Member Highlight -- Michele Fransen

In this episode, we sit down with Michele Fransen for a thoughtful conversation about leadership, service, and the people-centered work happening throughout the Emerald Coast real estate community. Michele shares her perspective, experiences, and lessons learned along the way, offering insight into what it means to stay engaged, lead with purpose, and make a meaningful impact in both business and community.

Whether you know Michele personally or are hearing from her for the first time, this conversation highlights the heart behind her work and the value of showing up with intention, professionalism, and care.

Tune in for an inspiring and practical conversation with Michele Fransen.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to Keys to the Emerald Coast, the official podcast of the Emerald Coast Association of World Turks. Each episode we unlock market insights, advocacy updates, and member stories to help you thrive one key at a time.

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Welcome back, Ecar. Thanks for joining us for another episode of Keys to the Emerald Coast. I am Chad Nelson, Marketing and Communications Director with ECAR. Happily joined and back in studio with Maria Howell.

SPEAKER_04 0:25

Hello. Welcome back, Chad. Yes, you have been.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

I appreciate you, you know, stepping in and doing the lion's share of holding the fort down. But yeah, I was I was sick. I had an upper respiratory infection that then went through the house, but um feeling much better and and thankful to be back with you guys.

SPEAKER_04 0:44

We are happy to have you back. I definitely missed our banter for sure. So yes.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

We're back and having some fun. And uh we are joined in studio with Michelle Francis.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

How are you?

SPEAKER_01 0:57

I'm good. I'm good. A little nervous, but I'm good. You're gonna do what you guys are. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

Marie may kick.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

But no no bite.

SPEAKER_02 1:07

We can't reach that far.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

Yeah. No, but we uh we're we kind of finished up a little tour of a lot of e-car leadership and area directors and um kind of bouncing around ideas of who do we bring in next. And we realized that we've got some award winners and some members that we really want to highlight. And you recently received an award from Kathy Alley, a presidential award, and wanted to bring you in just to again highlight you and and highlight all the things that kind of you are doing in in the association and your personal. But for those that don't know you, um, give us a little background on who you are personally, professionally, how'd you get into this industry? We'll kind of go from there.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

Well, I am originally from North Carolina. I moved here approximately probably 13 years ago. Um, my husband is from Fort Walton Beach and he was in the Army, he was stationed at Fort Bragg, and when he retired, he wanted to come back home. So the joke was I would give it a year. If I didn't like it, he had to move me back. Been here ever since. Um but before real estate I was a nurse for 26 years. Um and three years ago, nursing was kind of changing after COVID. You know, I was I worked through COVID and did all that, and you know, nursing was kind of changing. It was unfortunately, you know, you were taking on more patients and things like that. And I had told my husband, I was like, you know, I want to try something new. I want to see what I can do and still help people. And so I went and found a couple of real estate agents who were in the area and I sat down and talked with them to see if it was something I wanted to pursue. And I ended up getting my license three years ago, and I was still working as a nurse. I was only doing real estate part-time. And a year into it, I was in a pretty serious car accident and I had 13 hernated discs and I had a traumatic brain injury. And because I had to have spinal surgery, being a floor nurse was out of the question from here on out. Plus I had the brain injury, I would never want, you know, to put anybody in a situation. And so I was like, Well, I guess I'm gonna figure this real estate thing out pretty quick, like, you know. But if you look back on it, you see where, you know, you it may not have been my big plan, but I'm thankful that, you know, God kind of laid out a path for me beforehand and put me on the path to real estate. And I'm super fortunate because I look back on it now and I would have never met the people that I've met, and I would have never gotten to do the things that I've gotten to do recently had I not been in that car accident and had I not been pushed into real estate because I think I probably might would have stayed in it part-time because nursing was just a comfort zone for me. It's what I knew. Yeah. So, you know, it it was a blessing in disguise at the time. Um, you know, it was really hard. It was a hard adjustment, but I'm so thankful for it now.

SPEAKER_04 4:11

It's great. Yeah, they say, you know, nurses and teachers make the best realtors.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

They say that. They say that. I had um, but yeah, so but my husband and I, we live in Gulf Breeze. Uh we have four kids, we have five grandkids, two dogs and a cat.

SPEAKER_04 4:25

You are busy.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

Absolutely. Well, I mean, you you talked about it a little bit, but uh nursing was kind of the the primary for a very long time. Um how do you think your time as a nurse has, you know, made you a better realtor? What kind of skills? Um, how how how's that helped you in your profession now?

SPEAKER_01 4:47

I've I've seen it help in so many ways. First of all, I learned how to really listen and read people. You know, when you're nursing, especially my last position was inpatient oncology. You know, you're there through some really hard times, through some really hard decisions. And, you know, as the nurse, I spend more time with the patients than the doctors, and so a lot of my patients would lean on me and ask questions, and I was always there. So I think it translated into real estate in the sense of, you know, a lot of people want to buy a house, but they're not exactly sure what they're looking for. And you have to learn to read in between those lines. You know, get to know them, get to know their likes, their dislikes, and really listen. Because sometimes they'll be like, Oh, wow, I kind of like this, but then you're reading their facial expressions, you're like, no, they really don't. You know, and so I think being able to really listen, people want to feel seen and they want to feel heard. And if we can make people feel seen and heard, and we actually do listen to them, I think that that makes a bigger impact than what people realize.

SPEAKER_04 5:51

Yeah, you know, I agree.

SPEAKER_01 5:53

And I'm a natural nurture, you know, I'm a mom, I was a nurse, grandma now. And some clients need you to hold their hand through the process. Some clients really feed on that. They need somebody to give them those words of comfort and affirmation and hey, you know, I've got you through this process. I get that it's scary. It's one of the biggest decisions they're gonna make. So, you know, it's one of the biggest financial decisions most families will make. And so if you can nurture them through that, a lot of times that gives them the room to breathe. You're scrambling, you know, you're paddling underwater, you're that duck paddling underwater trying to make every all the pieces come together, but they don't see that. Yeah, and they don't need to because they don't need to get nervous.

SPEAKER_04 6:38

Right. Yeah, you're handling everything on the the paddle end, I guess. Yeah, I always I always do the juggle. Yeah. I'm always like, all the balls are in the air. You don't need to know what's going on. I've got them all.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

Yeah, yeah. They might still be in the air and a little to the left, but I'm gonna get them. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 6:54

I think I always talk about spinning plates. Yeah. Spinning plates and making sure they don't fall, but yeah. Yeah, everyone has their own thing. Well, I know we mentioned uh, you know, your award that you got from Kathy. Being a few years into this profession, I I believe a fairly new member of e-car.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

Um what does that mean? You go to a members meeting and your name is called. Name's called. What what kind of w how does that make you feel?

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Um for me, it was such an honor because I want to be known for more than my transactions. I want to be known for more than what I sell, what I list. I want to be known for the impact I leave. You know, I think we all want that. And for me to be recognized for something other than numbers, other than real estate numbers, it was just it was such an honor. Like it was a surprise. I think I did on that.

SPEAKER_04 7:57

How did they get you there? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Yes, yes. It was definitely a surprise, but I you know, if all we look at in life is our numbers and we base our success on numbers, we have so missed the mark. And I don't want to miss that mark. I want to I want to be involved in my community and I want to make it better than how I found it, you know, and that's kind of how I do things.

SPEAKER_04 8:20

Yeah, I love that. Because I do, we do we've heard from a lot of our members like how come you don't, you know, honor us at the end of the year awards with our production numbers. And I'm like, no, that's your broker's job to you know, to recognize you there. Our job as an association is to recognize what you're doing for the association and out in the community.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

Yes. And I just think that that's so much more important. I think people gravitate toward that too. I think people see that and they appreciate it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

I think it's one of those things that we talk about a lot, and I think we've had so many sit across the table that it it's so much more about the people and that experience, the time that you get to spend with them. I know my experience as a coach for the longest time, it's not about the wins and the losses. I could care less about my record. I could care less about winning awards and accolades and medals. It's it's about getting to talk to former athletes and be a part of their lives now. So yeah, I love that.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

And just think of the impact that you're making on a child, like you know, and that's just it is you you make it fun, you make them want to keep doing it even if they're losing really bad. You know, let's have fun doing it, kids, you know. And you know, real estate's a lot like that, like it ebbs and flows, and you know, so you if all you're basing your success on is numbers, you're gonna get your feelings hurt some months. So it's gonna be tough.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:43

Yeah. Definitely.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

Well, we're obviously we're on keys to the Emerald Coast. Uh what do you think makes the Emerald Coast such a special place to live, work, invest, spend your time?

SPEAKER_01 9:55

I think that you know, we're such a melting pot. If you look at the Emerald Coast itself, you know, Fort Walton, Pensacola, all the way there, you have military people who are just flowing through, but then you have the people who have been here and helped build these small towns and cities. And I think we're such a good mixture for families, for businesses, even for individuals. We have nightlife, we have family life. We we have everything that you're looking for. I mean, we even have the country like if you if you go just a little far north, you know, Milton Pate, Baker, you know, you can if you like four-wheelers, that's the place for you. So we have all of that in one little area, and then you just can't beat the beach life. I mean, who can fault that? So I think it's just such a good, well-rounded place where you can be who you want to be when you get here. You can do what you want to do.

SPEAKER_03 10:57

Yeah, I like how you put that, yeah. And you yeah, you have all the different worlds.

SPEAKER_01 11:03

Yeah, you do, you do, and you you know, and you really do. Like you have those people who love to go fishing, love to go boating, but then you have those that want to ride their four-wheelers and go hunting, you know, then you have the business people, you have the investors, you know, then you have the family people, and you have something for everybody here.

SPEAKER_00 11:22

That's good. Yeah, it's good. So, I mean, we're talking about all these areas from you know, Destin 30A all the way kind of Pensacola up towards the Alabama line. Um, what are some things that like you think buyers, sellers should be thinking about um, you know, when they're looking into this area, um, and maybe even outside of looking at houses alone, what what should they be thinking about when they are purchasing in this area?

SPEAKER_01 11:50

I think you should look at the first and foremost is your hobbies and your lifestyle.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:55

You know, because like I said, we have such a mixture of everything, and I actually had this happen recently. I had a couple who was moving here from Montana and they really thought they wanted this one area, and so I put all these houses together. I took them to this one area and I spent the day with them, and the more I spent with them, I was like, this is not where they want to be. You know, I could I could just tell, you know, I I listened to them and they loved being near the water. They were they loved the idea of living close to the beach, and you know, they had all these things that they and I the more I listened, I was like, if you will trust me, I will show you some houses and show you around an area tomorrow. And I had them meet me and I took them and showed them around and they fell in love with the Navarre Gulf Breeze area. And they weren't looking anywhere near that before.

SPEAKER_05 12:43

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 12:43

And they were like, How did you know? You know, and it's because I sat back and listened while they were looking at the houses and while they were looking in the area, I just sat back and listened. And so I think the main thing is is know what your lifestyle and your hobbies are. Because that's where you're gonna spend a lot of your time aside from working. You know, you want to enjoy your time off. So if you love the water, then you need to be close to the beach. If you love four-wheeling and hunting, then you need to move a little further up north. You know, so I think that those are big things. You also need to look at, you know, the schools, you know, if you're if you have kids. You know, their sports programs, if that's important to you, their arts programs, if that's important to you. So research those things because those are the things that are gonna make a difference at the end of the day. Now, of course you want to look at, you know, insurance costs, flood zones, and all that fun stuff too. But I think people are willing to compromise on insurance costs if they have the good schools, the arts programs, the s you know, sports programs, or things fit their lifestyle. Some people want to live that nightlife and go out and you know, live it up and do karaoke every night. So find where you can go do that every night.

SPEAKER_04 13:54

Downtown Pensacola?

SPEAKER_01 13:56

Yes. Um I don't think Juana Pagodas does anything in the city. Pensacola beach is pretty popular for that. Downtown Pensacola, and even a lot, I mean, you can find that in Navarre and Gulf Breeze, just about any night of the week these days.

SPEAKER_00 14:10

So yeah, lots of lots of bingo nights going on. Yes, karaoke nights. Well, I don't know live music.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

I love the dueling piano nights up here at Jake and Henry's.

SPEAKER_00 14:19

Yes, I wanted to go to the house. I love that. I think that's one of the biggest things that I miss about the boardwalk.

SPEAKER_04 14:25

When they had the Howl at the Moon. Howl at the Moon.

SPEAKER_00 14:27

I miss Howl at the Moon so much. And I keep I think every time there is a dueling piano night or whatever at Jake and Henry's, we always have something going on. I know me too.

SPEAKER_04 14:37

Yeah, we haven't been able to get it.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

So fun fact when I first came here to visit with Chris when while while we were still dating, that is where he took me our first night here was Howl at the Moon. Was it Howl at the Moon? Yeah. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 14:51

There you go. You're like Howl at the Moon right on the beach. Yeah, you know, yeah, the boardwalk.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

Spent a lot of nights at Howl at the Moon.

SPEAKER_04 14:58

He knew what he was doing.

SPEAKER_01 14:59

I won't I can't I can't tell you the songs he requested, it might be differently. But yeah, it was it was a good night. We had a lot of fun. But yeah, that's the first place he took me. We came here in December.

SPEAKER_03 15:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

Yeah. Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 15:11

That's great. Well, you mentioned a little bit about kind of you know the lifestyle and hobbies. But what are some highlights of what buyers and sellers are kind of asking you as their realtor right now? What are they looking for?

SPEAKER_01 15:24

The big thing right now is affordability. I think, you know, we've got gas prices going up, interest rates going up, insurance rates going crazy. Um, that seems to be the bigger thing that I have, and longevity, you know, because we do have a lot of people that come in, but then they're gonna move in a couple years. So what is gonna be my resale value? Should I rent it out? What are rental restrictions? Um, you know, and you have a lot of people, you have to have those hard conversations because we're never gonna see those two and three percent interest rates again. And you know, you got people who are holding out for them. I know, we're still waiting.

SPEAKER_04 16:03

And we're going up, you know? I'm like, why are they waiting?

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I had a client that I he wanted to buy at five something and decided he was gonna wait to see if they went down and now look or now. Oh yeah. Yeah. So, you know, that's the big thing that people are asking for right now. They're looking at affordability, they're looking at long-term. Am I gonna be able to resell this? What is gonna be the resale value, or am I gonna be able to rent it out? Um, those are the big questions that I'm getting right now.

SPEAKER_04 16:30

Yeah, I can see that because you know, like our military members who bought well right after COVID and those years, you know, the resale isn't there, right? So yeah, they're either breaking even or they're losing.

SPEAKER_01 16:41

So and that's why it's so important right now to to study the market, especially if you have listings and to list it appropriately, because if you list it too high, I mean, I don't know if you're seeing this, but we're I'm seeing appraisals not coming back to what they were.

SPEAKER_04 16:56

Definitely.

SPEAKER_01 16:57

And you know, it's I think I think that that's where we have to be able to have those hard conversations. It's not easy. Yeah. But you you still have to have them and you have to be honest and transparent. And um that's it's kind of hard when you're trying to sell yourself at the same time to be honest and transparent.

SPEAKER_04 17:15

Here's the bad news. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

It's like, yeah. I love that you think your house is worth that much, but you know Fortunately the clocks don't show that. Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

Well, I I know that you feel very strong about community and about you know, bringing a lot of those people together. I want to give you give you a couple minutes just to highlight some of all the kind of amazing things that you're doing in the community, maybe some events that might be coming up soon. Um, and just really highlight how important it is for our realtors and us as members to to really focus on that, like we talked about earlier, not necessarily just the numbers.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

Well, yeah, and I just had this conversation in my office this week because we've got new agents that are coming in. And since COVID, most people work from home now, and so our offices just don't see the people coming in and out that we used to, the traffic and the socialization. And so at Caldwell, we're working really, really hard to bring that back. That's one of the things I'm focused on in the office is trying to bring that community and that networking back because we need each other. What's that saying? Iron sharpens iron. You know, that's how I learn. I learned from talking to the Maria Howells, the Shelby Bakers, the Nick Browns. You know, that's how I learn. And I think it's so important for us to bring that back. You know, get plugged into your local associations, build those connections. Real estate is 100% relationship-based. And if anybody tells you any different, I would love to see it because I I struggled with that. I was a nurse, I didn't have to sell myself. My credentials, my years of experience spoke for it. So coming into a field that I had to learn how to sell myself and how to learn from other people was it was an adjustment. And so you even older agents with the new technology and things that we have out now, they could learn so much from these newer ones. Yes. And so there's stuff to learn on both ends. And the more we get plugged into our associations, the more we get plugged into our community, and the more we get plugged in with each other, I think is how we're gonna learn and grow. Otherwise, we're gonna stay pretty stagnant. And I want to see us all grow. Like there's enough for all of us right now. So let's all build each other up. And you know, I'm part of a ton of different community activities. You know, I'm part of the Navarre Chamber, Gulf Reese Chamber, Impact 100. I'm on the board of directors for Navarre. I'm part of Ecar. I'm part of Par. We'll leave it. But you know And she fosters animals too. I learned. I learned about that. That is one of my favorite things that I do. But you know, I just think that unfortunately since 2020, we've kind of lost that. We've kind of lost that whole, let's take somebody under and mentor them and let's see what we can learn from this one. And I really think that we need to try to push and bring that back because our newer agents are struggling. I mean, I was. I mean, you know, you you would walk in the office and have questions, there's nobody there. You know, so how do you how do you bring that back? Like that's I think that's the big question everybody's asking, and it is so important.

SPEAKER_04 20:33

We all need to we we have that conversation, you know, when I was president last year, and even seeing the events that I've gone to this year, you're right, is how do we get our members to attend our classes, our events, to network with each other, come on the tours. That's the other thing. Come on these area tours. I am so surprised. Like, I mean, 38 does a great job with theirs, but you know, our other areas, like we have we really have to push to get our members there.

SPEAKER_01 20:58

Well, and the thing is, is is so important to go because you never know when that buyer is going to come along and say, hey, this is what I'm looking for. And you can say, I just saw that happen. I just saw that it's fresh in your mind and you've already toured it, so you already know in person what it looks like. And like I said, iron sharpens iron. We we need each other whether we want to admit it or not. And I hate that COVID kind of took that away from us, and I really hope that we can look back and and get back in there.

SPEAKER_00 21:26

Yeah. I love it. I love it. So well, as as we're wrapping up, what what's one piece of advice you would give either to yourself looking back three years ago or say a a new agent that's just getting into the game?

SPEAKER_01 21:40

For myself, trust the journey. It's very hard for me. I am very type A. Um, I like to have a plan. I like to know where things are going. And I had no idea. No, this was not on my bingo card. Um, being a real estate agent wasn't even on my bingo card five years ago. You know, so it's amazing. How much your life and your trajectory can change, you know. Um, for new agents, do the work. Like being a real estate agent is not easy. You're not gonna come out of it making money right away. But go back to the basics, go back to doing the open houses, go back to going to your associations and building those relationships. Reach out, ask all the questions, door knock, you know, farm those neighborhoods, you know, do those things. Now do it with somebody and make it safe. Like, let's be smart about it. But at the same time, go back to the basics. Those open houses, they still work. And I think that we have gotten a little laxadazo about that, and then everybody's like, Well, what do I need to do? Go back to the basics, the basics still work.

SPEAKER_00 22:50

I love it. I love it. Well, thanks so much for joining us. Thanks for taking some time out of obviously your busy schedule to come in and talk a little bit. Um, we really appreciate it and just want to obviously celebrate you and give you a little highlight. So thank you.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

Like, like I said, to be recognized for something other than just real estate is just it's just so nice. And I appreciate you guys so much. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 23:14

Absolutely. Yes, thank you. Well, thanks again for joining us. Um, it's good to be back. It's good to have some fun in the studio and see some faces again, other than staring at you know, a phone screen or working on my laptop, working from home. But um again, that this this podcast is for you guys. So if there's anything that you want to hear, members that you feel like we need to highlight, areas of the association that you want to, you know, know more about, please let us know. Shoot me an email, give me a call. You can always find me at the e car office. I guess except for when I'm sick. Um but uh until then, and until next time, we'll talk to you soon.

SPEAKER_04 23:53

Goodbye. Bye.