Great Florida Homes Blog

When I left new construction sales with Coral Ridge Properties (the developer of the city of Coral Springs, Parkland and the Galt Ocean Mile in Fort Lauderdale), in "1996", it was one of the scariest moves in my life.  I had a strong reputation and sales were good, but I was so unhappy with all of the corporate downsizing and how it affected our morale.

When the downsizing took its toll on my emotional system, I left in tears.  My boss said, Are you sure you want to leave? No, I wasn't but I knew there had to be a better place out there than being emotionally distraught over something I could not fix.

I went to Re/Max Partners in Coral Springs.  Why Re/Max?  One evening I was standing in the valet line for a Woman's Council of Realtors event.  This really cute guy pulls up with a baby seat in his shiny pick-up truck.  How often do you see a baby seat in a pick-up truck?  Somewhere during the evening while talking we discovered we both had family in South Dakota (so not the norm for South Florida).  Conversation was professional and enjoyable.  In the end, he says, you are thinking of changing jobs?  As I sputter out a, "No, Not Me!" I add, I couldn't work for Re/MAX.  He (Larry Revier) gave me one of the best lines I think I ever heard...."You do not know, that you know, what you know".

Those were like the vibrations left over from the touch of a symbol.  I kept hearing them over and over.

I met with him and his partner, Ray Glynn for an interview.  If I recall I took a friend from Coldwell Banker with me, who was already a resale agent.  I loved the Re/MAX concept and I liked Ray and Larry, so I signed up.

It was a GREAT decision and I loved being part of the organization and their team but since we were a team of 3 members the Re/Max model became a little too expensive for my budget.

My previous employer, Coral Ridge properties had not stopped soliciting me to return and join their resale department.  I could not go back, because I have a rule in life-NEVER GO BACK-ONLY GO FORWARD (Childhood lesson and 90% applicable), so I kept rebuking them, until they said we are going to be a Prudential franchise.  OKAY, now I could consider another move.

The net net result cost me $1200 a year (at that time), but it was an incredible peace of mind.  My monthly expenses were $2300 to $3200 a month whether I sold something or not and some months that were really uncomfortable.  I was willing to take the loss for peace of mind and peace of pocketbook and sadly left Larry and Ray.

I've been with Prudential 10 years now and will tell you that I HATE TO MOVE companies!  I was in new construction for 11 years and went to Re/MAX for 2 and a half years.  After 5 years at Prudential (and I market the heck out of myself to my clients), some thought I was still at Re/MAX.  Although 10 years later Re/MAX is a favorable distant memory because I respected the people I worked for).

Moving offices is still a challenge when it comes to marketing yourself in real estate.  Fortunately, after 10 years at Prudential, past President of the Coral Springs Chamber of Commerce and many other leadership and committee positions in the city of Coral Springs, people know where to find me.