If Realtor Jay Bryson could be doing anything right now, he’d be dancing. But he has to make a living, so he’s probably talking on his phone, or climbing the mountain of paperwork required to list a property, or meeting with a client.
If Bryson is with a buyer or a seller, chances are he’s employing his skills as a negotiator. While every good Realtor can hold his or her own during a negotiation, Bryson has turned it into an art form. Consider, for example, his strategy with clients who want to charge too much for their house:
“Sometimes, a client will say, ‘I’ve got to sell my house, and I need $200,000!’ And because I’m representing them, I’ll tell them it won’t bring more than $180,000. But they’ll insist on getting $200,000. So I’ll say, ‘What you need and what your house will bring have nothing to do with each other. Let’s list your house at $180,000 and try to get $20,000 off the house you want to buy,’” Bryson says.
It’s hard to argue with logic like that, although some clients do.
Sometimes, Bryson has to be the one to bend in a negotiation. However, when he’s representing a seller, he works hard to secure the highest possible price for the property.
“Say I have a listing that’s $200,000, and an agent or a buyer comes along and says, ‘What do you think they’ll take for it?’ I tell them, ‘I know exactly what they’ll take for it: $200,000!’” he says.
Bryson learned to negotiate while selling Bibles door to door in North Carolina while in college. “Brother, that’s tough. That’s an education,” he says. “But they train you well. I learned that when a person says ‘no,’ he doesn’t mean ‘no,’ he means, ‘I don’t understand, so tell me more.’”
Bryson also knows how to network. His real estate Web page even says he wrote the book on networking – literally. Published in 1988, “Team Sponsoring” is “a practical guide to network marketing.” Amway, Mary Kay, Shaklee and other companies have used the book to teach their sale forces how to network. Bryson also wrote and has published “Networking the Kingdom,” a book geared toward stimulating church growth. To locate either tome on Amazon.com, one needs to enter “O.J. Bryson” in the search box.
“‘O.J.’ is my real name, but when the killings happened, I thought it would be a good idea to shorten it to ‘Jay,’” he says.
Bryson’s real name shouldn’t make anyone nervous, as it quickly becomes apparent upon meeting him that he likes people. “I tell people when I meet them that I know they’re going to like me because I liked them first,” he says.
Bryson likes people so much, he enjoys hosting open houses. While some Realtors might think he’s off his rocker for taking pleasure in what they consider to be a grueling process, he just wants to take advantage of every situation that allows him to lend a hand. “I like to help people solve their housing problem, whether it’s a young couple or an elderly person,” he says.
Although Bryson is a natural when it comes to selling houses, real estate came to him rather than the other way around. Born in Cleveland, Tenn., he studied music in college and slowly made his way to Texas, where he taught theory, composition and conducting at a number of universities. Bryson loved what he was doing, but noted how his plumber was making more money than he was. When a fellow professor gave him a book on investing in real estate, he purchased some rental properties and caught the bug.
Life eventually brought Bryson back to Tennessee to be closer to his siblings and two sons. In 2007, he became a full time Realtor.
While Bryson puts 50 to 60 hours a week into his real estate business, he has enough free time to make the most of his life in Tennessee. For starters, he spends two or three nights a week ballroom dancing at either Allemande Hall or North River Dance Studio.
“I didn’t dance when I came back to Tennessee, but I’d take my sister so she’d have someone with her. One day, they announced they were going to be having a class. I got hooked and have loved it ever since,” he says.
Bryson dances for pleasure, not to compete. “I like to hold the girls,” he says, grinning. “And I like how each dance is its own creation. It’s like I’m composing a little symphony.”
When Bryson isn’t kicking up his heels or selling real estate, he’s either reading or working on a novel. He’s written a number of thrillers, including “A Trace of Smoke,” a regional best seller.
Bryson is a member of First Baptist Church in downtown Chattanooga, but has been attending Fairview Methodist near his home in Hixson “because it’s close and they’re nice people.”
Bryson spends the bulk of his time, however, selling real estate. He’s based out of Prudential Realty Center in Hixson, where he enjoys working with his fellow agents and managing broker Elaine Boyd Osby. “She’s marvelous. She tells you the rules, and if you stay within those boundaries, she lets you do your job,” he says.
Bryson is doing well enough to have his name on the sign outside the office for earning a milestone award. But things like that don’t seem to matter to him. He’s just glad he’s returned home and found a job that fits him like a glove.
“Moving to Tennessee has been exhilarating. It opened my eyes to the possibilities in real estate. Before, a lot of what I did was investing, but now I’m selling, and I enjoy it,” he says.
All things considered, though, Bryson would rather be dancing.