I was born and raised in Cedartown, GA. After graduation I worked in Manufacturing with the Arrow Company, retail sales and Banking and raised two children both of which are Real Estate Brokers. In 1985 I left Banking and joined my family's Real Estate Business. I served as Broker for the Georgia and Alabama Real Estate offices and as Director of our Real Estate School. 

In 1990 I obtained my Florida Real Estate License and we started acquiring real estate in Florida. We developed associations with Realtors in Bay County and started referring clients to Florida for condominium purchases.

In 2000 we formed Jim Free Realty LLC for the purpose of buying and selling condominium properties in Florida. In 2005 I moved to Panama City Beach and begin to work full time in the Panama City Beach Office. We developed relationships with local brokers and developers. We studied the market and in late 2005 we knew the market was headed for a downturn. Having been through market downturns in the past we knew that we had to position ourselves in the market if we wanted to survive.  As it turned out this downturn was much deeper than any we had experienced.

Being the new company in town we knew that we would have to make a large investment in time and money if we wanted to survive in this market. Several years earlier we had determined that the Internet was where we needed to put our advertising dollars.  We also took a second look at direct mail because we realized that most of the owners of condominiums in Bay County lived somewhere else and direct mail seemed a good way to reach the owners.