Editorial
Front Page - Friday, June 25, 2010
Realtor reflects on her journey to real estate
David Laprad
2292Remax agent Gail Hunter markets houses in the new Seven Lakes development in Ooltewah. She’s an Accredited Buyer’s Representative, a Certified Residential Specialist and a Seniors Real Estate Specialist.
- David Laprad
Cross-country moves are generally set in motion by big events such as getting married, starting a new job or setting off in pursuit of a dream. But that’s not always the case. The catalyst for Gail Hunter’s most recent change of venue was an intoxicating blend of honeysuckle and songbirds on a Tennessee morning.
In 2001, Hunter was sitting on the porch of her mother’s farm near Cookeville, Tenn., on the first Sunday after her father had passed away. While she was a long way from Seattle, Wash., where she worked as a dog trainer, she’d grown up in Cookeville, so the sounds and smells in which she was wrapped were familiar to her.
As Hunter sat with her mother, sipping coffee, her memories conspired to call her home.
“We were rocking in our chairs and not saying much when I realized I hadn’t smelled honeysuckle or heard a songbird since leaving Tennessee. That was a defining moment for me. I went back to Seattle, sold my business and moved to Cookeville to help my mom,” she says.
It was the end of a journey that took Hunter away from the South and eventually brought her home primed for a career in real estate. For most of the ‘70s, she lived in Chattanooga while earning a business degree at the University of Tennessee. In 1981, she took a job with a clothing manufacturer, which sent her to live and work in places as far-flung as New York City and Taiwan.
“My husband at the time and I set up an office in Taipei and traveled all over the Far East for a year. We went to Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Singapore, sourcing product to ship back to the U.S. I loved it,” she says.
Following that chapter of her life, Hunter spent 14 years working as a dog trainer, first in Tucson, Ariz., then in Steamboat Springs, Colo., and finally in Seattle. For most of that time, she owned and operated her own business.
“Actually, I played with the dogs and trained their owners, but don’t tell them that,” she says, laughing.
Hunter had enjoyed her time in Chattanooga but had never imagined she’d come back to stay. Then, during a visit nine years ago, the transformation of the city from one of the dirtiest in America to one of the cleanest and most livable blew her away. So, after spending a year-and-a-half with her mother, she set her sights on Scenic City.
Hunter was “ready for a change” when it came to her career as well. Her only criterion was that she work for herself.
“I didn’t think I was an employable person. Once you’ve been on your own for several years, it’s hard to go back,” she says.
The moving Hunter had done and time she’d spent running her own business had molded her into prime material for the real estate profession. For starters, Hunter was familiar with the frustrations, anxieties and joys of buying and selling a house. Plus, as a business owner, she’d learned to listen to her customers and developed a knack for understanding what they wanted. Finally, her experiences growing up with limited means in rural Tennessee had fostered in her a desire to help people.
“I was in first grade before we had an inside toilet. We took baths on the back porch in the same tub in which we washed our clothes. But we lived on 100 acres, raised our crops and animals, and always had plenty of food on the table,” she says. “There were several families near where we lived, and everyone worked together as a farming community. People would come to our farm to cut hay, and then we’d all move on to the next farm.”
Hunter took her new career seriously. As a former homeowner, she understood the gravity of what her clients were trying to do, so she learned as much as she could about the real estate profession, earning the Accredited Buyer’s Representative, Certified Residential Specialist and Seniors Real Estate Specialist designations. She’s especially proud of the “CRS” on her business card, as only a small percentage of real estate agents have that designation.
“I wanted to build a reputation for doing a good job. When I was a dog trainer, my business got to the point where every new client was a referral. That’s what I wanted to do with my real estate business. I wanted my clients tell their friends about how good I was,” Hunter says.
She must have done something right. As a Remax agent working out of the company’s Shallowford Road office, Hunter is responsible for marketing large portions of Seven Lakes, a gated community of premiere Craftsman-style homes located a few miles off I-75 on Ooltewah Ringgold Road. Currently in the second phase of construction, Seven Lakes offers a community pool, sidewalks and a large stocked lake with a dock.
“I’m fortunate to be working with a great team in what I consider to be the finest development in Hamilton County. Our success grew out of the vision of Emerson Russell, who handpicked the finest amenities, builders, location and product with which I’ve had the pleasure of working. Seven Lakes truly has it all,” Hunter says.
Hunter isn’t just talking up her product; she’s speaking about her home, too, as she was the sixth person to move into Seven Lakes. She says the sense of community that’s crystallized as more people have arrived reminds her of her upbringing.
“I know everyone, and everyone knows me. I’m always outside walking my dog, so everyone knows her, too,” she says.
While Hunter immediately comes across as confident and knowledgeable, one of her other qualities takes longer to perceive: courage. Although the real estate market has been tough lately, she says that never scares her because she knows how to make things happen.
“Chattanooga is rebounding faster than the areas around it, so those of us who have hung in there are about to reap the rewards. This is the place to be,” she says.
Coming from someone as savvy about her market as Hunter, those words say a lot about the city in which she plans to spend the rest of her life. More than that, they speak to the irrepressible lure of the South, as they also come from someone who’s fearlessly redefined herself as she’s moved around the world, but is now content to live a stone’s throw away from honeysuckle and songbirds.
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