Terri Gemas is the owner-broker at Coast & Country Real Estate, where she has specialized in listing and selling horse farm properties in the United States and the U.S. Virgin Islands since 1998. Ms. Gemas earned a Bachelor of Arts in English literature from the Pennsylvania State University in 1985, and immediately relocated to St. John after graduating. While living in the Caribbean she worked as a house painter, and took an initial interest in real estate brokerage after seeing a realtor show a condominium that she was in the middle of decorating. Shortly after, Ms. Gemas entered the real estate industry, obtaining a sales license and moving up to a full real estate brokerage license by 1986.
Ms. Gemas has been an independent real estate broker since 1986, and is currently licensed in New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Florida, and both North and South Carolina in addition to the United States Virgin Islands. She started Coast & Country Real Estate after a negative experience with an older, more established agent who tried to sabotage one of her listings in an area she had only recently begun selling in. Deciding that she would “rather fail than do it wrong,” she launched the company with a focus in farm properties, drawing on her lifelong passion for horses and equestrian sports. Just weeks after starting Coast & Country Real Estate, Ms. Gemas suffered the unexpected loss of her own beloved horse, and found solace in the animals and properties that her work brought her into contact with, developing a reputation for her personal knowledge of the intricacies of specialized horse properties.
Recently named the Top Real Estate Agent in New Hampshire by Top Agent Magazine, Ms. Gemas credits her success to her ability to take initiative and a “matchmaking approach” to property sales, explaining that she is unafraid to reach out to clients if she lists a property that may be perfect for them. A lifelong animal lover, she runs a rescue farm and volunteers with the Animal Care Center of St. John and the Humane Society of St. Thomas, and enjoys spending time with her own dogs and horses. Ms. Gemas is a member of the United States Equestrian Team and the United States Eventing Association, and a former member of the United State Hunting Club-British Horse Society. In five years, she hopes to relocate full-time to a warmer locale, joking that she is ready to see “palm trees, not pine trees.”
