CORRECTED: Carol Jones reaches $1 bil in contract sales

Carol Jones doesn’t attribute her company’s success to the changing real estate market or higher land values. It’s the quality of the work force.

Carol Jones, Realtors Nov. 15 announced $1 billion in year-to-date contract sales for 2005, shattering the real estate company’s 2004 record of $882 million in contract sales. Closed sales for 2004 were $701 million.

“In 2000, I said my goal is to be doing a billion in 2005, and everybody raised their eyebrows and smirked. I again said it in 2002,” Carol Jones, CEO and president, said. “We’re a product of ourselves, and if we believe we can, we can.”

Jones cites a focus on aggressive recruiting and agent training as reasons for reaching the sales benchmark. The company hires about 100 new agents each year, she said.

Jim Bolin, general manager, said an expanding commercial and residential real estate market is only a small factor in the company’s growth, as internal improvement has been the key to its success.

“I’d like to think it’s training and maturity on the agents’ part, and then you add that into a very strong marketplace,” he said. “There are companies out there that haven’t grown anywhere near what we have, and part of it is they’re satisfied with where they’re at, and we’re not satisfied.”

To keep up with its growth, Carol Jones is expanding its National Avenue office by adding an adjacent 7,000-square-foot building. A new location in Ozark is being constructed on South Street. Both will be complete Jan. 1, Jones said, and then renovations will begin on the company’s main office.

Carol Jones, Realtors provides services in residential, commercial, lot sales, development, farm and recreational properties, leasing, property management and real estate consulting.

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