Is the following statement true or false?
As a real estate agent, my primary job is to help home buyers find their dream home.
It 's safe to say the majority of us would answer 'True'. Orlando Realtor Mary Carpousis, however, would say ‘false’.
“Every now and then a lifestyle comes along that is beyond most of our dreams,” Carpousis said,"a place where homeowners can fish for bass on the way to a movie, for example.”
Carpousis is referring to Hamlin, the new 640-acre master-planned mixed-use community in West Orange County, about 30 minutes from downtown Orlando, the attractions and Orlando’s International Airport, just off State Road 429.
Three miles of Lake Hamilton lakefront beckon visitors back to old Florida and to the convenience of a town center, boardwalk, marina, walking trails, integrated park systems, and recreational amenities.
The $1 billion community is projected to have a $100 million annual economic impact, and create 8,200 jobs.
“Most of my home shoppers never dreamed of boating or jet skiing to work or dinner," Carpousis said.
That’s why Carpousis encouraged her broker/owner Joe Doher, to do an unconventional, inconvenient thing- move his sales meeting to the Taylor Morrison Homes sales center at Overlook at The Hamlin, a new waterfront, family friendly neighborhood offering a variety of home choices ranging from 1600 to over 5,100 square feet-including four and five-bedroom home designs.
Why would Doher, who is about to open his sixth Berkshire Hathaway Results Realty office, move his sales meeting to the builder’s models, when he has onsite sales consultants banging his door down to make a presentation at a sales meeting at his place?
“My agents need to know the market, especially when something like Overlook at Hamlin comes along.” I owe it to my agents to help them understand the market because it makes them better agents, which helps them better serve the home shoppers.
“Knowing that the sales office can be hard to find on a first visit, makes it even more important that agents visit the sales center, especially for a community as saleable as this one.
Lisa Wojo, a Taylor Morrison associate coordinated the meeting with a brunch and an outstanding presentation by an onsite sales consultant.
“There are not many brokers who can say with assurance that their agents have a good grasp on the market in West Orange County if their agents have not visited Overlook at Hamlin,and we are more than happy to sponsor a broker brunch at our sales center for any office of any size. After all, eighty percent of our sales are sold to Realtor clients," Wojo said.
“Visiting the community vs having a community representative visit your office is like the difference in telling your prospect about a house or actually showing it to them, "Wojo said.
“She is absolutely right," Carpousis said. “There is simply no way for an agent to understand what the prospects will experience, without previewing in person."
Introducing home buyers to lifestyles they had no idea existed or thought were out of their price range is a dream come true for me,” Carpousis said, "and that really pushes me to go the extra mile to know and understand the market."
Carpousis is one of the first Realtors in Orlando to earn her new home co-broker (NHCB) designation by completing a three-hour online new homes sales training course approved for 3 hours CE credit by the Florida Real Estate Commission.
