About

About the Broker

Gidget Jackson has been a real estate broker for over 38 years in Florida and a mortgage broker since 2019.  Born in Hialeah, FL, and raised in Miami and Central Florida, she loves the Florida lifestyle.  Beginning her career in central Florida in 1984, she owned and operated an insurance agency selling property, casualty, and medical insurance with a 2:18 Property & Casualty and 2:20 Life & Health license.  In 1985, she was licensed as a real estate sales agent with Realty World and served in various positions on the Board of Realtors.  In 1987, after obtaining her real estate broker's license, she opened Jackson & Associates Insurance and Investments, which she ran until she sold the insurance office and moved to SW Florida in 1990.  Next, she joined Century 21 and became a top producer with a large inventory of properties, and she assisted in training new agents.  Along with real estate, she obtained her mortgage broker's license to gain additional knowledge in that industry. 

In 1991, Gidget purchased a large property management and maintenance business with 397 properties and a full staff of employees.  She listed many properties for sale for the owners and streamlined sales, management, and maintenance of the units as they were sold and absorbed on the market.  As a function of sales, she managed the conversion of apartments to condominiums. Gidget obtained her CAM (Condominium Association Manager) license to manage the condo units until the complexes were turned over from the developer to the owners. The investment properties varied from single-family, duplexes, 4-plexes, 8-unit apartments, 20 unit complexes, and large numbers of units within different complexes and small industrial buildings.  Along with sales and management, Gidget was part of banking/investor negotiations for the financing and refinancing of investor loan portfolios by providing loan packages and property details needed to meet investor goals for refinancing their properties.  As listing broker, agent, property manager, and CAM manager, Gidget coordinated the sale of many units in small investor portfolios.  While balancing sales, rentals, and CAM management, investors could maintain unit values and income as properties were sold.  

As her current inventory was depleted and the market moved forward, Gidget worked in the new construction market, selling new homes and managing rentals for a local builder.  By the late 1990s, a number of pre-development foreclosures hit the market, and Gidget was hired to manage and sell condominiums in two large developments in Ft Myers, FL.  From the foreclosure purchase by the investors to the resale of individual units while managing the rental income of the units, it took several years for the market to absorb the 210 units that were renovated or completed and sold to individual owners.

From 2000 to 2010, Gidget owned and operated two RE/MAX franchises in Cape Coral and Ft Myers, with over 50 employees.  During this time, Gidget and her Associates won multi-million dollar awards for the sales of residential and commercial properties along with a successful property management division.  By the end of 2010 and post recession, Gidget decided to sell one of the RE/MAX franchises and move the second one to Marathon in the Florida Keys.  After a year, that franchise was closed due to the slow market conditions in the Keynes, post-recession, and the Gulf oil spill, further deteriorating market conditions.  Determined to stay in real estate, Gidget worked for other brokers before opening Florida Keys Island Realty, where she became involved in affordable housing, which continued for many years before returning to RE/MAX as a broker associate in 2018.

By 2019, Gidget decided to add offering mortgages to her real estate business and obtained a mortgage broker's license.  Soon, she opened a mortgage brokerage and established Salt Life Mortgage, now known as LoanGetter.com.  Seeing the opportunity to provide real estate and mortgage services, Gidget once again opened a real estate office, Realty Bistro, with the plan to offer a menu of real estate services anticipating a market change.

Currently, Gidget offers customized real estate services and creates options for buyers and sellers based on the individual needs of buyers and sellers without generalizing costs across all transactions.  Along with real estate sales, Gidget offers a full-service mortgage brokerage, LoanGetter.com, offering financing across the real estate industry.

Over the years, in good and bad times, Gidget has found a way to work through the ever-changing real estate markets, working mostly by referral from past clients, friends, and family.  Today, her plans are to create choices for buyers and sellers in a real estate transaction.  "Sellers and Buyers now have a choice of services and only pay for what they need or want when selling or purchasing a property.  From Full Service to a menu of services Realty Bistro gives folks a variety of options with quality services and knowledge of the industry.

About Realty Bistro

Realty Bistro is a full service real estate company offering a menu of services for it's clients and customers to meet their real estate needs.  As the residential business evolves, the menu of services will evolve to include commercial real estate and property management.  Out of the box for the industry Realty Bistro will change the way sellers and buyers are serviced in the real estate market.  By providing a menu of services specific to the needs of the parties involved in the transaction only makes sense.  Documents signed in a transaction are specific to that transaction.  Our agents are trained to know what is needed for any particular contract negotiation.  We have a system that saves time and money in a real estate transaction without compromising the integrity of the deal.

Sellers no longer will have to rely on generic listing presentations filled with their property information but have the ability to decide what they want to pay for and what services they need.  We don't take the averages of what will sell quickly and what will stay on the market longer to determine the cost of selling the property.  We are tech savvy, pretty much paperless and maintain a low overhead to focus on property promotion rather than self promotion to sell out listings.  Our valuation system helps sellers get a good idea of the value of their property and how it compares to other listings sold as well as on the market.

Buyers can benefit by discounted commissions when they find a home online and want to make an offer without using the services of a buyer's agent.  Those in need of a buyer's agent will only pay for those services they request in the transaction

All in all it's a win win for everyone involved.