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JUDY STARKFor Patty Redford, who sold nearly $20-million in real estate this year, service begins with a smile.
A few minutes with . . . Patty Redford
Meet Patty: An on-site sales representative for the past six years with Ryland Homes, she sold nearly $20-million in real estate in 2003. The local Sales and Marketing Council recently honored her as top sales associate of the year.
That's how many houses?
From October 2002 through September 2003, Redford closed 98 sales at two communities in Pasco County: Valencia Gardens and Plantation Palms at an average price of just more than $204,000. Now she's opening a new Ryland community on the Anclote River in New Port Richey called Magnolia Estates.
So you were selling two houses a week, right?
"If it were just two a week!" she said. "It might be seven in one week and none for two weeks. At one point, I had 86 active files."
How do you do it?
"We're both pretty industrious," said Redford, 57, who works with her 27-year-old son, Jim, as her assistant. "I work seven days a week most of the time." She says she's organized and self-motivated. "It's embarrassing to me not to be organized. When you sell real estate, it's a lot of responsibility. People look to you for answers. The paperwork has to be correct."
What helps?
Having something good to sell, Redford said. The golf course community at Plantation Palms "sold out three or four years ahead of schedule." She thinks Ryland offers good locations and home plans and provides the support she needs as a saleswoman: purchasing department, sales coordinators, affiliated mortgage and insurance companies, "a one-stop shop so buyers don't have to go here and look for that someplace else."
How'd you get into real estate?
She used to be a nurse, but the strain of growing attached to patients who died took its toll. Born in Florida, she moved back 20 years ago from Atlanta. An uncle who was a real estate broker urged her to get her real estate license. Redford said she told him, "Uncle George, I don't know anything about selling real estate. I can't sell real estate." He told her: "Try it." The rest is history. She likes the unlimited earning potential and the joy of watching people go through buying and building with a happy ending, quite a contrast "to the career I had before."
When you're not on the job . . .
Well, that hardly ever happens, but when it does, Redford, who is long divorced, is at home in the Palm Harbor house she shares with her mother, a Persian cat and a black-moustache parrot named Wilhelmina. "She's beautiful, peach-breasted with a silver-blue head and a green back and a black band over her bill." Redford got her from a pawn shop about 10 years ago and had to unteach Wilhelmina "some of the naughty words" she picked up there. Now Wilhelmina sticks to phrases like, "Sweet bird! Pretty bird! Rock 'n' roll Willie."
What should buyers expect when they walk into a sales center?
"To be greeted with a friendly smile. You introduce yourself and find out their names. Be interested and friendly. Listen as much as you talk. Answer questions. I don't believe in pouncing. They should be offered information about the surrounding community, the services we offer, the home plans we offer, site information, schools. People come in all the time and say, "I saw a house I liked but I didn't want to deal with that person or situation, they were rude and pushy.' I don't like to be treated that way."
Tell us the mistakes buyers make.
"When they sign a purchase agreement, people don't listen. They're in a hurry, they want to sign the agreement and leave and be done." So they don't hear everything they're told, and they come back later and say, "I don't remember you telling me that." Then, Redford said, "You very gently say, "Not only did I tell you that, but you signed a paper that stated that clearly in writing.' I usually go through the agreements, hit the things I think are important and say, "Read it, take all the time you need.' One out of five will read it."