Reshawna Leaven - Mastering Real Estate, From Virginia Assistant to Keller Williams Pro
Jun 05, 2024
Alimond Studio
What if you could master the intricacies of real estate with insights from an expert who's seen it all? Reshawna Leaven from Keller Williams United joins us to share her extraordinary journey from a Virginia assistant to a seasoned professional with over 20 years of experience. In this episode, we delve into Reshawna's book "The Cost to Close," which features 40 compelling and instructive stories from her career. From navigating tight inventory and bidding wars to managing client expectations, Reshawna offers listeners invaluable advice, including a memorable tale of a couple who moved homes within nine months.
Curious about the non-negotiable elements of selling a home or the latest trends in paint colors? We've got you covered. Reshawna emphasizes the importance of continuous learning, mastering contracts, and market analysis for new real estate professionals. She also highlights the emotional complexities involved in helping buyers downsize and the critical role of home staging and professional photography. Plus, hear about her aspirations to give a TED Talk and write a series of books, underscoring the significance of setting and manifesting goals. Don't miss this episode packed with actionable insights and motivational wisdom for anyone interested in the real estate market.
What if you could master the intricacies of real estate with insights from an expert who's seen it all? Reshawna Leaven from Keller Williams United joins us to share her extraordinary journey from a Virginia assistant to a seasoned professional with over 20 years of experience. In this episode, we delve into Reshawna's book "The Cost to Close," which features 40 compelling and instructive stories from her career. From navigating tight inventory and bidding wars to managing client expectations, Reshawna offers listeners invaluable advice, including a memorable tale of a couple who moved homes within nine months.
Curious about the non-negotiable elements of selling a home or the latest trends in paint colors? We've got you covered. Reshawna emphasizes the importance of continuous learning, mastering contracts, and market analysis for new real estate professionals. She also highlights the emotional complexities involved in helping buyers downsize and the critical role of home staging and professional photography. Plus, hear about her aspirations to give a TED Talk and write a series of books, underscoring the significance of setting and manifesting goals. Don't miss this episode packed with actionable insights and motivational wisdom for anyone interested in the real estate market.
Speaker 1:
I'm Roshana Levin with Keller Williams United and I assist buyers and sellers with their real estate goals in Virginia, maryland and DC.
Speaker 2:
Awesome, how did you get into real estate I?
Speaker 1:
actually assisted my cousin in real estate. This was many years ago, over 20 years ago and I was her assistant and I said, oh, I should get my license. I was actually in high school at the time.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and your cousin. You started with your cousin. Yes, in real estate. Yes, was she kind of a mentor to you?
Speaker 1:
She was a mentor at the time, but she was actually in the Tidewater area in Virginia, okay. So a different part of Virginia Different part.
Speaker 2:
So you relocated up here yes, and started practicing real estate here yes, and how long have you been in real estate? This is year 21. Yeah, exciting, wow, and I see you have an amazing book right here I do. Is this a collection of your experiences of 20 years in real estate? Yes, tell me a little bit about that.
Speaker 1:
So the book is called the Cost to Close. It's available on Amazon and Walmart, different places, barnes and Noble. But the book is 40 stories of challenges that I have had with other agents, with clients, getting them to the finish line because everybody, no one, sees. We all see the HDTV, things on TV, everything the glitz and the glamor, everything's nice in the reality TV shows, but you don't really see what goes on behind the scenes. Nobody tells you. Well, what do you do when your client does not get their loan? Can we switch it? What are the solutions? So that's what the book is about.
Speaker 1:
It's not all bad stuff, but yes, you know big challenges, right, how do you overcome it? And then the solutions. And at the end of each chapter there are many chapters. The longest chapter is the first chapter, but at the end of the chapter I have something called think beyond the story and closing points. So it's like, okay, how do you create systems to not have this happen in your business? Again? I'm not saying that this is like a pill, that this can't happen to you, but at least you know if it happens to me.
Speaker 2:
Now I know what to do, because I wish this book was around yeah, and I got started because it isn't anything like what motivated you to start this uh, I always wanted to be a writer.
Speaker 1:
Believe it or not, I always actually wanted to be a writer. Believe it or not, I always actually wanted to be a romance novelist.
Speaker 2:
I could see that yeah.
Speaker 1:
I always wanted to be a romance novelist and I just felt that the story needed to be told, because nobody tells you these things. But you want to know. Things happen to people. But I feel like I didn't just go through this just to go through it. I went through it to tell the story to benefit someone else. But everybody's like, oh well it. I had to be vulnerable. I will say that because it was hard for me to write, because I was like, well, how much do I really tell them? Because it's a lot of things. There's a lot of things in the book, but there's a lot of things that aren't in the book either. Sure, but I wanted it and also has analogies so you can relate it to real life, like I have an analogy about golf and how that relates to real estate.
Speaker 2:
So it's a page turner not just because I wrote it. It's good, it's good. What's the analogy on golf? I'm curious now.
Speaker 1:
The analogy on golf, that is, I'm trying to think which story is that? That's the story about. Like how it plays into real life Right, how it plays into real life. So it's about getting from the different holes of the course, but it's for a new construction, oh, okay.
Speaker 2:
I like that analogy. Yeah, are there any other stories that kind of pop out in your mind from the book like a buy-and-selling story, selling story, that selling story yes, the first one, the circus the circus. Can you tell us a little bit about it? Give us a little teaser?
Speaker 1:
The teaser let's see. The circus is about um, a husband and wife. They move into their new home and then within four months they decide they don't like the home and they want to move into another home across the street no, not across the street, but around the corner from where they are. Still same neighborhood, but they like the new house, so they decide to move. So within nine months they bought a house, sold that house and moved into another house and that's a pretty short time frame.
Speaker 1:
Right, and then they were homeless for a little while and it was a little bit of drama. So that's the longest chapter and that's the first chapter, and that's the first chapter. Yeah, yeah, that's very good.
Speaker 2:
What are some of the challenges you're seeing in real estate these days and how are you overcoming those challenges?
Speaker 1:
Well, the challenges are with. You know inventory is still tight. You know it's, except in certain areas. The only area right now that has the most listings, I would say, is DC. They have over 1,000 right now, which is a lot, that's a lot. I was surprised they actually had that much. When I looked I was like, oh, that's a lot.
Speaker 2:
That's more than all the counties combined, really yeah, because I keep just hearing over and over again how low the inventory is houses in our neighborhood. As soon as they get up, they're going exactly bidding wars yeah, bidding wars.
Speaker 1:
So I will always tell my clients, you know, in this market, well, you have to be prepared for a bidding war. People say, oh, oh, I don't want to get in the market with a bidding war, but you can't, you can't predict that, but you know you have to be able to. My job is to find them what they want, or find out what they want and then pull them into reality. Right yeah, of what they actually can do.
Speaker 2:
Well, I think that's a good statement, because I think there is a false reality of what Right and if you tell me okay, well, I want to spend $2,500, but then you're telling me you want a $600,000 house. That's just not the math doesn't really add up on that, as they say, the math isn't mathing.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, that's not going to work. Based on the current interest rates. I mean, yes, you can buy your interest rate down, but then, if you buy it down, does that really make sense? So my job is to tell them everything, not to overwhelm them, but it is a lot of information that they need to know and to find out whether this is really the right time for them. But then when is the right time? Yesterday was. So it's my job to tell them what, what they're up against, so they're not surprised. So let them know.
Speaker 1:
More than likely you're going to be in a bidding war and what that looks like. Are you prepared? Because if you're in a bidding war like this is like in COVID time, or like this is like in COVID time. But I had a client one time I said well, you know they weren't. The fact that they didn't find, they found a home every time we went out. But you know, I kind of got frustrating because they weren't willing to do this. And then they change their mind OK, well, we'll do this. So you make certain concessions, but it's like, well, every time this is the neighborhood you want, but every time you go into the neighborhood and now it's a new home. Now the price is up. Right, the price increases. So then it's one neighborhood they wanted. They were priced out completely. So then you couldn't even buy. So it's like could you have just spent the $25,000 and got it in the beginning? But you weren't really willing to do that.
Speaker 2:
Yeah. So it's a lot of managing the expectations. Yeah, for sure. And how's the recent lawsuit kind of playing into this and in real estate in general? What are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 1:
Well, it will impact things. I will say this because I've been doing this a long time. A lot of people got into real estate because they thought it was an easy thing. Now, real estate can be easy, but it can be challenging as well.
Speaker 1:
Of course, yeah, but it will basically help people sharpen their skills, and you have to show your value because, just like we go to Nordstrom's, you know you want they roll out the red carpet for you. So you need to be able to showcase your value to people and explain why are they paying you this amount. So that's what agents are going to have to do, which I do, which you do, yeah.
Speaker 2:
I want to go back to the book for a little bit. How long did it take you to write all of these stories? Three years of my life, yeah. So this is a big passion.
Speaker 1:
Big passion, yes, and I literally locked myself in my home office to finish it the last two months of last year. Yeah, I finished it on my birthday. Oh, how did that feel?
Speaker 2:
Yes, that was a huge accomplishment. Yes, did you like close it and pour a glass of champagne? I did Well.
Speaker 1:
I made a martini yes.
Speaker 2:
Same thing right Right, poured a cocktail and you're like wow, yes, I was like I'm finished.
Speaker 1:
And then where do you go from there? So you've written it and then what happens? You have to find someone to publish it. How does it work? Published, okay, yeah, I got an editor and self-published, and then I first put it on Barnes and Noble and then I had people say, oh well, you put it on Amazon. So then I decided to put it on Amazon and all the other websites, so it's digital as well as in print.
Speaker 2:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, still waiting for the hardback to get approved. I have one, but yeah, this one.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, that's awesome. And when did it? When was it all finished? How long has it been out? It's been out.
Speaker 1:
When did it come out? March 4th.
Speaker 2:
Oh, just like this is new, this is like yeah, that's so exciting.
Speaker 1:
Congratulations. This is month two. Yeah, is it month two? Yeah, two months.
Speaker 2:
Two months yeah, that's awesome. I feel like you need to give yourself a nice pat on the back for that. Yeah, that's a huge accomplishment. Yes, so tell me a little bit business-wise. What are you doing for marketing and advertising these days? What's working for you, what's not working for you? What trends are you seeing?
Speaker 1:
Well, I like to do a lot of video educational because people need to see, because I get a chance for them to see me and then them to tell them about what the market is doing. So, giving them little snippets of learning Okay, is doing so? Giving them little snippets of learning, okay, you know? So, if it's something about like a new home buyer program or something that they can do to get their home ready for sale, different things like that yeah, yeah, and um kind of guiding them through right right guiding them through that yeah, what's not working, I I would say like Facebook marketing.
Speaker 2:
You think that's on its way out?
Speaker 1:
I would say it's on its way out, but it takes a lot of money to invest in that and I don't. That's a long game. You have to spend a lot of money with that. It does work, but do I really want to spend that money up front? No, I don't. Yeah, well, I guess it depends on what type of business you have sure? Yeah, for real estate, I don't think that's it.
Speaker 2:
no, yeah, and you've been in business for 21 years, so you've definitely seen right all the trends right.
Speaker 1:
I rather, as they say, love on my clients more. If I'm going to spend the money, I'd rather just spend it on them. Love on your clients a little bit more, because then I can see where it's going, yeah, and then I'll get a referral. This is somebody I have no idea.
Speaker 2:
That's what I was going to ask how are you getting your clients in?
Speaker 1:
My well, from my, I would say from people I know, a sphere of influence and that's why they always say worker database. That is a true statement. Yes, and my online, my website, because it's been around a long time, and youtube you do, yeah, and doing those educational videos, yeah, yeah because people want to know about the area.
Speaker 1:
If you think like, say, if you came from, you know arizona and you want to move here, you know nothing about this area at all and one the first thing you're going to do is you're going to have a payment shock.
Speaker 2:
Yes, it's like how much you want People coming from out of state. Yeah, how do you navigate that?
Speaker 1:
It's challenging, but I guess prices are A lot more than what they used to be. So it is a payment shop, but it's not so much of a payment shop like it was like 10 years ago. Yeah, you know oh well, you know where we live, we could spend, you know, $250,000.
Speaker 2:
And they could have a pool in the backyard Exactly.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and it's like, well, I would buy that house if it was a $300,000 house with a pool and a four bedroom, two car garage.
Speaker 2:
Yes, a house with a pool and a four bedroom, two car garage. Yes, I want a yard, I want this. Yes, can we just transplant that into this area?
Speaker 1:
yes, for 400,000, right, yeah, yeah, but my job is to educate people and tell them okay, based on what you said, this is what you can do. Is this the right time? Yeah, maybe, maybe not, and that's fine then also, is it a good fit? Because everybody, I don't want everybody that I meet to work with them. Sure, so they may not be a good fit.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, they may not be a good fit. You've got to jive together and it's a very personal relationship, right, it's a business relationship.
Speaker 1:
We're bonded for how long it's going to take.
Speaker 2:
It's going to take. Take until the end and you're dealing with people purchasing the biggest investment of their life, right Very emotional. Yeah, yeah. How do you help a client that I know we talked a little bit about sticker shock and stuff, but maybe someone that's having to downsize and they can't get what they thought they were gonna get? How do you help it? An emotional buyer that's challenging.
Speaker 1:
Well, first we have to let them know what reality is. This is what we have, and then tell them maybe they may have to if they can't find anything in their price range, maybe they may have to change. If they can't find anything in their price range, maybe they may have to change home type.
Speaker 1:
It's like maybe you don't need a villa or townhome, maybe a condo may be best, or maybe a condo might be too much with a condo fee. Maybe a townhome might be best, or maybe a smaller single family, yeah, and then maybe we need to change the zip code, yeah.
Speaker 2:
There we go. Yeah, change zip code and manage those expectations Right.
Speaker 1:
And then you know you can't dictate the market. The market is what it is. So it's like, well, I show them. It's like I'm not making this up. I didn't put in some special, you know filter, so I show them from the MLS. I'm searching with them. I share my screen. This is what we have.
Speaker 2:
This is what we have and this is what you need to wrap your head around. This is it.
Speaker 1:
So, you know. But sometimes people it's tough love, but I'm telling them, you know, I don't want, I don't want to give them a false sense of what the market is Cause then that's going to be more work for me to try to reel them back in with reality. Right.
Speaker 2:
So you just kind of lay it out on the table, yeah, yeah, and be tactful, but you know, of course, yeah, in your 21 years experience have you had a chance to mentor somebody else. What advice, what advice would you have for someone getting into the business?
Speaker 1:
oh, they didn't want to do it, no it. You will have to have a lot of patience and you need to read the book. But yes, beyond that, read the book first read the book first yes.
Speaker 1:
well, they might not want to get a real estate. No, I'm kidding, no, you need to. In your downtime you need to beef up, sharpen your skills about knowing the contract, knowing all that stuff, because your emergency, when you have that client like, oh, I don't know how to do this, that's not my emergency. You need to already know how to do it. If you're not showing houses, if you're not doing anything, you need to, like you were studying for your exam. You need to know that contract inside and out. You're not doing anything, You're not even writing offers. I would even say go this is what I was told when I got in real estate go preview five properties, then come home or come to your office or wherever, and do competitive market analysis on those to see if they're actually priced correctly.
Speaker 2:
So then you would know the market. Yeah, and that's probably a continuing process, right.
Speaker 1:
Because it changes all the time, especially if you're trying to develop a farm. You should know that market inside and out, or even the properties near your office. You should know them. You should know them. You should know what's around your market. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:
Yeah. Um the what? How do you feel about home staging these days? I know there's been. Oh, I love home staging actually home stage. How do you feel the? How important is that in the sale of a house?
Speaker 1:
I would would say a hundred percent.
Speaker 2:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
You have to do it. I've just noticed it's not negotiable.
Speaker 2:
I've seen so many photos of like the AIA.
Speaker 1:
It is non-negotiable.
Speaker 2:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
My clients. They have to do it.
Speaker 2:
Oh, so you make it as you do? Yeah, it's a must.
Speaker 1:
It has to be decluttered. You cannot see, you know, know the baby as from they were an infant to 17 like all that has to go in my house right now, that has to go, like we love them. Where do your?
Speaker 2:
thoughts? Where do your top like five things when? That's someone to do, yeah, for someone to do like you said first, like decluttering right, decluttering a lot of people that that's a must.
Speaker 1:
You have to do that. But declutter, take down personal things. I would say anything related to religion. Take that down, anything that's. We want to make the home as marketable as it can, but we want to make it seem like it's inviting to someone, not that you're just visiting you. They need to feel like they can live there, right, you know? If they don't feel like they're living there, they're never going to live there, and the first thing we have to do is capture them online, because if we don't capture them online, they're never coming.
Speaker 2:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
They might, because it might not be any homes on the market.
Speaker 2:
But will they still buy, so getting those amazing photos Exactly.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, has to be professionally. Yes. Photography yeah, because you know iPhones like the little.
Speaker 2:
It just does not. It's never the same. No, what about paint colors? These days, I feel like I'm seeing a lot of like agreeable gray, just like painted throughout the house.
Speaker 1:
I think gray has kind of played out. Yeah, I agree I like whites, which some whites are grays, but agreeable gray, that has to go.
Speaker 2:
Do you recommend people just kind of paint the whole house, start with a blank slate?
Speaker 1:
It depends on the budget so we can make it. I try to use what they have and try to stage around that, but sometimes it's a must that they paint yeah, stage around that. But sometimes it's a must that they paint yeah, like even if I have to roll up my sleeves and do it myself it needs to be done, yeah, yeah, I mean it's got that like because, people don't want to paint like.
Speaker 1:
I showed a house uh, this was a couple months ago and the client was like, oh well, we love the house, but it's just every room was a different color and they had the two-story uh foyer and the two-story family room. They're like well, we don't want to paint that. That's a lot of money.
Speaker 2:
That adds up. Yeah, and every room was a different color.
Speaker 1:
They had orange, they had green, they had purple, purple in the bedroom.
Speaker 2:
I feel like that was a theme back in the day. Why did we feel the need to paint every room.
Speaker 1:
But this house wasn't that old. Yeah, this house wasn't that old. Yeah, I think it's an old school thing to paint all the rooms. And then the agent was surprised when I called. He was like oh, what does your client feel about the house? I said, hmm, well, they're going to be doing some work. They said that they didn't want it because of the paint, and my client actually, and that's what they did. So it did make a difference on that sale. Yeah, wow, but that agent did listen to me and they painted and they sold and they sold good, yeah because he was like I don't know why it's not selling well you gotta
Speaker 2:
throw so many into it, declutter and depersonalize, but the paint didn't really help yeah, I think people, because the inventory is so low right now, people think they can just pop up the houses and not have to do anything people are there it's gonna sit. Yeah, that's it. So 21 years in the business, you've written a book. Yeah, where is roshanna going from here?
Speaker 1:
where am I going?
Speaker 2:
hmm well, book two is coming out. Okay, I'm in the process of writing it.
Speaker 1:
That's awesome. That's Mentoring. I want to sharpen my skills on public speaking. I feel like I need to be, I feel like that's where I'm headed, like a mentor, like a motivational speaker. I can see you doing that. Yeah, yeah, that's the future.
Speaker 2:
That's the future. Do we have a title for the?
Speaker 1:
book. Yet yeah, I want to do it. I don't know if I can say it. I want to do a TED.
Speaker 2:
Talk, a TED Talk? Yeah, I believe in manifesting, so I think you can just say it that's the goal and maybe one day it will happen. You never know. But you could be up on that stage talking about real estate with five books under your belt. Belt, right, right, right, but do we have a title for the next book?
Speaker 1:
I would say the cost of clothes too. So it's it's. I already had. These are the stories that did make it to this book. So I already have that. I know of 25, so I don't know if I'm going to keep the series like 40 stories. But I chose 40 because that's how old I am, but I just cut it off at 40 but it was supposed to be large, but that's two stories a year, so right, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:
I mean that's probably just the tip of the iceberg right, exactly, yeah, and I and it's still stories as we speak. It's like, oh, that thing's going there?
Speaker 2:
yeah, do you have any clients being like, wait a minute, that that story sounds like me?
Speaker 1:
No, no, no, no. No, because nobody wants to have to go through what we went through again, right, yeah, nobody wants to have to deal with that.
Speaker 2:
Some things are unavoidable, but you know. So this is a book of collaboration, of your stories and advice and all things.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, that's awesome yeah.
Speaker 2:
That's awesome. Yeah, I'm excited as we kind of wrap up here. Are there any last parting words you'd like to leave us with Some?
Speaker 1:
last parting words.
Speaker 2:
Mantra that you live by.
Speaker 1:
To just go after what you want to do and be aware. That's like my word for the year Awareness of whatever that is. Be aware of what you need to do and be aware that's like my word for the year Awareness of whatever that is.
Speaker 2:
Be aware of what you need to do and then just go do it. Yeah, I love it. Get out there and get it done. Yep, yeah Well, thank you for coming in today. Thank you for having me. Thank you for sharing your story. It was a pleasure, thank you.
