even with the changes the recession forces on real estate, Palacio says the phones have been ringing now more than ever and emails are coming in.
“Buyers are out there and are looking and they are savvy. That’s why it’s so important for us to be on top of our game,” she says.