Mary Sanders proudly proclaims that she’s a cheerleader for Chattanooga, and this is a message that she shares with everyone. From telling her out-of-town clients who are interested in our area to telling those she assists with her volunteer work at the Chamber of Commerce, Families Inc., the Midtown Council as their vice president of programming, and her activity in her neighborhood, Sanders is spreading the word.
When Sanders is asked how she came to reside in Chattanooga, she laughs and says she got here through Erlanger Hospital, where she was born. Sanders has remained in Chattanooga since then, graduating from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga whom she also cheerleads for with praise of the institution. As a Realtor, Sanders says it’s very easy for her to sell Chattanooga. She enjoys combining the search for a home with telling the story of Chattanooga to her many out-of-town clients. She also takes these clients on a short downtown tour to point out landmarks and help them acclimate to the city.
These clients appreciate Sanders’ care for them, and still keep in touch with her for their real estate needs and just to call and see who is a good vet in town, she says. Sanders doesn’t mind helping clients out in these areas, either, as she says she enjoys helping people in general, especially in getting them settled in the area. Before real estate, Sanders was in the non-profit world helping her community. She started working with the city of Chattanooga and then with Chattanooga Venture, a grassroots planning agency for all the downtown development. But it got to a point where Sanders says she needed a change.
She always had an interest in real estate and decided to try it. She says her only regret in real estate is that she didn’t get into it when she graduated from college, because she enjoys and has enjoyed the profession since making the change in 2002. As for the other negatives of real estate such as the market instability, Sanders says it’s a rough business, and those who go into it need to plan for the bad times while they are experiencing the good. “[Planning] evens your life out and evens out your business plan so that when we have this roller coaster that we are currently having in the market, it makes it a little bit easier on you personally,” she says.
Sanders says the bad times have also taught her to pay more attention to her marketing plan. “You get into this and things happen very quickly. You are meeting deadlines and could have a tendency to drift away from your core marketing plan,” she says. “But if you stick with that core marketing plan, you are going to be able to ride it out because you’ve always got your marketing going in addition to your business.” It’s Sanders marketing plan and abilities that allow her to be able to handle all the different transactions she encounters, from million dollar construction and new construction homes to the $118,000 home that she was able to place a single mother in.
“You just have to take each listing on its own merits and not try to do cookie cutter,” she recommends for all the different types. For example, Sanders has a listing on Battery Place downtown that was built in 1927 and owned by the same family. She asked for photographs from when the home was built because the outside has changed. She has included the original photographs in her marketing on a flier that says the past with a photograph, the present with a photograph, and then a blank for the future. Because people sometimes have a hard time visualizing things, this type of marketing helps them along, she says.
This diversity of homes that requires extra time and patience might bring some Realtors to tears, but Sanders says she enjoys the variety of the business and likes that no one transaction is ever the same. “You never know when you start out on a transaction. You may look and say this is a wonderful client, wonderful credit, this is going to close quickly, and then things are constantly coming up that you have to resolve before you get to the closing table and before you get them into their house,” she says. “I enjoy helping people find the home that connects with them. I tell my clients that you will know the house that is for you when you walk into it.”
Sanders says she has worked with clients for nine-month periods, every Sunday, before finding them their house. But when they did find their home, Sanders says she knew it the minute the husband walked into the foyer. Now, the couple has been in their home for years and years. “That satisfaction to keep going till you find it appeals to me very much,” she says. In being a local cheerleader, Sanders chose a locally owned agency in Real Estate Partners. She says she likes that the agency is medium sized with Realtors with lots of experience who are very familiar with Chattanooga. She said the similar goals she and Real Estate Partners have in regard to client satisfaction and connecting clients locally appeals to her.
It will help Realtors to know how difficult the business is in going into it and to keep up with all the legalities with their continuing education, she says. Listening to the clients is also No. 1. “If someone tells you they do not want a two-story house, do not show them a two-story house,” she says. “Listen to your clients and find what they want, no matter how long it takes.” Sanders says she thinks that real estate is truly one of the few professions that, if someone works hard enough, keeps themselves educated and listens to their clients, they will be successful. “But success doesn’t come overnight in this profession or any other one,” Sanders says. “You just have to be in it for the long haul.”