Editorial
Front Page - Friday, November 12, 2010
Young professional of the year is a community builder
Erica Tuggle
The Young Professionals Association of Chattanooga recently named Keller Williams Realtor Cara Ables Hicks Young Professional of the Year. In addition to the work Hicks does full-time as a Realtor, she also participates in community service all around town in order to build up her community for the sake of her family and for future generations. (Erica Tuggle) The Young Professionals Association of Chattanooga recently named Keller Williams Realtor Cara Ables Hicks Young Professional of the Year. In addition to the work Hicks does full-time as a Realtor, she also participates in community service all around town in order to build up her community for the sake of her family and for future generations.
- Erica Tuggle
Real estate was out to get Cara Ables Hicks. Her first encounter was in her junior year of college at the University of Georgia, when, as a single mother, she quickly negotiated a lease when her housing situation fell through at the last minute to have a place for her and her son to live in a single family home at half the price.
The property manager at the time liked Hicks so much that she hired her to work there, as Hicks began taking real estate classes around that time as well. After she graduated, the lady that hired her quit and Hicks was quickly made the property manager for the 60 rental properties there. Hicks says this led her to learn a lot about real estate very quickly, and first discovering her love of helping clients find a home and the lifestyle that comes with it.
After college, real estate struck again when Hicks moved back home and bought a house on Missionary Ridge, and coincidentally met a real estate investor on the side of the road who was looking for help with his properties.
For three years, Hicks worked with him, flipping houses by talking to the people who needed to sell their houses, helping with managing the projects that came along and helping buyers that needed creative solutions to buying as a few of her tasks. In doing this, Hicks realized she was limited in what she could do with buyers and sellers and had many friends in the market to buy or sell a house and thus she went for her real estate license.
Hicks says, “I’ve been in a lot of different real estate capacities, which I feel is good because it helps me work with investors because I’ve come from an investment standpoint where I’ve seen what it takes to make an investment a good one. Seeing that inside perspective of all that goes on from an investment standpoint, I feel, has given me great experience in that area.”
Recently, Hicks turned 26, and although she now owns her second home, she can identify with younger clients and first time homebuyers in the exciting and scary process of buying a home. She works and sells all around Chattanooga and has a soft spot for historic homes and homes closer to downtown like her own in Highland Park.
On top of all that, growing up in Trenton, Ga., on six acres of land affords her the perspective to understand the desire to have a large amount of land.
Did we mention that Hicks was named Young Professional of the Year by the Young Pro-
fessional Association of Chatta-nooga? When Hicks graduated from UGA in 2007 and moved back home, she wanted to make new friends in the downtown area and find networking contacts. YPAC helped her to do this, and since then, she has been active with the group in their efforts of professional development, community service and people connection.
The thing that distinguishes her among young professionals and in her real estate career comes back to her love for the community and people, she says.
“Although I know a lot about houses from going through and stripping them bare to rebuilding a house, I think the industry is more about people,” she says. “It’s about helping people achieve their goals, which translates into how I like to em-power people. It’s exciting to see someone with a small dream that developed into a realistic goal.”
She says this translates into asking more of a client besides how many rooms they want in a house. It’s more in finding what kind of lifestyle they want.
“Helping people create those life experiences has been my goal in the real estate industry and in
my community service. As a former single mom, I have a real passion for single moms and ones who it seems too hard and a college degree is unattainable, but it is totally attainable. It does in-
volve a lot of sacrifice, but helping people who have a small goal, but don’t know quite how to get there is what I love. It’s about the houses, but more about the people and their lifetime goals,” she says.
Hicks says a lot of her success also comes from her support system, mentors that she works with and her family including her husband, Montague, her six-year-old son Jakston and her six-month-old daughter, Eden. Their support allows her the encouragement to change and build upon the progress people have already made within the community and add to the excitement of the city’s progress, she says.
Hicks says her future goals are to sell more houses and grow her client base, but more so to build and promote communities.
She says, “Real estate gives me the flexibility to be involved in those sort of things and make a difference, whether it’s development 10 years down the road or revitalizing a block of houses.”
Having other investment properties is key, too, Hicks says.
“The passive income generated is exciting not only for the money coming in but because when you have that kind of money coming in you can give and be able to help others achieve their goal when you have more to give,” she says.
Besides taking her son to football games and outdoor activities with her family, Hicks says she and her family are in the community in their free time, walking around, getting to know their neighbors and bringing her children along during community service activities like cooking dinner at the Ronald McDonald house.
Mostly, Hicks says, she be-lieves in trying to help out her neighbors, whether monetarily or educationally, so that they won’t have to rely on government assistance. She has made this her spare time life mission, in between time spent hanging out with her kids and enjoying her real estate encounters in the area of Chattanooga and beyond.
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