As a Realtor and part of the property management team for Greyhaven Realty Management Company, Kim Snyder’s day is composed of many different pieces of work that add up to a hectic but fulfilling career. Snyder began her real estate career at Prudential Realty Center eight years ago, but started to consider property management a year ago because of the down sales market.
By joining Greyhaven Realty Management Company, she can not only have a regular income with property management, but can also sell properties, she says. Before real estate, Snyder worked at Provident, got married, had her daughter and became a stay at home mom for the years her daughter was in school. During these years, Snyder was anything but idle, as she had her own cleaning business for 10 years and took care of elderly relatives. When her daughter turned 18, Synder decided to get her real estate license. Snyder says her transition into adding property management has been a great idea for the market right now, as she receives many referrals from other agents for rental homes because the owner has not sold and needs to have income coming in until the property can be sold. With many people moving to the area for jobs, leasing is a popular option, she says.
Snyder’s job at Greyhaven Realty Management Company consists of a little bit of everything. She mainly takes care of the owners of properties by answering their communications, keeping them up to date on maintenance of their property, and, on occasion, keeping their tenants happy as well. From move-in inspections to background and credit checks on potential clients, there is always something to be done to avoid the pitfalls of getting a bad tenant, she say. All the background work makes sure that is a rare case for Greyhaven Realty Management Company. Once school is out and up until school resumes is the biggest time for leasing and property management, Synder says, but they were also uncharacteristically busy last fall and winter. So many people with Amazon, Volkswagen, TVA and other companies have been moving here in the last several months, and people have properties that they can’t sell and need to lease that help these individuals, she says.
“Leasing is very busy right now and it’s a lot of fun. It’s never a dull moment for sure,” Snyder says.Greyhaven Realty Manage-ment Company has properties spread across Chattanooga including Hixson, Lookout Mountain, downtown, Ooltewah and other areas, and is thinking about expanding into Georgia. They have a lot of single-family homes, duplexes, apartment complexes, quads and all kinds of property including commercial management as well, she says/ Although property management is a large part of what Synder does on a daily basis, she is also given time at Greyhaven Realty Management Company to work on selling property.
Snyder says she enjoys being a Realtor because she loves to help people and especially enjoys working with first time homebuyers to educate them on how everything works in finding them a home. Real estate can also bring out the best and the worst in people, she says, but being a Realtor is about managing all that. “There are going to be problems and you are going to have to manage them. That’s just part of our job,” Snyder says. “With the way lending has changed, you have to keep updated on that, you are always trying to think of ways to market the property with a bit of a slower market, and also you have to make sure you are pricing property right. That’s the main thing in this market. If you are not pricing property correctly, it is going to sit.”
Another part of real estate that Snyder enjoys is “the hunt” she and her clients experience as they search for that perfect house, and she gets the opportunity to show clients many different kinds of property and many different areas of the city that meet their needs. This allows Synder to get to know the people in her car and make connections with them. Snyder also makes the connections in her office as she works with tenants of Greyhaven Realty Management Company properties, who sometimes de-cide to buy a property after renting. She picks up these tenants she already has a relationship with as buyers and they go from there.
Snyder says the reason she came to work at Greyhaven Realty Management Company was that she had heard good things from other agents about the company, and heard that there was opportunity here. “Real estate had slowed down and I thought, ‘What a great opportunity to not only have regular income but [also] still be able to sell real estate, which I love, and do property management, especially with the way the market is going.’”
Property management was a good fit for Snyder, and a valuable transition from her time as a Realtor, especially since in Tennessee, property management work requires a Realtor’s license. “Even though property management and real estate are totally different, and there are different laws for property management, you have to be really careful with making the switch,” she says. “I wouldn’t suggest that a Realtor automatically flip over unless you have a good support system there and training because you have to know the law, – it’s a different ball of wax.”
Synder loves to swim and boat with her family in the summer. During the colder months of the year, they like to go antiquing for “good finds.” Snyder finishes by praising her company and their great customer service: “We treat our tenants fairly and we keep our owners informed. We strive to do a good job, and our owners are pretty happy with us, and the tenants are, too.” By putting all the little pieces together, Synder and Greyhaven Realty Management Company keep properties in place while still fulfilling the equally hectic roles Realtors take on.