Barbara Heddon, CENTURY 21

Heddon

Paving the Way to Lasting Success

Barbara Heddon

Broker Manager CENTURY 21 Myers Realty Auburndale, Florida www.century21myersrealty.com

Region served: Haines City/Winter Haven, Florida Years in real estate: 40 Number of offices: 3 Number of agents: 50-plus No. 1 tip for getting the right listing price: Educate sellers on the marketplace, then factor in specifics about the condition of the property in the market where they’re selling. Most effective way to motivate agents: Engage a promising agent by turning the conversation around and asking what their goals are and how you can help coach them to success. Best time management tip: Prioritize your daily tasks from the top down. Key to getting buyers and sellers working together: Get the seller and prospective buyer face to face and determine what’s needed to work the deal out.

How has your lifelong athletic training and experience benefitted your real estate profession? Being an athlete from a young age, you learn time management and perseverance, how to handle rejection and defeat, and how to accept being a winner with grace and respect. This was a huge help when starting in real estate because it allowed me to approach the work I needed to do with confidence.

How did you leverage the relationships you made as a professional athlete to build a better referral network as a real estate professional? When I started out, we didn’t have the technology we have now, so I would write letters and send postcards to fellow athletes and friends to let them know that I was a real estate professional and would love to help them with their real estate needs. This was very successful, as it also prompted them to refer me to their friends.

In what ways were you able to influence and support colleagues as a local REALTOR® association leader? Both REALTOR® associations where I served as president believed that education was key and offered classes in all aspects of real estate. We had wonderful instructors, so I encouraged all of our members to participate. I would also recommend they get involved with civic organizations and take part in activities that our boards were sponsoring. Doing so allowed members to enjoy more exposure in the community, which helped them develop a better, broader client base.

Given your experience selling investment homes, what’s your best advice for prospective buyers? The most important thing is to do your homework and ask a lot of questions about the location, condition and status of the property. Check to see if the property can be leased, and beware of an unbelievable deal. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

After operating your own companies for years, what advantages have you experienced as a CENTURY 21® agent? I opened Southern Investments Realty in 2004 with great confidence that I could make it work. Fortunately, I brought on some great agents—both new and seasoned—and we worked hard to build our inventory and client base to become a very successful company. While we had a wonderful time growing our business, in 2017, I sold the business and became an agent (and now broker manager) with CENTURY 21 Myers Realty. I loved being a broker/owner, but it was time to slow down and enjoy being an agent. I am so excited about the new technology the CENTURY 21 brand offers and the support the company provides. And since our brand is worldwide, I have tremendous exposure when marketing all of our properties. RE

For more information, please visit www.century21.com.