Meet Jodie Barringer
Favorite magazines: Architectural Digest, Southern Living, Oprah’s O Magazine
Books I am currently reading: Marketing to Women (business), East Of Eden by John Steinbeck (pleasure), Joyce Meyer (self help), Carrissa Meyer’s Choices (self help)
Work-out schedule: three mile run (10 minute mile), weights, one mile run (10 minutes), weights, one mile run, weights, home — thank goodness!
Personal
When I was 24, I got married to a Nashville Boy and moved up here from Memphis. I had a Master’s degree that included a teaching certificate; I went to work in the Williamson County school system teaching high school English. I was the Drama Coach, the Yearbook Sponsor, and the Girls’ Soccer Coach. At 27, I transferred to Franklin Road Academy where I taught ninth and tenth grade English. At FRA, I was the assistant Yearbook Sponsor and Assistant Coach for the Men’s High School Soccer Team. At 28, I had my first child, and left teaching for, what I thought, would be a three or four year hiatus.
At 29 ½, I had my second child, and a few months after I turned 30, I got a divorce. Pretty busy years for a while there.
At 30, I started my own business called Let’s Play House. Because I had two children under three, no income except for child support, no alimony, and a great need to be able to pay my bills, I needed a job that had no overhead and worked around my children’s schedules. Voilà! Home staging and decorating! I would have no expenses other than nails and ladders, and I could work around the children’s naps and pre-school! Let’s Play House was my solution — I would go into people’s houses and use what they already had to “redecorate” their homes. Now, remember that this was in 1995 — way before the surge of reality shows. The Make Over Extreme I was creating within these houses was great, but the makeover that I was creating within myself was even greater. I was gaining confidence in myself as a single mother. I was gaining the strength that I needed to raise these two girls to be the strong Southern women that I wanted them to be. After a year of the redecorating, I slowly incorporated staging for houses going on the market (not even heard of then!), and that slowly morphed into a moving business. At 35, the children were both in school, and I got into residential Real Estate.
I have now been in Real Estate for six years, and as a newer agent, I have broken all of the records for my firm. I have even broken my own records! It is amazing what raising two girls on your own can inspire you to do.
Real Estate
When I was newly divorced, I bought my first house. I have never been so proud of anything in my life. I remember sitting outside on MY deck drinking a glass of wine and looking at MY house. I remember thinking that life could never get better — I was on my own and making it! My children were happy, I had a great group of girlfriends, and my business was starting to generate an income. Life was perfect.
When — not even two years later — we grew out of that house, I started looking for a new house. I had not realized when I bought the first one that the girls would eventually walk on their own and actually take up space. I put an offer on one house which I did purchase; however, over the course of the transaction, I lost trust in my agent. I kept explaining to her that I could not afford to go up in price. They kept encouraging me to “just go up another $5000.00.” I couldn’t go up. I did not have the money. She simply did not understand. I could not get across to them that when I said that I didn’t have the money, I didn’t have the money. Rather than being excited about buying a house, I became resentful and very wary of my agent. Did she have my best interest at heart? Why didn’t she believe me when I told her that I couldn’t afford to go higher? The seller eventually came down on his price, and I was able to afford the house, but the entire transaction was terribly stressful and very scary. I swore that, if I ever got into real estate, my primary focus would be to work with single and divorcing women (and men) who needed truthful advice, real numbers, and real help. I did not need to know where the kitchen was — I needed to know how I was going to PAY for it.
My Network of Help
Over the years of decorating and staging homes, moving people, and selling real estate, I have amassed a quite reliable list of handymen, builders, painters, tile guys — you name it. I work with primarily three lenders, two inspectors, and one closing attorney, unless my clients prefer to assemble their own Closing Team. Over the years, I have met and had transactions with dozens of inspectors, lenders, appraisers, and closing attorneys. The teams of individuals I choose to work with today are those individuals who have always put my client’s best interest first. Their egos and financial gain came second and third. It is this Team of Experts that I trust implicitly.
The Way I Work
I work hard. I have to. I have two kids to raise.
A good real estate agent works every day. We learn how to manage everything without letting anyone feel unimportant. We get really good at returning our phone calls. And we do things right the first time — we don’t have enough time to go back and redo and redo and redo. We are detail oriented because that is the most time-efficient way to be. We can get more things done in a day, and we know that things are being done correctly as we do them.
A good real estate agent usually has an assistant to help her be more efficient. I have Meredith! I love Meredith and so will you — she is fun, detail oriented, and positive. She is a great person with whom to share an office — she keeps me in line, so I can be my best for my clients! The better I am, the better my clients are — and that’s the whole idea, isn’t it?
Let’s go — the market is waiting and my car is ready! I have crayons for the kids and Junior Mints for us! Let’s hit the road and find that new house — this is going to be fun!