Florida Real Estate Broker and Partner, Golf and Waterfront Communities

Along the southeastern coast of North Carolina the Cape Fear River moves past the town of Southport as it forms the Atlantic Ocean, at least that’s the way I see it. Southport is a special place to me and will always be considered home. It's where my wife Kara and I grew up and the lifestyle we experienced there is one so few are fortunate enough to ever experience. At Golf and Waterfront Communities, it is our goal to share this unique lifestyle with as many people as possible and is the very reason we have decided to focus exclusively on communities offering the experiences we know and love so much.

If you’re wondering what its like growing up in Southport, North Carolina, read Robert Ruark’s The Old Man and the Boy. I learned valuable lessons in life through outdoors experiences I shared with my father and grandfather. Ironically many of our excursions took place in the same areas Ruark recalls in the book allowing me to relive many of my childhood memories.

 My father was also the first to introduce me to real estate and most importantly creating something special from just a vision, when in 1985 he decided to develop a large parcel of land for the sole purpose of providing improvements to a unique waterfront property where we wanted to live. Turns out, the community he developed is now one of the most successful in the area and what used to be considered in the middle of nowhere, is now minutes from town. Athough I was somewhat knowledgeable and interested in real estate sales as a teenager, the ocean was my passion and is where I focused my education graduating from the University of North Carolina Wilmington with a BS degree in Marine Biology.

 During college summer breaks and for five years after graduation, I focused on what I considered to be an exciting career, guiding friends and family on offshore fishing trips almost always selling our catch. Some days we filled the boat with thousands of pounds of grouper, snapper and amberjack but as the years passed, my hands and back grew sore and I looked for a less physical, more profitable way to earn a living. I’ll never forget the day I was offered the best opportunity of my life. I can remember it well, the King Mackeral were snapping and my friend Marc Wilson who was fishing with me, grew tired somewhere around the 800 lb mark. He laughed and told me if I would put forth this much effort showing real estate for him at Winding River Plantation, I would do well and offered me the opportunity to give sales a try.

  A few months later, with a real estate license in hand, he walked into my office and said, “ I have a couple who just came in and I don’t have anyone to show them the community, are you ready for your first customer?” My answer was an easy one but I was nervous. Thankfully the nerves quickly subsided and a few hours later the couple I assisted purchased one of the most expensive waterfront properties in Winding River. It brought me great satisfaction when I realized I had helped a family find something they had worked their whole lives for. This feeling was better than any commission I could ever earn and created a new passion I continue to have to this day. Later that year I was honored in Las Vegas, Nevada as one of Bluegreen Corporation’s top agents, a designation I earned in my first nine months in the business. Soon our success led to the completion of sales and marketing at Winding River so I was led to look for opportunities elsewhere.

  In June of 2001,I was asked by the Ginn Company to join the onsite sales team in Port St Lucie, Florida for a community yet to be named. It wasn’t until a training session a few weeks later we learned this community would be known as Tesoro “ Meaning Treasure in both Italian and Spanish languages” referring to the Treasure Coast of Florida where its located. My career once again took off and soon I was among the top agents in the Ginn Company. My time at Tesoro also served as an incredible learning experience for me, educating me on all aspects of the development business. What works and what doesn’t, and most importantly always listen to your owners, after all a community cannot be successful without them. This fact alone is why we decided to form our own real estate company Golf and Waterfront Communities. By combining our efforts we are now in a position to make the necessary decisions for success. Our team of qualified professionals has extensive knowledge in the sales and marketing of planned communities and can make a selling or buying experience a pleasant one.

 Florida is also where my wife Kara and I met. We often tell friends it took moving to another state for us to meet even though we grew up 10 minutes apart. I knew we would get along when I realized she liked being out on the boat and most importantly brought along food and drink for the trip, something I was not really accustomed to during my commercial fishing days. Water and crackers were considered fine dining in those days. Kara also befriended my Jack Russell Terrier “Chase” and somehow managed to calm him from the maneater he used to be. One day a few years later, Kara brought another Jack home for me to meet. His name is “Fishbone” and the two of them are a blast with never a dull moment around our home.

 Still something was missing in our lives, after all I needed to show someone how to throw a cast net. So in January of 2009, we welcomed our son Sawyer to the world. He’s the best and I can’t wait for the night when I can sit down with him before bed, pull the old Sports Afield Waterfowler’s ID book and quiz him on the ducks and geese of the world, just like my dad did with me so many years ago. Of course its too early to know if we will have the same interests, but when Sawyer is outside he doesn’t cry and judging from his reaction to the big Red Grouper I recently caught, he’s showing signs that he may be an outdoorsman just like his dad and granddaddy.

I have my fingers crossed.

 Bonner Herring