A Great Tandem
Two former schoolteachers are making their mark in real estate. They just happen to be mother and daughter.
Words by Jenny Lynn Davis | Images by Al Blanton
James Ann Martin once sold a house while vacationing in Paris. Two years ago, she suffered a fall in her home that put her in the hospital. This did not stop her from selling two houses and a piece of land from her hospital bed.
“My job doesn’t stop, and that’s okay with me,” she says.
James Ann and her daughter, Gari Leigh Minor, are both former schoolteachers who retired from academics to work in real estate. Though some would believe this to be an extreme change in career paths, both James Ann and Gari Leigh see the two as not being that different.
Teaching was always the desired path for James Ann. Her grandfather and her mother both taught and she followed their footsteps, teaching English at Dora and Walker High School, followed by an adjunct position at Walker College. After over 35 years in education, a cousin suggested James Ann explore the world of real estate. Two years later, she retired from teaching and began her second career as a realtor at All Four Real Estate in Jasper, where she has been for over 20 years.
Gari Leigh followed a path like her mother’s, teaching within the Walker County school system for over 25 years before obtaining her real estate license in 2014. She loved her job in the classroom, but wasn’t able to balance both teaching and real estate—“I couldn’t just stop class and go sell a house,” she says. After retiring from education in 2019, Gari Leigh was ready for a different adventure and joined her mom at All Four.
She soon learned something that her mother had already figured out—teaching is a huge part of working in real estate. “There’s a ton of teaching involved in the work we do,” James Ann explains. “You teach people about what goes into buying a house, you speak to the different levels of understanding that each client possesses. We don’t want to just sell houses; we want buyers to understand the process and feel comfortable, and we’ll work with them through every step of it.”
James Ann likens real estate to making lesson plans and preparing to teach a class. “Teachers make lesson plans, and in real estate, we make plans,” she says. “We do extensive research on the properties and their features, we conduct a market analysis, we go through every step to ensure we make everyone that we work for feels comfortable and assured in their decisions.”
Just as a teacher might help a student navigate through a difficult curriculum, realtors often help clients when house-buying challenges arise. Gari Leigh relates the story of a client who wanted to purchase a home in the neighborhood he grew up in. After showing the house and getting contracts drawn up, he was unable to obtain a loan due to credit issues. “He was absolutely devastated, but we weren’t giving up on him,” Gari Leigh says. “We worked together with lenders, helped him figure out what needed to be done, and he got his credit fixed. He said he’d never had anyone treat him better and go that far to help him. I believe God puts people in your path to let you know you're doing what He wants you to do.”
This mother-daughter team relies on each other to get every job done. Lifelong exposure to each other’s strengths and areas for growth can be credited for that. “We work in tandem. Gari Leigh sells the houses and I close on the houses,” James Ann says. “She’s better at the selling part because she can think on her feet quicker than anyone I’ve ever met.”
The journey to finding a home can take weeks, sometimes even a year or more, due to the changing wants and needs of clients. James Ann and Gari Leigh are there for 100 percent of the process.
“If you have a listing with me, I am always available to you,” James Ann says. “My phone is always on. It even works internationally. If I have to stop in the middle of cooking dinner to show you a house, I will. I just want to make people happy and help them find their homes.” 78