President of Davidson Realty Sherry Davidson started the evening with a reminder that our company goal written in 2005 still holds true in 2012 – “That the Davidson Companies are the best that we can be. We don’t want to be the biggest real estate company, but we aim to be the best in our geographic area in customer service. We want every person that calls our development or realty office to be treated with respect. We hope their experience with Davidson leaves them thinking we are professional, honest, caring and helpful. And we hope they refer someone they know to call Davidson!”

Then Sherry presented the 2011 awards! Thank you to Beverly Morse, Elsie Evans, Shirley Barber, Matt Davidson, Ted Tyndall, and Jock Ochiltree for their 5 years of service with the Davidson Companies. Mirtha Barzaga and Sharon King took home the “Values People First Awards” for always supporting, congratulating, problem solving, and motivating with a smile on their faces.

The “Step up to the Plate” Award was given to Ed Gil for learning even better ways to serve our agents and employees with short sales. He rolled with the punches and came out swinging! And, of course, what would we do without his jokes every Tuesday in our sales meeting?!?

Elsie Evans with Davidson Property Management congratulated Margherite Myers as the Rental Team Agent of the Year in Volume and Mirtha Barzaga for Rental Team Agent of the Year in Transactions.

Our Rookie of the Year Award went to the very deserving Maxine Levy! No one has worked harder or had a better attitude than Maxine. Her character is exactly what our core values are about and she makes us laugh!

Congratulations to all of our agents that received Production Awards – Jennifer Todd, Doug Duggan, and Margherite Myers with $2 million closed and $2 million sold. Michelle Gonzalez, Jock Ochiltree, and Ted Tyndall with $3 million closed and $3 million sold. Lynn Whitley with $3 million closed and $4 million sold.  Ana Speziale with $4 million closed and $3 million sold. Pauline and Woody Cake with $5 million closed and $6 million sold. Dottie Lay with $6 million closed and $6 million sold.

Mirtha Barzaga had $5 million closed and $6 million sold and was also our Listing Agent of the Year – selling more of her listings than any other agent this year!

Suzy Evans took home two huge awards – Closing Agent of the Year and Sales Agent of the Year! She had $7 million closed and almost $8 million sold. Way to Go, Suzy!

And, our final award of the night was our President’s Award. Every year, one agent is selected who had an outstanding year and no one can argue that Lynn Whitley is the most deserving this year! She transformed her business and herself in 2011. She more than doubled her closings from 2010 to 2011, while losing almost 50 pounds. Congratulations Lynn!

Thank you to Arthur Crofton from Lite 96.1 WEJZ for attending our awards banquet and giving out all our awards!

To identify Florida’s best employers, Florida Trend partnered with the Best Companies Group, which surveyed companies about their policies, practices and demographics.  The second part of the process involved a survey sent to a sample group of each company’s employees who responded anonymously to 72 questions.  The survey also included two open-ended questions and seven demographic questions. The questions focused on eight themes: Leadership and planning; corporate culture and communications; role satisfaction; work environment; relationship with supervisor; training and development; pay and benefits; and overall engagement. You can check out more information about Florida Trend’s Best Companies to Work For and see the full list at  http://www.floridatrend.com/best_companies.asp.

Davidson Realty, based in World Golf Village, has become one of the top 10 real estate companies in Northeast Florida.  We have major market share in the World Golf Village and north St. Johns County area and our reach has also expanded to include Ponte Vedra and the beaches, Julington Creek and Flagler County.  Several Davidson agents hold the CDPE (Certified Distressed Property Expert) designation which gives them expertise at helping clients navigate short sales, foreclosures and distressed property situations. 

The Business Journal’s top 50 list list was compiled based on the following criteria:
• Privately held, for profit and locally owned.
• Headquartered in Duval, Clay, St. Johns, Nassau, Baker, Flagler or Putnam counties.
• In operation since at least 2007.
• Annual revenue of at least $1 million in 2010.
• Overall revenue growth from 2008 to 2010 with revenue gain from 2009 to 2010.

The full list of the Business Journal 50 is in the current issue of the Jacksonville Business Journal which hit newsstands today.

So just what makes Davidson Realty such a great place to work?  “There is a strong sense of camaraderie here because the company creates opportunities for us to connect socially like a Friday cook-out or an IMAX outing or a cruise down the St. Johns River,” said Dottie Lay.  “Davidson offers great support for its Agents, from marketing to professional development,” said Ana Speziale. “Giving back to the community is not just lip service.  We have monthly blood drives, free community educational events and we participate in a variety of fundraisers, from Relay for Life to March of Dimes,” said Sharon King. “Surprise visits from the ‘Wine Fairy’ on Friday afternoons,” said Vanessa Cunningham.

The Jacksonville Business Journal conducts the Best Places to Work survey annually. The rankings for this list are done by Quantum Workplace, a third-party company that specializes in measuring workplace satisfaction. Nominations were submitted to The Business Journal by more than 100 companies, with most nominations coming from company employees. Results were announced in the Business Journal’s May 20th issue.  For more information about the Jacksonville Business Journal’s Best Places to Work, visit http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/blog/inside_the_lists/2011/05/jacksonvilles-best-places-to-work.html.

In the last three years, Davidson has doubled its number of Realtors and expanded its real estate territories to include Jacksonville Beach, Ponte Vedra and Flagler County, in addition to St. Johns County.  The company actively recruits both experienced agents and those interested in a new career in real estate.  If you’re interested in learning more about working at Davidson Realty, contact Peyton Davidson at (904) 940-5000 or pdavidson@davidsonrealtyinc.com.

We had a DJ, a Margarita Man machine, 5 casino games, slots, Luli’s Cupcakes, a champagne fountain, coolers of beer and wine, and Moes’ catering. That may sound like a hodgepodge of things and it was, but somehow it was perfect!

Even with all that fun surrounding us, we still had time to celebrate and congratulate the Davidson Companies. Davidson Property Management gave awards to Mirtha Barzaga, Margherite Myers, and for the most tenants – Juana Husted.

Jennifer Todd, Jock Ochiltree, Michelle Gonzalez, Ana Speziale, Pauline & Woody Cake, Ted Tyndall, Mirtha Barzaga, Suzy Evans, and Dottie Lay all received recognition for $2 million or over in closings and/or sales.

Suzy Evans was honored with Top Lister with over $3.8 million in listings sold. Dottie walked away with 2 awards – Top Sales with over $6.4 million and Top Closer with over $5.3 million in closings. As you know from the monthly tops blogs, these women worked so hard in 2010 and deserve all their success!

Mirtha was given the President’s Award this year. Davidson Realty’s President’s Award is given to someone that not only produces for the company, but who participates and exemplifies what our company is about. Mirtha had an amazing year with over $4 million in closings and $6 million in sales.

We also gave out awards that our Agents and Staff voted on and decided.

The Agent Winners were:
Bettin’ on a Win (team player): Mirtha Barzaga
Dealer’s Choice (Professional, honest, sincere, courteous): tie between Beverly Morse & Dottie Lay
High Roller (Goes above and beyond): Dottie Lay

The Staff Winners were:
Bettin’ on a Win: Kristen Calhoun
Dealer’s Choice: Sharon King
High Roller: tie between Massy Zeledon & Vanessa Cunningham

At the end of the night we cashed in our winnings and received raffle tickets. We gave away great prizes like $200 towards an agent’s real estate dues, a 3G Kindle for a staff person, a manicure & pedicure, a car wash, restaurant gift cards, etc. We had an amazing time coming together and celebrating 2010 as a winning year for the Davidson Companies!