Roy Godwin Says People Are Buying for the Right Reasons Now

There are a lot of great realtors in SoWal. Some have been around long enough to see all the ups and downs of the South Walton market.  In the 30-plus years since Roy got his Realtor’s license he's made real estate a career. That’s a quite an accomplishment for someone who got the license as a back up plan. “Cause you can always sell real estate,” he remembers thinking in 1978.

From an agent in the early 80’s, a broker in ‘84, a developer in the 90’s and now an agent again, Roy says the good news is that he knows what he’s doing. When he was younger, selling real estate was a job; you learned to ‘just do it.’

“Now I enjoy working with people. I don’t try to sell anything.” Today some real estate agencies use selling techniques that require following a script. “After 30 years, I don’t need a script. I don’t want one.”

His early experience came in Inlet Beach when developers from Birmingham, Ala. asked him to work for them. While he was hired to sell property, he also oversaw the project and even maintained the pool. Roy was the ‘everything’ guy since the developers only came down about every six months.

“I learned how to do a lot of things," Roy says.

In the late 80’s, when the market headed down, he went out on his own and developed Calypso Point in Dune Allen. At his kitchen table, he drew where the roads would be. This was not a sophisticated time, he says, people lived by the rules that existed then.

Over the years, he learned to accept the changes that came in the market and adapt to whatever situation there was.

“We do what we do best,” he says.

He’s seen times when people that wanted to buy in South Walton would not consider property north of 98, but today there are multi-million dollar homes there.

Now a broker associate at Re/Max Beaches, Roy says he learns as much about his clients as possible. What do they like? What don’t they like? Do they have young children and an interest in schools? Are there concerns about medical care? Is there a need for easy access to the airport? Are they retired or still working?

And there’s that all important piece of information, what’s their price range?

“It’s a big challenge,” he says. “There are plenty of homes. It’s finding the home where the people know when they walk in the door that this is the house – and be the right price.”
He believes people are buying for the right reasons now.

He says people are asking, ‘Can I afford it?’

“Real estate is simple. I can make it complicated, but this is not rocket science,” he says. “At the end of the day, the thing is, am I doing the best job to help my clients find what they want?”

Roy Godwin can be reached at (850) 267-0720 or (850) 585-1066. The Re/Max office is located in Redfish Village, 2050 W. Highway 30A, Unit 112.