Moving to Athens

           
(706) 296-4395
  • Home
  • About Us
    • About Paul and Jerri
    • Team Members – Paul and Jerri Stracener
    • Testimonials
    • Recommended Local Professionals
  • Blog
  • Buyers
    • Posts just for Buyers
    • Tips for Buying a Home
  • Sellers
    • Posts just for Sellers
    • Tips for Selling a Home
    • Home Value
    • What are the costs involved when selling a home?
  • Contact Us

Changes in Real Estate

May 1, 2018 by Jerri.Stracener Leave a Comment

There have been lots of changes in real estate since I became a licensed agent in 1996.

In 1995, we moved to Watkinsville. I applied for a few office jobs since that’s what I’d done in Atlanta, but I really wanted to try something new. I decided to become a real estate agent.

Computer

Real Estate License

The way I got my real estate license was “cutting edge” at the time. I used the Barney Fletcher Real Estate School system where I watched something like slide show presentations for each lesson on my “low speed” internet service. After reading the material, I took the test with my answers recorded on a disk. It took about 4 weeks to complete all the lesson, then I mailed the disk in to the main office for verification.

After the lessons were completed, I went to the real estate school office in Marietta for additional training, preparing me to take the state exam. That was a 2 day “cram course” taking test after test, then reviewing the areas I needed to improve.

When I took the real estate exam in Atlanta, I was a little worried to see how many people were there for the 3 or 4th try. Fortunately, I wasn’t one of them. It seemed like a good idea to start off with a small agency so I met with the broker of an agency in Watkinsville. Since there wasn’t much of a downside for brokers to hire agents, I had a job right away.

New Listings

The local board of realtors provided a large book with all the listings in it. The book came out every 2 weeks so new listings just had to wait till the next book was published. The listing books were discontinued within a couple of years, even though some of the older agents didn’t feel comfortable with the change. Not having GPS was another challenge for me, especially since I was new to the area.

Over the years, we’ve seen many changes, mainly with contracts. I believe the sales contract was 3 pages long when I started. Now, they are 8 pages and that seems to increase almost every year.

Contract

It was considered bad manners to give an agent an offer without including at least 5 copies of the contract. That meant everyone could keep a copy, before and after signatures were obtained.  The fax machine was an important feature of the real estate office. We could fax documents instead of driving to deliver contracts and counteroffers. It was acceptable for counteroffers to be faxed but original signatures were required on the final documents.

It’s clear that things have changed over the past 23 years… mostly for the good!

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Related

Filed Under: Athens Georgia Real Estate Blog

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Paul & Jerri Stracener

Paul & Jerri have over 30 years combined experience in the Athens area real estate market, providing services beyond your expectations. Learn More...
PAUL & JERRI STRACENER
(706) 296-4395
           

Follow us on Facebook

Athens Homes and Lifestyle

Browse Available Homes

  • Athens
  • Bogart
  • Barrow County
  • Clarke County
  • Jackson County
  • Madison County
  • Oconee County
  • Oglethorpe County
  • University of Georgia Athens

Athens Homes for Sale, Clarke County Real Estate, Condos, Investment Properties and Relocation Assistance

Athens Georgia Real Estate

...another Fully Managed Custom Website by Mike Mueller Hi!