Real estate publication marks 25-year anniversary

A popular show on HGTV follows prospective homeowners as they look for and decide whether a home is meant for them. It's called "House Hunters."

But years before the program debuted, "semohousehunter" had become one of the best ways to find residential real estate in Southeast Missouri.

This month, semohousehunter is marking its 25-year anniversary.

Produced every four weeks, 13 issues a year, semohousehunter is a free magazine-format publication produced by the Southeast Missourian and Rust Communications.

Missourian account representative Glenda Mayberry has been part of the semohousehunter production team since the beginning.

"Jerry Wilson was the real estate advertising representative for our classified advertising department and he came to Pat Zellmer who was, at the time, head of the Missourian's advertising department, with the idea of doing a magazine about local real estate," Mayberry said.

Hundreds of issues later, the magazine (as well as www.semohousehunter.com, which began 15 years ago), has featured tens of thousands of residential and commercial properties valued at hundreds of millions of dollars.

Dozens of real estate agents and their listing are included in each issue, which typically includes real estate listings in Cape Girardeau County and parts of several surrounding counties including Bollinger, Perry, Scott and Stoddard.

Although the exact value of all the properties listed in semohousehunter over the years is impossible to calculate, Mayberry said each issue is filled with listings that fit virtually every budget, from modest single-family bungalows to multimillion dollar mansions.

"We've had some homes in the magazine that have sold for as much as $2.3 million in Cape," she said.

Mayberry's job is to keep up with all of the listings from issue to issue, working with real estate agents to add new listings, delete listings that have sold and update any changes in property prices.

"I get calls almost every week from people thinking I'm a real estate agent and wanting me to show them a particular house," Mayberry said with a laugh. "When that happens, I just put them in touch with the appropriate listing agent."

Most, if not all, of the property interior and exterior photos are taken by Zack Long of the semohousehunter advertising staff. On an average week, Long photographs as many as 100 listed homes.

"Zack does everything he can to make a home look like the Taj Mahal," Mayberry said, adding sometimes Long has to go "above and beyond" to put a house in its best light.

"Sometimes, homeowners don't clean up as they should, so I have to straighten things up or move furniture to make rooms 'photo worthy,'" Long said.

Over the years he's been taking photos for the publication, Long said he's run into some interesting characters.

"I met a seller in Bollinger County whose home was like a shed converted into a house and he had his motorcycle in the kitchen," he recalled. "He asked me if he should move his motorcycle for the pictures and I said, 'Yeah, probably.' He also had a moonshine still and asked me if I wanted some. I declined because I was driving."

Long also took photos at a home said to be "haunted" and happened to photograph a house that was eventually purchased by a woman who is now his wife.

"I took photos of the house before we began dating, and one day when I came to visit, I recognized the house and realized I had taken photos of it a few months earlier," he said.

The addition of www.semohousehunter.com has been a complimentary addition to the real estate publication's printed version.

"They support each other," said Southeast Missourian advertising director Donna Denson. "People see listings in the magazine and they want to go online for more information and interior photos."

Some agents have been with semohousehunter since the first issue. Terri Penrod of Realty Executives, for instance, was a recently licensed agent in late 1994 and early 1995 and saw the publication as a way to get her name in front of potential homebuyers.

"I jumped on board when it first started," Penrod said, "and we've grown together."

She said semohousehunter has been a great vehicle for her to market her real estate business and listings.

Another local agent who has been in virtually every semohousehunter issue is Jane Clark of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Bridgeport REALTORS.

"I've always tried to keep on the real estate edge and semohousehunter is where you've got to be if you want to be successful," Clark said. "It's been very good for me and my team."

Indeed, the magazine has helped raise the profile of many local real estate agents.

"A real estate agent once told us she was in the license bureau waiting to take care of business when a child saw her, tugged on her mother's shirt tail and said, 'That's the lady from the real estate magazine,'" Denson said.

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