As I sit here thinking about what to write about for my first ever blog post, the first thing that comes to mind is why I sell real estate in the town that I grew up in and why I decided to open my own company. I grew up in Americus, went to Southland Academy and love this little area of about 30,000 people. Whenever my wife and I go out to eat, we always spend the first 5 minutes or so going around and saying hey to almost everyone in the restaurant and I love it! I know some people would hate not being able to go out and just enjoy dinner without people you know around but that's just not in my DNA. My friends who live in bigger cities find it crazy that I know what seems like everyone when they visit. In Americus, always being willing to help others, even if that just means a smile, a nod or any other simple acknowledgment goes a very long way.
After high school, I left for college knowing that I wanted to come back and spend my adult years here. Americus has always felt like home and felt like I belonged here to make a difference! When I was getting close to graduation from Valdosta State, I still really didn't know what I wanted to do. I did a lot of thinking about where I could fit in Americus and set my sights on being a Real Estate appraiser. I went to a real estate school in Woodstock, GA right after college to get my appraisers license and the teacher told me that she saw something special in me and thought that I would make a great agent. She told me that it only took another couple of weeks to get my pre-license class done and I figured, why not. Still to this day, I thank her for pushing me to what would become my career! No, I have never once actually appraised a house haha. Without her seeing something in me that I didn't see, who knows what I would be doing. After I passed my real estate test, I went to work for a great broker and man who spent more time teaching me the ins and outs of the real estate business. I will always have respect for him for showing me more than just that though, he showed me how to be a professional. I'll be honest, it was tough to leave him and the work-family that I had built over 7 years working with those amazing people but I realized that it was time to go out on my own.
The next step, Whaley Realty was born. Throughout my years in the Americus real estate market and many real estate classes across the southeast US, I realized that there are minor details to streamline and simplify the process of buying and selling for customers and clients while also making it easier on agents. I know some of you that have made it this far are probably asking yourself, "why do you need to make it easier on the agents, they already have an easy job." Well, to that I have to disagree. I know that HGTV shows make it look like we open three home doors and poof they buy a house. That is simply not the case. In my opinion, our job is too make sure that all things are done correctly, negotiate so buyers and sellers don't kill each other, make sure that closings happen as smoothly as possible, understand how to market properties appropriately and successfully, be knowledgeable on market stats and conditions, prepare documents correctly, and many more things. Agents are always on their phones because we are always talking to our buyers' lender, the appraiser, or the other agent in the deal. One of my philosophies on making agents lives easier is to always have an assistant to take away the stress of the little things that someone else can do. I don't mean show homes, call prospects or things of that nature but to have someone to take the 50-100 pictures of a house and narrow it down to the 10-15 that the public will see. It's something that takes 10 minutes but in my opinion, that's just 10 minutes an agent can spend more usefully. I am so lucky to have found an amazing assistant, Kerry, that has picked up on everything that I have shown her. There are tons of other small, simple things that I am working to implement to make every Whaley Realty agent's life easier.
Whaley Realty's goal is to make every client and customer happy that they chose our company with one of the biggest decisions of their life. We will strive to lead our market in the newest and innovative tools to make the process easy. All of this while having a great time, doing what we love. If we can ever help you feel free to call the office at 229-596-1000, stop by 400 W. Lamar St. in Americus or give me a call or text at 229-938-4837. Thanks for reading a little about my story and the story of Whaley Realty, Inc.
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