A - chatWITH… Tom Peterson III

A chatWITH… Tom Peterson III

mrandolphadvance@gmail.com

Tom Peterson III has been an intricate member of the community for decades, as his business, Tom Peterson Realty, Inc., has helped families to find homes in the area for over 40 years. Throughout these years, many aspects of real estate have changed, but one thing has remained consistent: Tom loves his community and loves selling homes.

Though his life didn’t begin in Ailey, Tom always heard tales of the city, as his father dreamed of his son returning to the family’s place of origin. “I was raised in Savannah, but my father was from Ailey,” Tom explained. “All throughout my childhood, [my daddy] would say, ‘I hope when you get grown, you’ll go back to Ailey.’ So, when I finally graduated from law school, my wife and I moved to a little cabin on his farm.”

Tom and his wife Nancy lived in the farm cabin from 1970-1975, before buying a home in the center of Ailey, right next to the city’s single caution light. “We had to fix it up – it was not modernized at all. We put in wiring and plumbing, and changed the inside a little bit to accommodate our family,” he recalled. “We lived in Ailey for 14 years.”

Though living in Ailey, Tom spent most of his professional life in Vidalia, leading him to eventually move. “Simply, my children went to school here and my business was here, but our home and church was in Ailey. I just felt like I needed to be closer to my work, so we moved there then,” he explained.

His goal was to practice law within the city, but after struggling to pass the Georgia Bar – which he never accomplished – he was asked by his cousin Lawson Peterson to join the Lawson Peterson Realty company in 1973. Tom worked at the company until 1979, when he went out on his own to create Tom Peterson Realtors, Inc.

“My office at that time was where the Italian restaurant [Rialto’s] is now. I was there from 1979-1985, when I was able to buy this lot. It had a little building on it, which I took down, and built this building in 1985,” he said. “We’ve been here since then.”

According to Tom, a lot has changed in real estate over the years, as affordability, lending, homebuyers, and more have shifted with the times. “As I look back on it, affordability was not the issue in the early 1970’s that it is today. A typical price per square foot was between $12-$15 a square foot – and that was for new construction. Mortgage rates at that time were in the 7%-8% range, and even though incomes were proportionally lower back then, because of the affordability of the housing, with an interest rate of 7.5%, people could typically make the payments,” he remarked.

Tom continued, “The main difference that I see from then and now is that most people sold their own real estate [back then]. The concept of a realtor being involved was a new idea in rural South Georgia, even though it was rather common in bigger areas like Savannah and Atlanta. Around here, people just stuck up a for sale sign and when someone that needed a house noticed it, they then contacted a lawyer to prepare a sales contract and proceeded to closing. Vidalia Federal [Savings Bank] did most of the financing, and there were very few mortgages from out of town lenders. Today, that’s very common – people see a mortgage advertised on the internet or on television and contact those people, and the financing is all done from way off.”

He credited the Vidalia Federal Savings Bank for their role in helping to build the real estate housing industry within the area. “To me, Vidalia Federal was a real strong influence in creating a stable housing market in Vidalia in that they required that a buyer have at least 20% of the purchase price to put in the transaction before they would finance the purchase. They would provide 80% of the cost, and the purchaser had to have the other 20%. What that did was it made people invested enough in the transaction to make a determined effort to make the payments on time. Today, the environment is different in that most people have around 3% put forth in the purchase and the lender has around 97%, so the incentive to make the payment is somewhat less,” Tom shared. “But, [lowering the down payment] did open up the opportunity of home ownership to a lot of people who did not have 20% [to put down], so there is a good side to that and a bad side to it.”

Since Tom first began in real estate, the population of realtors in the area have also greatly changed, as he stated that only approximately 5 other men worked in realty when he first began. “It was a male dominated industry at that time, whereas today it is completely different – it is a female dominated industry. Frankly, that’s a good thing because I’ve learned over the years that the female in the family makes the choice of where the family is going to live. It’s the husband’s responsibility to a certain point to see that they have a stable income – even though now, women are required to participate in [providing for their families] even more than they did in the 1970’s.”

He continued reminiscing on the past, remarking, “People would call and ask if I could help sell their home, and they were under the impression that they would have to pay me a fee like you would an attorney. It took years to explain and get the community to understand that in a sales transaction where a realtor is involved, you only pay if you’re successful – there’s not a fee for consultation or advice; it’s only if we were successful at finding a buyer and closing the sale, then typically, you were expected to pay a commission.”

When Tom first began real estate, the typical buyer came to the area to work at Southern Nuclear Plant Hatch, while now a variety of business, school systems, and more draw people to the area. “For the first 20 years of my career, 90% of the buyers came from Plant Hatch – first in the construction phase, then in the employment stage to run the facility. Back in those days, these employees were typically sent to us by a relocation company which their employer had hired. The relocation company would take over the transaction and all the employee had to do was find a new home, then the relocation company handled the rest of continued from page

it and essentially, paid our commission. Then, when the employee got transferred back out, the relocation company typically purchased the house and then listed it with us. That allowed the employee to go on about their work without being worried about selling the house.”

He added, “Today, the nuclear plant is probably 5% of the market, and the rest of it is made up from the school systems, hospital, and local industries. I have to give the [Greater Vidalia] Chamber of Commerce a lot of credit for creating an environment here where new industries were welcomed because that afforded us an opportunity to have home buyers in the market.”

One of the biggest differences in current real estate transactions and past real estate sales is the price per square foot of the home, which Tom said has jumped from $12-$15 per square foot to “virtually ten times that today.”

“That makes it so much more difficult to afford a home. When we had the interest rates down in the 2-3% range, that allowed people to buy houses that were otherwise unaffordable. But now, as rates have gotten back to traditional norms of 6-7% with a high cost of housing, it is virtually impossible to buy a house. So, many of the transactions that we see today are essentially cash transactions by people that are moving here from areas where they have sold a home that was much more expensive and can buy the same house for substantially less money, and therefore, have most of the cash to pay for it and do not need to do financing,” he explained.

Tom also spoke on the change in Vidalia, which he stated has been very exciting to watch. “The community has evolved, to me, in a very positive way. We still have – I think – a settled entrepreneurial oriented workforce, which I am very proud of,” he emphasized.

“One of the things that has always distinguished our market from other markets is that we have no large government enterprise, like a military base or Veterans Affairs hospital, to bring people here. People typically come here because of work-related issues, and they don’t have a sense of entitlement that other communities are troubled with. We also don’t have the feast and famine issues that are in the big military installations,” he said. “When the military is moving people in, it’s really great. But when they deploy people out, it’s really bad. So, even though our market is slower overall than those places, it’s more dependable, which has allowed me and others to make a living selling residential real estate.”

He continued to speak fond memories of times working with the Chamber and local businesses within the area. “This is home for me, so it’s great to see it thriving,” Tom commented.

Tom Peterson III assures that regardless of whatever changes will continue in Vidalia, he will be there to change with the times and continue to grow the community that he loves. Prices, buyers, and more may be ever changing, but one thing is for sure: Tom will always be there with a friendly smile to embrace it all.

WORKING IN VIDALIA – Tom Peterson and his wife Nancy first came back to the area and lived in Ailey, but after beginning to work in Vidalia, moved across the county line to be closer to their jobs.

INVOLVED IN THE COMMUNITY – Tom has been involved in various boards and organizations within the community, such as the Vidalia City Council and Toombs County Chamber of Commerce (now Greater Vidalia Chamber). His team of realtors never failed to attend community events and fundraisers, such as the Meadows Hospital Health Fair 3 Mile Fun Walk (shown). L to R: Ann Todd, J.C. Wilkes, Blake Brown, Malinda Brown, Carolyn Robinson, Kitty Foskey, Jackie McLain, Nancy Peterson, Tom Peterson, Ashley Faulk, Jana Faulk.

SUCCESSFUL REALTOR – Tom has spent many years as a successful realtor and businessman, earning him many awards. (Shown) Tom (center) receives a pin from his sister Paige Holman (left) and Bill Warthen (right) during an awards ceremony.

LOCAL LEADER – Tom is a leader in the area for real estate, and even participated in activities with the Altamaha Basin Board of Realtors in 1998. L to R: Keith Hatcher, Tom Peterson, Neal Jackson, Brian Frederick.

HOME BASE – The Advance announces Tom Peterson Realty, Inc.’s move to the facility in which they are still located on Jackson Street in 1985. L to R: Sue Roy, Nancy Peterson, Ruth Peterson, Tom Peterson, Mark McGowan, Sue Gibson, Ronald Williams, Diane Avert.

FAMILY BUSINESS – Several members of Tom’s family have entered into the real estate business, including his grandson Greg McKenzie Jr., who works at Tom Peterson Realty, Inc. (Shown) Tom Peterson poses with Greg McKenzie Jr. when McKenzie was only a child.