T.J. Hart, Real estate photogragher interviewed Neal Heery-
Welcome to the latest installment of “X Questions” series. This go around, I spoke with Neal Heery, who is 50% of the Heery Brothers duo. Neal and George are both agents with Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty, which is quite a mouthful when introducing yourself on the phone. As a member of the Atlanta Board of Realtors Million Dollar Club every year since 1998, he’s proven to be quite successful in this arena.
Neal knows the Atlanta area well, having attended Woodward Academy for high school. He’s also a graduate of the University of Mississippi, and a Desert Storm veteran as a member of the United States Marine Corps. In fact, if Neal had his way, he would have stayed in the Marine Corp longer than he did, but then, many buyers and sellers would have been deprived of one of Atlanta’s top producing teams. Not to mention, “I thought I was 10 feet tall and bullet proof and probably would have gotten myself hurt, or killed, and never would have met my wife Rebecca and had my beautiful daughters.”
Without further adieu, I present my conversation with Neal Heery:
How did you first get interested in real estate and how did your experience progress?
My father helped an employee buy an old house. It was not the best purchase and it was in a rough neighborhood. The employee had some other issues and walked on his part of the deal. My dad did not have any equity in the house, but it rented for enough to pay for itself. He signed it over to me. I promptly bought the two houses next door through owner financing and started my real estate empire. I was 18 and a senior in high school. I decided I would study real estate in school…then again, I also wanted to be an Army Special Forces Officer. It was not until I did a year of army ROTC at Colorado State and then spoke to the Marine recruiter that I decided to enlist in the Marine Corp.
In my first year in the residential business, I made $7,500 and had $13,000 work of expenses. In my second year in the business, I was assisting Doris Robinson who at that time had over 50% market share in Druid Hills. In the first month I worked for her, we closed 12 transactions. I made about $35,000 that second year as an assistant and about $30,000 myself. In my third year, the phone started ringing and I was showing competency to condo buyers who were my age. That’s when business started creating itself.
Finish reading this interview on the Hartografie blog.
For those interested in contacting Neal, he can be reached via email at neal@heerybrothers.com. Also, you can check out his website for the latest listings and to find out additional information: http://www.heerybrothers.com.
Great interview Neal! Lots of good information!