Grace Frank Group: a realtor to support each evolving story
The first thing Grace Frank, MBA, affiliate broker with Real Estate Partners Chattanooga, LLC, wants you to know about her real estate practice is that it can be a rewarding, joyful process to buy or sell a house.
“It’s really about discovery and journey,” she says. “One of the first things we try to do is to really listen to people and figure out what’s important to them and make it a fun experience.”
The Grace Frank Group, which handles both residential and commercial real estate, is one of the busiest firms in the greater Chattanooga area. Frank and her colleagues—a small cadre of full-time staff members plus select team of agents—invest time in building long-term relationships with clients, partnering with them from starter houses for young singles to multi-generational homes to retirement bungalows.
“It’s about different life seasons,” Frank says. “We work with young couples, growing families, or people that are downsizing. We see clients for life, and often continue to work with their children and grandchildren.”
In an initial interview, Frank has a conversation, taking time with a potential client and listening to their goals and dreams. Do they want to live near mountains or a shopping mall? Do they need a good spot to garden? Do they prefer privacy or the ability to chat porch-to-porch with a neighbor?
Carefully, Frank builds a relationship that includes the right-now purchase but that’s intended to last through several purchases, in fact, through the client’s entire lifespan.
To sustain such relationships, Frank and her colleagues ground their practice on understanding, trust, and business savvy. They’re not just with you until you ink the deal—they’re here for the long haul. Frank wants to help clients build dreams—and financial sustainability.
“Real estate is not an emotional decision,” she says. “Even a first home needs to be an investment in the future. We have to look wisely, negotiate smart, and not get caught up in the moment. We help clients take a step back and ask, ‘Does that really make sense now and for the next five years?’ Even with a starter home, we treat you, your money, and your investment seriously.”
Along those lines, Frank also deals in commercial real estate, often helping investors expand their portfolios to millions of dollars’ worth of property. Investment savvy isn’t limited to the rich, Frank adds.
“I advise a lot of millennials that sometimes the best place to start is to buy a duplex where you live on one side and the other side pays your mortgage,” she says. “If you’re looking to get into your first property, a duplex is a great way to start.
From beginnings to fruition, Frank is interested in processes that can be sustained. The purveyor of an organic farm that uses solar energy and rainwater catchment to raise a breed of near-extinct pigs, as well as organic eggs, vegetables, and herbs, Frank is deeply interested in creating spaces and communities that can thrive for generations.
She also supports green|spaces and Girls Inc. of Chattanooga, both of which look to cultivate the resources, human and natural, of our fair city.
“I try to create sustainability within my real estate practice, too,” she affirms. “It’s important to how I live, how I’m contributing to the community. For Chattanooga to thrive, we all have to tap into something that allows us to give back.”
When you’re looking for a real estate partner, someone you can feel comfortable with and trust, it’s important to think through the decision carefully, interviewing candidates and taking your time. After you’ve had that conversation with Grace Frank, you’ll certainly feels she’s a realtor you can rely on to be with you throughout your life’s seasons.
To view Grace Frank Group listings, visit gracefrankgroup.com or call (423) 265-0088. And if you want to put a friendly face to the name, swing by the Main Street Farmers Market on Wednesday to see Frank’s farm, Land to Table Farm, selling her herbs, eggs and pork!