Editorial
Front Page - Friday, April 2, 2010
The Clarks knows that those who sell together, stay together
Erica Tuggle
Annette and Tony Clark of Crye-Leike have been married for almost 20 years and selling real estate together for two years. The Clark Connection, as they are called, were named the number three top producers for the company last year.
- Erica Tuggle
When Annette and Tony Clark married 20 years ago, they wouldn’t have guessed they’d go into real estate, let alone that they would work together and become top producers for Crye-Leike realty in Chattanooga.
Annette says she started out selling real estate three years ago; first, because she always had an interest in the business; and second, because she saw a friend doing well in the business.
“My kids were getting older, and I felt like it was something I could do, so I went back and got my license, and the rest has been history,” Annette says.
She now works in the same office as the friend who got her started and they have a friendly, teasing competition, she says. Annette says when she began her real estate career in April of 2007 and had her first closing in June, it kicked off a productive and busy first six months that led to her being named a top producer after her first full year with the business. In between then and now, she took a two-day course with Crye-Leike to become a CPPS (certified premier property specialist.) This training gave her the skills to better sell higher priced, luxury homes.
Tony soon realized that with this hectic life in realty that his wife had delved into, if he wanted to see her regularly, he might as well get his license too. And that’s just what he did two years ago.
Annette says, “I am usually the talker of the two; not [Tony]. He tends to be a little quieter than I am.”
Tony smiled and nodded.
She says she remembers the first sales meeting they attended together and Tony’s answer to what his plan for success were. “I’m riding her coattails to the top,” he had said.
“It’s worked for him so far,” Annette says, laughing playfully.
She says her gift of gab has elevated the Clark Connection, as the pair calls themselves, to the rank of the number three producers for the Chattanooga Crye-Leike division last year.
“I talk to everybody,” she says. “I’ve picked up buyers in Lowe’s and Wal-Mart and even at dinner at Kampai of Tokyo. I just talk to everybody.”
Clients of the Clark Connection duo get treated like friends and family, Annette says.
“I heard a statement once,” she says. “If you treat your clients like they house, clothe and feed you, then they will house, clothe and feed you. We’ve got clients we go out to dinner with, those that have gotten us into motorcycles and, last fall, we had a cookout with a live band for all our clients. We want them to know they can call us after the sale, we are there for them and are in this business for the long haul.”
Annette says since Tony has another full time job, on top of being a realtor full time, she does the majority of the work, but they also work to split the tasks so that no one is ever bored.
“Today, I was doing a closing, and he was doing the paper work. He does a lot of open houses for me,” she says. “There are days when there is more than I can do, so I send him in one direction and I go in the other.”
Annette says it is nice to be a married couple that works together, because they both understand the demands of the job and know how long hours are an unavoidable necessity to being a top seller.
“He knows that I have a crazy schedule because he sees it; he’s right here beside me,” she says. “We don’t have any problems working together. There is funny, typical marriage stuff, but nothing bad. We work well together.”
Now is an especially busy time for every Realtor, as the homebuyer’s tax credit is ending April 30. Annette says she is finding that many people don’t realize that they qualify for the expanded tax credit that allows for those sellers who have owned a home five out of the last eight years to receive a credit of $6,500. She says as soon as the winter weather broke, there has been a steady stream of buyers and sellers wanting to get on board for the credit. Even now, she says it is “absolutely do-able” to take advantage of this offer.
“There is going to be a scramble in the end on this, I think. I don’t anticipate the credit being extended, although it is always a possibility,” she says.
The word on the street that now isn’t the best time to buy a house is a rumor the Clarks say they want to dispel.
“I don’t think that is true for our area,” Annette says. “We sold 46 homes last year and have been very busy this year trying to make people aware that homes are selling. I hear buyers say now is not a good time to buy a house, but with interest rates running between 4.5 percent and 5.25 percent, having the tax credits and sellers pricing homes to sell, now is the perfect time to buy. I just want people to understand that.”
The entire Clark family is involved in the business in one way or another, Annette says. The couple’s 21-year-old daughter, Nikkie, is attending UTC full time, but has her real estate license, does open houses for her parents and even sold a house last year. Their 18-year-old son, Cody, studies civil engineering at Tennessee Tech, but on the weekends, he comes home and helps his mother with signs and is mowing a yard for one of the Clark clientele who is a single mother.
The couple says the new Harley they bought at Christmas is their fun away from the office, although they do ride it to show houses sometimes.
“We pretty much eat, sleep and breathe what we do,” Annette says. “It’s pretty much our lives, but it’s OK; we enjoy it.”
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