Ed Reams, Broker-In-Charge

Ed is a native of Clyde, Ohio and attended college in New Jersey and New England. After college, he worked for New England Business Service for nine years; at the time he left, he was the Director of Market Research for the U.S. and Canada.

He was recruited by a Fortune 1000 Company to move to Atlanta and launch a direct marketing division, which he did for five years until being offered the position of Senior Vice President/Group Account Director at the largest independent direct response advertising agency in the Southeast. Within a year, he was made a full Partner in that firm. His clients included Bally’s Health Clubs and Tru Green.

Subsequently, he was recruited by J. Walter Thompson to become the Director of J. Walter Thompson Direct, a position he held for two years until the urge to open his own agency became too powerful to ignore. It was at this point that he founded Advantage Direct, a full-service direct response advertising agency. He continued doing work (TV spots, half-hour infomercials, direct mail and radio) for Bally’s Health Clubs, and expanded his client list to include BellSouth and the Atlanta Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games.

Ed and his wife purchased their first piece of property in the mountain/lakes region of western North Carolina in 1992, and built a small two bedroom/two bathroom vacation cabin there. It quickly became apparent that the quality of life was much better in the mountains, so they began to make the transition from Marietta, Georgia to Hayesville, North Carolina.

Recognizing some similarities between the advertising agency business and the practice of real estate, Ed took the required courses and secured his Georgia and North Carolina real estate licenses in 2002. Having earned his licenses, he then incorporated as Advantage Direct Realty and opened an office. (The name of the real estate firm mirrored that of his advertising agency.)

In 2007, in recognition of the area in which he lives and works, and also because clients were asking "What does the ‘Direct’ in ‘Advantage Direct Realty’ stand for?", Ed legally changed the name of the firm to Advantage Chatuge Realty.

The firm was founded on the principle of providing clients with an unparalleled level of client service. The firm is located at the intersection of Highway 64 and 69 in Hayesville, North Carolina, has eleven agents, and offers its clients three things: Knowledge, Service and Results.

Ed’s hobbies include photography, reading and traveling. And when he’s not working, Ed is thinking about work.