When it comes to Tallahassee real estate sales, no one has been doing it longer than Chip Hartung. WFSU had a conversation with him about his career and how he views today's local real estate market.
What's the story of the man who's been called "The Dean" of Tallahassee home sales?
"Well, my full name is Lawrence Hartung. But I've been going as 'Chip' since I was a kid. So why don't we stick with Chip Hartung?" he suggested.
And indeed the name Chip Hartung has appeared on "For Sale" signs in front of Tallahassee residential properties for as long as most local residents can remember. Although Hartung was quick to disclose real estate wasn't on his mind when he was a Florida State undergrad many years ago. In fact, his major was criminology and he even did a summer job stint as a dispatcher for the Police Department in Melbourne, Florida.
"But, the apartment complex I lived at when I was in college, the manager of the complex needed some extra help and I got to do a lot of the maintenance around the apartments. By my junior year, he elevated me to an assistant manager and then I worked for Commonwealth, managing a 100-unit complex right next to campus my senior year. So my interest started moving in the direction of the real estate field."
Hartung said that interest led to a full-time, though not totally successful, job with the small Southeastern Real Estate brokerage firm right after college. That didn't last long.
"I shortly became acquainted with the Petrandis's in town and I went to work for Johnny Petrandis and I stayed there for 4 years. I was the top salesperson every year and did really well. That was from 1974 to 1979 and that year I started my own firm, Chip Hartung & Associates."
The new company survived and thrived.
"Over a short period of time, gained sales people and market share. Then in 1981, bought the Coldwell Banker franchise, which at the time was not very well known, at least not in the South. But it was one of the original companies that started franchising throughout the country."
Back then, most of America's realtors were independent. Today, franchisees account for more than 40% of the business. Speaking of business, it seems Tallahassee is NOT among Florida's go-go housing markets. But Hartung said that's not necessarily a bad thing.
"There are years I've been frustrated because we haven't seen the booms like many parts of Florida or the South. But one of the things that has drawn me to stay in the business and stay in Tallahassee is the fact it is fairly stable. We haven't really experienced the depth of depressions or recessions that a lot of markets experience. So financially, it's been a lot more even-keeled than it might be in a market that has highs and lows."
Although - at the moment - Hartung said the Tallahassee real estate market is red hot. At least as far as sellers are concerned.
"The biggest challenge we have is inventory. We don't have enough of it. And I think because of low interest rates and reasonably steady employment, there's more demand in the housing market than there is supply now. Part of that, though, has to do with affordability. Part of why we don't have enough inventory is because it is too expensive to build, or at least build to the level that most Tallahasseeans can afford."
Even though Hartung is closing in on half-a-century working the local real estate market, he says he has no immediate plans to step aside. And what does he consider his major achievement after all those years?
"I do take a lot of pride in the fact that a lot of the agents that I've worked with and mentored have either gone on to start their own firms either here or elsewhere, or they've moved to other cities and prospered in the real estate business, so that's really cool!"
Tallahassee's most veteran real estate seller, Chip Hartung.
