The Business: Cindy Garvey of United Country promotes, Loves the Land (and People) She Serves Story by Pam Horne “The four signs of aging:  wisdom, confidence, character and strength.” This handwritten message, taped to the wall beside Cindy Garvey’s office copier, reminds her daily that life experience is an invaluable asset she can offer her clients and friends. And, it is experience that has established this rural Indiana native with a solid reputation for excellence in land and home sales in one of Williamson County’s most treasured communities. Leipers Fork was not exactly abuzz with realtors in the late 1980s when Cindy Garvey, a relatively new agent, packed her bags and moved from Nashville to the country. “I can remember people saying you’re going to move where?” Garvey quips during a recent interview at her United Country Real Estate office on Old Hillsboro Road. In those days, the center of town was the Country Boy diner and a gas station or two. Puckett’s provided a source for groceries, but that was just about it. There were no community events to speak of and only one antique shop. The Natchez Trace Bridge had not been constructed. The sheer thought of sending a tourist out for a day trip to this side of the county would have roused suspicions. “I remember when nobody wanted to buy and sell property out here,” says Garvey, whose youth was spent living on the outskirts of Evansville, Ind., in a similar pastoral landscape. She described Paradise, Ind., as a “wide spot in the road” that gave her the benefit of growing up in a sheltered and safe community where neighbors stood by neighbors. “I grew up in a small farming community,” she recalls. “My grandfather had a great big orchard with peaches and apples. As a kid I used to help them pick the produce every year, but there was a coal company in town that began to expand. And ultimately, the company purchased my grandfather‘s land.” Getting started In the mid-1990s, United Country Real Estate approached Garvey about opening a franchise in Leipers Fork. At the time, she said, she was content with her business. “I was a one-woman show, working out of a single office without a sign,” and doing just fine, she adds. She had cut her teeth in the late 1980s and early ’90s in real estate working for Joel Riggs Better Homes and Gardens, J. Carter and Associates and Realty Executives. Longtime Brentwood realtors like the late Sandra Gilley, Susan Loudenslager and Caroline Wood mentored her. Garvey says that they shared their knowledge, and more importantly, their ethics, as she embarked on a completely new career. Before real estate, she had worked for a couple of years as a teaching assistant, working with severely handicapped children at the Tennessee School for the Blind. It was there that she developed patience and a keen understanding of serving people. When United Country approached her about heading up an office in Leipers Fork, she was flattered, but skeptical. “I don’t like change,” she says, admitting the idea of starting a brand new venture with an unfamiliar company was a bit overwhelming. But Jim Graves, a regional vice-president with the firm, convinced Garvey to join the United Country team and today he sings her praises. “Cindy has consistently placed among our company’s top producers nationwide,” Graves explains. “Cindy has received our highest awards for sales excellence and professionalism. Her love for the Leipers Fork community and its residents is evident in how she insists in maintaining the lifestyle and beautiful landscape of this wonderful area.” Garvey does not hesitate to hail the skills and talents of her team of professionals. Broker and agent Spencer Knoch, along with Heidi Green, Eric Roberson, Hayes Gibson, Abbie Griffith, Bill Butler, Angie Williams, Jimmy Williams, Olivia Stelter, and Linda Earwood have all chosen to place their license with this one-of-a-kind office in southwest Williamson County. The culture and values espoused by United Country, Cindy explained, is an excellent fit for her personally, but also, she believes, for Leipers Fork. “United Country is based in Kansas City,” Garvey says. “They started out back in 1925 as United Farm Agency. Even still today, that’s what it’s based on. All their offices are in small communities and towns that cater to a large metropolitan area. This agency is perfect for people who live in the city and want to come and live on a farm.” Preserving a sense of place Over time, Garvey has been involved in several attempts by the community to preserve its identity as a pastoral rural refuge. Having a realtor active in that endeavor is key to making sure the woods; hollows, hills, and valleys are within reach for the next generation of residents. Aubrey Preston, landowner and community volunteer, says Garvey and her team of agents have helped to shape the vision of Leipers Fork. He credits Garvey with taking a long-term approach to marketing real estate in this highly sought after part of the county. “Our first priority is to do everything we can to keep locals in the family farms they have enjoyed for generations,” Preston explains. “That’s what is best for the community. Cindy has worked with us to recruit conservation-minded buyers. Cindy does an outstanding job of helping people with real estate, but is also always keeping an eye on what's best for our community in the long run. It doesn’t always work out perfectly, but she tries to make her best effort whenever possible.” And as the imperfections of life surface in this tight-knit town, Garvey is also known as a neighbor and friend whose reach is always beyond self. “When I first met Garvey five years ago she had cancer,” recalls Laura Mursgrave, a friend and owner of Backyard Café, located just a stone’s throw from the United Country office. “I moved in the middle of winter and didn’t know anybody … my husband was traveling a lot and she called me and invited me over to grill steaks out at her house. We became fast friends, but she’s that way with everyone.” Several weeks ago, after a tornado touched down in the community, Musgrave describes Garvey’s immediate response to the situation. “She took two days and she went and checked on people. She helped my neighbor saw through downed trees so I could get out of my property. That’s just who she is. She was safe and could get out herself and so she went and checked on everybody else.” What matters most Garvey has made it a point over the years to learn about the land that is so cherished by residents and visitors alike. Usually clad in a pair of well-worn blue jeans, she would never be mistaken for a high-pressured saleswoman. “We have a lot of really good real estate people out here,” Preston says. “But when it comes down to it, Cindy has worked really hard, and has, by far, the most miles on the back roads. She has what you can’t find on a computer or read in a real estate report. You just have to spend time driving the roads and getting out and opening the gates to these farms. And you've got to know the families that own them.” According to Garvey, her eagerness to build authentic relationships, beyond the business transaction, has always been her desire. “We have worked for 12 years to make this little village a destination,” she says of the efforts of what was originally named the Leipers Fork Merchant’s Association. “We changed the name to the Leipers Fork Community Association because there are so many people moving in that want to be involved.” A Sweeney Hollow Road resident herself, Garvey has a vested interest in what takes place here. She established herself as Cindy Garvey, the resident, long before United Country recognized her talent. Whether she’s listing a doublewide trailer on three acres or presenting a multi-million dollar sprawling farm and home in the exclusive duPont Registry, Garvey says she spends the same amount of time and energy working for her clients, who are often her friends and neighbors.  In fact, she has found herself on more than one occasion espousing the benefits of the not-for-profit Land Trust for Tennessee, which actually encourages property owners to establish a conservation easement on their property. Folks here have come to view her as an integral part of the fabric of this rural town. Her down-to-earth, neighborly personality quickly puts others at ease. In that sense, she has created a lively business in the heart of this community and at the same time attempted to preserve the slow pace and laid-back rural style that separates this area from others like it in middle Tennessee. “Between her and her associates” Preston explains, “they have the most in-depth knowledge of the history of property sales out here. And I think they have the largest body of knowledge of the area, and there’s nothing uniform in Leipers Fork. That’s the good news.”