Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 26, 1992 TAG: 9201270184
SECTION: NEW RIVER VALLEY ECONOMY PAGE: 24 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Joe Tennis
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
REALTOR WANTS A LITTLE RESPECT
Ann Fowlkes thinks real estate agents need a little more respect."A professional Realtor wants to be respected," she said. Still, they get a bum rap all the same.
In terms of respect, she said, "Realtors should be up as high as priests . . . because they have to be honest and try to hard to disclose everything."
The Radford resident sells for Radford's Giesen-Caldwell Agency, co-founded by her father, Ott Giesen, and uncle, Bill Caldwell, 46 years ago. It's the oldest realty company in the New River Valley.
Recently the real estate market, especially land sales, has "been busy. . . . But we have felt the recession just like everybody else," she said.
"My sales are down, but not substantially. . . . I think things are getting better already."
Fowlkes blames the media for "pounding" bad news of the recession at the public and creating a "down-looking mind-set."
She got her start in real estate 17 years ago while living in Laguna Beach, Calif., with her second husband, a realty broker. For a few months, she worked for a large realty company "to learn the ropes," then joined her husband in his business.
Fowlkes, 61, moved back to her hometown of Radford after her husband died five years ago. She considers every workday a "brand new experience. . . . If you're bored as a Realtor, it's your fault because there's so much to do."
Fowlkes spends her day chatting with other Realtors, checking sales lists, checking with sellers and "farming" for new clients.
Fowlkes made approximately $25,000 in commissions last year - and says, "I don't have the least desire to retire." Primarily, she's a broker of single-family residences.
"You never know who you're going to meet with this job. You go to strange houses and meet all sorts of strange people," she says.