Real estate agents mark 25 years of service

A testimonial to a companys integrity is the length of time its employees work there, said Harold E. Crye, Crye-Leike Realtors chief executive officer.

Harold Crye and Dick Leike, co-founders of the 26-year-old, Memphis-based company, recently recognized 265 sales associates and employees within its West, Middle and Southeast Tennessee Regions who reached five, 10, 15, 20 and 25 years of service with Crye-Leike in 2002.

Company officials paid special tribute to three vice presidents of Crye-Leikes sales team and staff within its West Tennessee Region who have been with the company since it was established in 1977. They are sales associates Barbara Huntzicker and Stanley Mills, and training director Carol Williams. Each was presented a commemorative 25th anniversary silver platter as a token of appreciation for their support and devotion to the company.

Mills is Crye-Leikes only Lifetime No. 1 Agent, an award achieved for being the No. 1 sales associate 10 years in a row. Ranked among the top 1 percent of real estate producers in the nation, Mills meets twice a year with the top real estate agents nationwide to exchange ideas and systems, then shares his newfound knowledge with Crye-Leikes sales force. He is a member of Crye-Leikes Circle of Excellence.

Barbara Huntzicker is an active member of the Realtor community, where she has served on many professional committees of the Memphis Area Association of Realtors, as well as its board of directors. Additionally, she has chaired several committees of the Tennessee Association of Realtors and served on many committees of the National Association of Realtors. As a multi-million dollar producer, she served on the board of directors of the Multi-Million Dollar Club, in which she earned the status as life member and a member of Crye-Leikes Circle of Excellence. Her devotion to the profession brought her accolades from MAAR as both Realtor-Associate and Realtor of the Year.

Carol Williams was a sales associate for 12 years before becoming a member of Crye-Leikes corporate staff. She attained life member status in its Multi-Million Dollar Club. She is an active member of MAAR and TAR and has served on numerous local and state committees. Her years as an associate proved beneficial to the company upon her appointment as training director. She has developed and offered in-house training programs to countless sales associates through in-house certified residential specialist courses and a course called Flight to Excellence.

Mills, Huntzicker and Williams each began their careers with Crye-Leike as new agents.

One pinnacle moment in the companys early stages of agent growth and development happened when Crye and Leike leased their first office in January 1977, Williams and Huntzicker said.

In their beginnings of agent recruitment, Harold and Dick convinced a number of us that we would be the most successful in real estate if we joined their company, Williams said.

The duo leased their first office in Poplar Towers to accommodate their new sales force, leasing a mere 3,500 square feet of space, Huntzicker said.

Our agents heard on the street that a competing real estate firm was about to lease an entire floor of the Poplar Towers building in which Crye-Leike was located, Huntzicker said. We shared that with Harold and Dick. We all agreed that we didnt want another real estate company in the same building as us, so Harold and Dick proceeded to lease the entire floor.

Sometimes, you have to fake it til you make it, said Leike, laughing. But to become successful, you must live and breathe the part. That one move necessitated our first aggressive agent recruitment program to fill all that space. The rest is history.

Today, Crye-Leike has a network of more than 2,500 sales associates and 67 branch and franchise offices throughout Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Georgia, Kentucky and Florida. Crye-Leike attained sales of $3.2 billion and 22,198 closed transactions corporate-wide in 2002.

Vintage Homes LLC financed $1.2 million through SouthTrust Bank, securing the loan with lots 109, 120, 122, 127, 143 and 148 in the Walnut Gardens planned development, according to a trust deed filed in the Shelby County Registers Office June 3.

BICO Associates, a Tennessee limited partnership, and Belz Devco GP, a Tennessee general partnership, financed $7.6 million through Lincoln National Life Insurance Co., an Indiana corporation, securing the loan with six parcels of land in the Shelby Oaks/Raleigh LaGrange planned development: four parcels each measuring 4 acres; one parcel measuring 7.8 acres; and one parcel measuring 2 acres; according to a trust deed filed June 3 in the Shelby County Registers Office.

The Center City Revenue Finance Corp., a Tennessee public nonprofit corporation, financed $6.3 million through Union Planters Bank National Association, securing the loan with a parcel of land on Main Street Mall and a parcel of land near South Front Street, according to a trust deed filed in the Shelby County Registers Office June 3.

Saint Marys Episcopal School purchased land at 71 Perkins Extended from Joseph Orgill III and Irene L. Orgill for $2.4 million, according to a warranty deed filed June 10 in the Shelby County Registers Office.

The Center City Commission, a Tennessee nonprofit corporation, financed $1 million through Bank of America, securing the loan with property near the intersection of North Main Street and Adams Avenue, according to a trust deed filed in the Shelby County Registers Office June 6.

Big Creek Golf LLC purchased about 300 acres of land at 6195 Woodstock-Cuba Road in Millington from North Creek Inc. for $2.3 million, according to a warranty deed filed with the Shelby County Registers Office June 6. In a related transaction, Big Creek Golf financed $2.3 million from BancorpSouth Bank, according to a trust deed filed June 6.

Jones Carwash LLC, a Tennessee limited liability company, purchased two lots in Bartlett Commons, 2660 and 2662 Kirby Whitten Road, from Jim Jones Inc., a Tennessee corporation, for $1.3 million, according to a warranty deed filed June 4 in the Shelby County Registers Office. In a related transaction, Jones Carwash financed $1.2 million through Enterprise National Bank, according to a trust deed filed June 4.