Linda Bayles

"Re/Max's Bayles doesn't let grass grow beneath her feet Jacksonville Business Journal - by Jane Bennett Correspondent-------------------- Kathleen and Frank Byrne wanted to sell their home near Jacksonville International Airport after his employer moved to Western Way on the Southside from Highway Avenue on the Westside. They asked Linda Bayles of Re/Max Realty Specialists Inc. to find a home that would be a shorter commute. --------------------------- "We ran into her at two different open houses," Kathleen Byrne said. "After the second meeting, we decided to deal exclusively with her. She asked us a whole bunch of questions and seemed to both of us to be the kind of person who could make things happen." --------------------------- The Byrnes were right. Bayles is ranked 20th on The Business Journal's 2005 list of top-selling agents, which is dominated by those who sell homes at the beach. According to information she provided, Bayles sold $20.2 million in homes last year. She sold $19.5 million in 2003; $14.2 million in 2002; $10.9 million in 2001; and $9.8 million in 2000, even though most of her listings are in-town properties. --------------------- "She's a dynamo," said Kathleen Byrne, recalling the Saturday she and her husband met Bayles at the Re/Max office on Park Avenue in Orange Park at 9 a.m. "We spent the whole day together looking at about 35 houses. When my husband first saw the list, he said, 'No way, we can't do this in one day.' But we did. We left her at about 5:30 or 6 p.m." By the end of the whirlwind tour of available homes that met their criteria, the Byrnes had narrowed the field to four homes. They bought in the San Jose area near the San Jose Country Club. ------------------------ "I spend my life riding around in my car with buyers," Bayles said. "It's the best way for them and me to tell what they like." She said she and the clients do not enter every home, but usually do at least a drive-by examination. ------------------------------- "Sometimes we just look at the neighborhood. Sometimes we take a quick look at the outside of the house and sometimes we go in," she said. "Sometimes we do 50 to 80 houses in a day. I'm a pretty tenacious person." -------------------------------- She also rejects the popular transactional way of doing business, where the Realtor remains neutral and silent about problems that might affect the buyer or the seller. "I am a single agent," she said. "I represent the buyer or the seller and I go all out for my client." ----------------------------------- Bayles works seven days a week from 6 a.m., when she sends and answers e-mails from home for two hours, until 7 p.m., when she returns home. "I love Sundays because I don't start until 1 p.m." ------------------------------------- The mother of three children, she worries about spending too much time away from home. "I could never do this if it wasn't for my husband," she said. "He's a stay-at-home dad and I think it's very important that the children have at least one parent at home full time." ----------------------------------- Bayles was raised in Shelbyville, Tenn., population 12,000 people "who never come and never go," she said. She graduated from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., with a bachelor's in architecture and then from the University of Miami in Florida with a degree in art history. ------------------------------ She worked for TRW in Los Angeles for 10 years in the company's management sciences department, remodeling homes in her spare time. ------------------------------------ Her interest in real estate comes from her father, she said. "He's been a monumental influence on my life. He was an attorney who ran a small business, but he made money in real estate." -------------------------------- After she married, Bayles moved to Pittsburgh with her husband and had her first child at 37. She and her husband had a custom home business. He handled the building -- she did the designing. She loved it -- he didn't. ---------------------------------- They moved to Jacksonville nine years ago. She was familiar with the city from childhood visits. Bayles and her family moved to Eagle Harbor in Clay County. They've traded up twice and like it as much today as they did when they first arrived. ---------------------------------- "My parents, my in-laws and my sister-in-law all moved to the same street. Think how wonderful that is for my children. They're growing up like I did, knowing everyone, having family nearby, being able to walk everywhere in safety. This is what people like." --------------------------------- Bayles considers herself a problem solver. "I love finding a great house for someone. I feel that I bring added value to the relationship or I couldn't do the job right. How can I make it better? That's my job.""
Jane Bennett Fri Nov 25, 2005