October 2015 Words From Our Broker | Brokers Corner with Tanya Chappell

Ziplining near Red Top Mountain, GA

Wow! What a nice feel of fall in the air! Is it just me or has it been an unusually tropical summer with higher than average rain and temperatures this year?

I recently spent time in Kansas City and Georgia thinking I would like some nice cool weather since it was in the 80s in both places. But believe me, the moment I drove back onto Florida soil there was no mistaking I was back. The Florida humidity smacks you right in the face. But not this week!  Fall weather has arrived in beautiful Gainesville/Alachua!

I was recently elected Vice President of our local MLS for this next year.  With that comes the job of getting even more educated on the issues we are facing now and will face in the future with our data and Multiple Listing Services. I went to a conference in Kansas City to learn more and found the conference to  be very informative.  I was also able to spend time getting to know the rest of the board members better. I look forward to working and learning from such wonderful people and continuing my service on this important part of our business.  Baseball is huge in Missouri and there was a cool place a few blocks from the hotel where I got to experience some of the local excitement and shot a short video of this neat little outdoor town center type area.

Flying from Kansas City to the next conference in Atlanta

From there, I flew from Kansas City to Atlanta where I attended the NARPM (National Association of Residential Property Managers) National convention with my awesome assistant Laura. It was so fun to be able to work together for that week not only learning through different classes at the conference and the tradeshows but working on some of our informational marketing videos that will be on our website soon. Maybe one day I’ll be brave enough to share some of the bloopers because they are hilarious!!!

The weekend between my Atalanta and Kansas City business trip was spent at Red Top Mountain with my family for my niece’s wedding. It was a 1920s theme and practically everyone dressed the part. It turned out beautiful! We were able to get in a couple of days of riding through the mountains of Red Top and around its 17,000-acre manmade lake that had such breathtaking views. Red Top offers hiking, fishing, camping, and boating as well as cabin rentals and dinner cruises. It’s a really cool place and you need more than a weekend to experience it all.

So the beauty of all this traveling is that I was able to keep up with my work the entire time I was gone. Because we invest  in great systems, we are able to automate some of our tasks which saves considerable time. Plus with all of the systems being Internet-based, we can practically  work from anywhere! This was definitely the theme at the NARPM trade show. From inspections to leasing to monthly delivery of air filters you can find a way to automate and use virtual assistants in many aspects of our business. I definitely see pluses and minuses in many of these but nothing takes the place of an experienced Property Manager and their team. These are simply tools that will allow you more time to handle the relationship aspects of this business (which is really the biggest part!) There are so many details to take care of in this business that it is nice to be able to utilize technology to help with the administrative areas.

The rental activity in Gainesville picked up a bit as we moved into September and October. It never ceases to surprise me that we get a nice little rest right after August but then are able to rent several properties until right before the holidays when it slows down again. If you have a property you’re thinking about putting on the market, I wouldn’t wait much longer.  The closer you get to Thanksgiving, the more likely you are to miss the activity. As always let us know if we can help or just need some advice.

Click here to see pictures and video from Tanya’s past month