Editorial
Front Page - Friday, September 10, 2010
Welcoming, warm Realtor Herrick maintains steady sales
Erica Tuggle
Linda Herrick is a Realtor for Ival Goldstein Properties. Goldstein and Herrick (pictured here in a moment of brief downtime) work together as broker and builder to manage several properties including the new Whisper Creek division of Windstone at the Tennessee-Georgia border.
- Erica Tuggle
Wouldn’t it be nice if the clients came to you? With properties as beautiful and amenity rich as those in Whisper Creek, the new phase of Windstone proper, it’s no wonder Linda Herrick says she enjoys this perk of Realtors and clients seeking her out.
Herrick joined Ival Gold-stein properties almost three years ago, and since then has enjoyed being Goldstein’s principle broker and getting to know every single person they have sold a house to. She is even on a hugging basis with most of them as well, she says.
Herrick is originally from New Jersey and began work by using her degree in food nutrition and food technology to do television programs in New York. She had moved several times by the time of her move to Chattanooga in 1986 with her two small children, and she got to know her Realtors and liked what they did. She decided to get her real estate license, but quickly found that with two small children, the stress of the job would have to wait while she took a break from the business for five years.
When she returned to real estate, it was in full force. She worked a little bit of everywhere, gathering years of experience before beginning with Goldstein.
“I liked the idea because it was an onsite construction and was a good move for me because real estate on the outside has been kind of slow,” she says.
Herrick says she gets her daily dose of adrenaline when she works with people, and enjoys the interaction with clients, Realtors and residents of the development. Goldstein started the Whisper Creek phase in 2007, and now the community has developed into its own unique world within Windstone proper.
With the traditional neighborhood design, provided lawn care maintenance and membership to the pool and clubhouse provided for residents, clients find themselves drawn into the properties covering the 39 acres of Whisper Creek.
Crown molding on every level, hardwood flooring, quality lighting, granite countertops and sturdy craftsmanship complete the look. For those who decide to build, selections on everything from knobs on kitchen cabinets to the paint color of the walls can be decided, Herrick says.
There are several plans to choose from, including one and two story homes, and several properties have been marked down to compete with the market. The welcoming nature of these properties begins over a mile before even reaching the destination, with signs lining the roadside to welcome visitors and residents.
The Whisper Creek development sold 16 homes last year, and even though the market slowed down “we just kept on trucking,” she says. Of the 123 lots in Whisper Creek, 60 are still available, in addition to the creek lots, for clients with their own plan and builder. Up front $3,000 worth of savings is put into place as Ival Goldstein Properties pays the initiation fee for residents to the Windstone private golf club. Once a resident pays the membership dues for the club, they will have access to that additional clubhouse, pool and restaurant. In addition to this, Ival Goldstein Properties will be putting up a walking trail in Whisper Creek in the spring.
Herrick says the first thing she does when she encounters a new face, whether client or Realtor, is to build a rapport with them, which she says comes naturally. She wants them to feel comfortable so they can warm up to her, become friendly and build trust. She says being honest and building that trust is what she thinks is important.
“We work with people to keep them happy and have their house the way they want it,” she says. “We do a lot of follow up, too, being on site here. If they have a problem, they email us and have their one year builder’s warranty and we take care of them.”
Even though Goldstein does a large amount of advertising, Herrick says she thinks that is not what sells a property. The outreach they do to Realtors and clients with monthly email highlighting incentives and new information is a big part of staying connected, she says. The policy of gathering the email addresses of everyone who visits and keeping them on their monthly email list has led to clients returning to purchase homes after two and, in one case, ten years.
“It’s constant because they know about us, and Windstone is pretty popular. We keep in touch with them and so they come back,” she says.
She encourages Realtors to visit Whisper Creek, register their clients, and says she will help sell Whisper Creek for them. The doors of the model home, in which they operate out of on site, are open everyday, and walk-ins or those who wish to set up an appointment are welcome, she says.
Herrick says she has been in real estate a long time and has the know-how to keep things going.
“I have not been the number one producer in town, but have a lot of repeat customers and the consistency. Instead of one year of a whole bunch, it is a lot of years of some,” she says.
As proof of this, in the last six weeks, she has sold four propertie,s and expects to see more building with the number of spec homes diminishing.
Herrick’s two sons are now grown and moved away, and she and her husband live in the nearby Hurricane Mountain division, where a walk to Wind-stone is only five minutes away.
She enjoys spending time in the neighborhood and out with her friends, who are the most important thing in her life,
she says. She says the fun and social nature of playing tennis with them makes her think
she could play it every day, and as it is, she plays at least five days a week. With everyone she meets, she also tries to add more people to her list of those on a hugging basis.
|
|