Congratulations to all our Top Producers for January 2023!

January 2023 has started out with a bang.  Our team is hard at work selling lots of real estate as usual.  We want to congratulate our TOP Producers for a successful January!  Our top performers have years and years of expertise and have seen their fair share of some pretty crazy shake of the head or laugh out loud moments.  Please read on as they share the funniest, zaniest, or most off the wall experiences they have had in their real estate business.

Our Top Producer and Top Overall Sales Agent for January is Mirtha Barzaga with $5 Million in closings.

Mirtha – Do you want to hear about the time I walked into a house that was supposed to be unoccupied and a couple of teenagers one being a relative of the seller decided to have a little afternoon delight in the uncle’s house while he was out of town?

Or maybe not, I’ll tell you about the Gopher Tortoise instead.

About 5 years ago I had to relocate a gopher tortoise larger than 2 feet out from under a house I had for sale which backed up to conservation.  The tortoise had created a tunnel under the house that went all the way from the front to the back.

These tortoises are a protected species and I had to go through the wildlife department to obtain the protocol that was involved in relocating them.  We had to hire someone licensed to catch it and relocate it.  After that we had to get a structural engineering company to come out to the house to do a sonogram study in order to figure out if the foundation had been compromised and to know how much of the tunnel had to be filled in with concrete.

This was a very lengthy process not to mention costly in getting this entire incident resolved.

I guess you can say there is never a dull moment in Real Estate.

Our Top Producing and Top Sales Team for the month is The Nemethy Group with Shelley and Tim Nemethy with $750,000 in closings.

Shelley and Tim – Having been Realtors for many years, the zany stories seem to flow in new frontiers! It’s difficult to narrow in on just one, so we have created a Nemethy Group poem. 

A beep awakes the slumbering team as their email takes off with problems and pleas.

“Good morning!” says one. “I have a slight problem. A tree has fallen overnight and a roofer I’m calling!”

With the closing scheduled and the walk through approaching, mother nature had other plans with a tree now encroaching!

As the inspection was going seemingly well, we suddenly heard a thump like someone had fell. Racing to the bedroom with a bad feeling, we find the inspectors legs hanging through the ceiling.

On to a listing appointment with comps enclosed, not realizing the sellers have a haunting to disclose!

Swiftly we travel to a picture appointment where the dog had plans to escape at that moment! Running the large lot while chasing the dog left The Nemethy Group thinking this would be great for the blog.

Following a closing we head home to rest, when the buyer calls and says, “I don’t want this house, I guess! My furniture won’t fit, and we know we just closed, but could you come by tomorrow so we can list the home we just chose?”

“But wait!” says another, “We have a gas leak!” You see the workman that just came were not too swift on their feet! An insurance claim will now have to be filed; will the buyers wait months for all this to be reconciled?”

The phone then rings with the shrillest of shouts and the buyer on the other end has decided to suddenly back out! But wait, the closing is today! What? No reason? But you will lose your binder, we say!

The zany life we live as we walk through this career, we would not change in a moment of fear. The rewards are fantastic and the people are great, but we have to go now as we have news of a water pipe break!

The Top Listing Agent for January is Suzy Evans with over $900,000 in listings sold.

Suzy –  I was showing first time homebuyers a home and the electricity was not on in the home. It was daylight, so there was a small amount of sun coming through the windows.  I was using my flashlight to see inside closets.  As I was opening the closet door and trying to turn on my flashlight I was terrified and screamed when something darted out between my legs and began running, frantically in circles. My buyers were right behind me, and we were jumping around screaming wondering what it was. My heart was pounding and when I realized it was a cat, I opened the front door and he ran outside.  Apparently, the previous tenants thought their cat ran away when they couldn’t find him.  Still to this day when I open a closed door in a vacant home, I hold my breath in fear. 

Our Top Buyer Sales Agent for January is Bonnie Weinstein with $1.1 million in sales.

Bonnie – Showing a home to a male buyer.  We had an appointment, so I used the Supra lock box. We walked through the downstairs and started heading up the steps.  The buyer said I think I hear the shower running!!!  We ran out of the house.  We waited a while and knocked.  Finally, a woman came to the door.  It was a house cleaner.  She was cleaning the shower.  We had such a laugh!!

The Top Producer for this month from our Jacksonville Beach Team is Caitlyn Hawkins with over $600,000 in closings.

Caitlyn – I am used to marathon showing days. I pack a lunch, snacks, water, etc. in order to get through a day knowing I have multiple homes or appointments planned. When I had the kiddos I started adding formula, bottles, baby food to the stash in the car as well. One day I had a military family who was relocating to our base come in to town for one of those all day long, need to find a house today, days. They had four kids, one of whom was less than a year old. In the middle of our tight schedule, she said they would need to take a break because she didn’t pack enough formula for the baby. We were out in the middle of nowhere at the time and I knew there were not any stores within reasonable driving distance. I said, “I’ve got you Mama!”. Then opened the hatch of my truck, pulled out two cans of formula and said, “Enfamil or Similac?” We all cracked up and continued on our journey to find the perfect house! 

The Top Sales Agent this month from our Jacksonville Beach Team is Jennifer Todd with over $650,000 in sales.

Jennifer – When presented with writing a crazy, funny or shake your head moment in time I could come up with thousands after 28 years selling Real Estate! So, this little memory was a “laugh until the tears flow”!

Pulling into a beautiful listing of a 45-acre ranch,  one of my fellow agents at the time, Maxine, says very seriously “look at all the deer”!!! Our jaws drop and the giggles begin and then the laughter tears flow as we inform her they are cows. It is a memory we still share and obviously, it was a “you had to be there moment”! 

These are some very memorable moments from our best! We hope you enjoyed reading their stories.  There is never a dull day in our business for sure.  To all our customers we are truly grateful for your trust and appreciate your referrals.  If you are considering making a move call one of our great agents today to explore your options.