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*DISCLOSURE* This is all my opinion and should not be construed as legal advice. This is meant to be informative, but please do your due diligence and if you need assistance, contact the appropriate professionals. 


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A little about me. I will start with fact based, no fluff, bullet point bio. I’ll give more detail below if you’re bored and want to read more ??

Stats:

·       I obtained my Real Estate license in September 2009

·       Studied for my Broker’s license in 2015

·       Opened my own little boutique brokerage in December 2015

·       In the MLS, I have completed

o   60 listing sides

o   102 buy sides

o   41 Rentals (assisting in finding rentals, not listing them)

o   11 new home buy sides not in the MLS

·       That is approximately 15 clients a year CLOSED deals

·       There are always clients you work with that end up never buying or selling

Business method:

·       My way of doing business is handling it from start to finish.

·       Some people have teams and that is their business, I prefer hands on each step of the way.

·       A two-person team can be ideal as you both can easily still be hands on and it would allow for vacation time or a day off during the week with less interruption; however, my opinion, a team bigger than that is where you lose the personal touch. I feel clients end up being more of a number and a paycheck and the agent does not dig down and find out what the client wants (imo only)

·       I don’t run a 9-5 only business.

o   Most of clients don’t, why should I.

o   I always felt I should be reasonably available

·       I am not available 24 hrs a day BUT I do tell clients to text me anytime of day.

o   I let them know my ringer is off when I’m unavailable but if they have a question pop in their head at 2am, I don’t want them to forget it in the morning!  Drop me a text and I WILL answer! Maybe not at 2:01am ?? but my clients know I will ALWAYS get back to them.

Pre-real estate:

·        Prior to real estate, I was in accounting.

o   I have a Bachelor’s in Accounting – Park University 1998

o   I have a Master’s in Accountancy – UNLV 2008

·      
One month after finishing my Master’s Degree, I was laid off due to the downturn in the market

·       I took the Real Estate course (they were giving them away for free then) summer 2009

·       Had my license in September 2009

If you are more of a story person, here is my story as to how I got into real estate: 

I was working as a staff accountant at a small CPA firm. My boss and co-workers were amazing. My boss wanted us all to succeed and better ourselves. In 2007, she offered some tuition reimbursement and encouraged me to go back to school, work towards my Master’s and complete the steps to sit for the CPA exam.

I finished school in December 2008; however, in the background of the world, the economy was falling apart. In addition, the bulk of our clients were real estate agents and loan officers. As they started letting their licenses go inactive, our client base dwindled. In January 2009, approx. 6 weeks after finishing classes, I was told I was laid-off.

After letting the shock wear off for a couple of days, I started looking for a job. Though not many people were hiring, an advertisement for free real estate classes did catch my attention. I always had an interest in real estate; in addition, I had a pretty bad experience buying a townhome in 2006. I knew I could do this and I knew I could give people a better experience than I had!!!  And truth be told, the flexible hours while my kids were in school was a great perk.  ??

So, I took the classes, passed my tests, and finally my license arrived! Even though it was just around 15 years ago, it was vastly different. Online advertising and Zillow wasn’t huge yet. Luckily, the first office I joined, the broker was an REO agent that had listings through Fannie Mae, Bank of America, and other sources. The bulk of leads were from actual phone calls from yard signs. Again, my broker did have a lot of listings and I was pretty decent at converting the calls to sales.

Circling back to my stats from above.  The cumulative numbers sound decent, but it was a slow start. Sept – Dec 2009, I only completed 2 rentals.  In 2010 I completed 10 buyer sides and 3 rentals. The average price of my completed sales was $76,410. This office also charged a split and transaction fee.  I think I brought home $11,000 FOR THE YEAR.  But I really did like it and really felt I was ramping up. In fact, 2011 I completed 5 list sides and 16 buy sides along with 2 rentals.  The average closed sale that year was $126,154. I think I made about $40,000 that year.

I tell you all this because I didn’t get into real estate because I thought it would be a fun quick way to make a few bucks. I was all in. I worked full time when I didn’t make full time wages. Yes, I make more than that now, but my heart is in it the same.  My goal has always been for my clients to be the most educated homebuyers and sellers! Now, my recent clients receive much more information from me than the ones in the beginning as I have learned more but I have always encouraged questions. If I didn’t know, I would find out. Now I hand out a draft contract with notes at the beginning. I send out emails detailing next steps. Verbal conversations are nice, but I try to put a lot in writing so that a client can refer back to it. I want buyers and sellers to not just get caught up in the moment, but truly understand the process and what they are signing.

I will add, while I meet a lot of agents that I think have less than ZERO business being in real estate, I do meet many amazing, caring, like-minded agents as well. I am not saying I am the only one out there like this; what I am saying is, when and if using an agent, you SHOULD NEVER settle for less!

In conclusion, with the recent ruling in commissions (my thoughts on that here), I think agent representation will change. Some clients may want to do it themselves, which is great!  But some may feel they don’t have a choice and feel they can’t afford to have an agent represent them. My hope is no one has to feel they are at a disadvantage. If a buyer feels they can’t afford to use an agent now, they should still have access to the information. If you haven’t read it, I encourage you to read and/or share my page buyer – no agent (offer process) and also seller – no agent.   





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