Marlene Hall - From Air Force Officer to Top Realtor: Leveraging Military Skills in Real Estate
Jun 21, 2024
Alimond Studio
Ever wondered how skills honed in the military can translate into a flourishing career in real estate? Our guest, Marlene W Hall, a former Air Force officer now a top realtor with eXp Realty, shares her unique journey of service and success. Join us as Marlene recounts her path from the Air Force to real estate, driven by her dedication to prioritize clients' needs and swift responsiveness in a high-stakes market. We delve into her family’s deep ties to both the military and real estate and the pivotal moment her brother guided her to this fulfilling profession. Marlene’s story highlights how her military skills, particularly leadership and resourcefulness, have been key to her achievements in real estate. She also opens up about the specific challenges faced by military families, especially with VA loans in pricey regions like DC, stressing the importance of trust and proper education to navigate these hurdles.
Curious about the latest real estate marketing trends and strategies? Marlene dives into the practical aspects of securing deals, from constant communication to innovative marketing techniques like leveraging social media and neighborhood Facebook groups. She discusses the impact of the NAR lawsuit on commission practices and the need for competitive buyer-agent commissions. As we explore real estate investments, Marlene offers invaluable advice on building wealth through perseverance and trustworthiness. Whether you're a seasoned investor or just starting out, her insights and personal stories will leave you inspired and better equipped to navigate the real estate landscape. Don’t miss this episode packed with wisdom and actionable tips!
Ever wondered how skills honed in the military can translate into a flourishing career in real estate? Our guest, Marlene W Hall, a former Air Force officer now a top realtor with eXp Realty, shares her unique journey of service and success. Join us as Marlene recounts her path from the Air Force to real estate, driven by her dedication to prioritize clients' needs and swift responsiveness in a high-stakes market. We delve into her family’s deep ties to both the military and real estate and the pivotal moment her brother guided her to this fulfilling profession. Marlene’s story highlights how her military skills, particularly leadership and resourcefulness, have been key to her achievements in real estate. She also opens up about the specific challenges faced by military families, especially with VA loans in pricey regions like DC, stressing the importance of trust and proper education to navigate these hurdles.
Curious about the latest real estate marketing trends and strategies? Marlene dives into the practical aspects of securing deals, from constant communication to innovative marketing techniques like leveraging social media and neighborhood Facebook groups. She discusses the impact of the NAR lawsuit on commission practices and the need for competitive buyer-agent commissions. As we explore real estate investments, Marlene offers invaluable advice on building wealth through perseverance and trustworthiness. Whether you're a seasoned investor or just starting out, her insights and personal stories will leave you inspired and better equipped to navigate the real estate landscape. Don’t miss this episode packed with wisdom and actionable tips!
Speaker 1:
I'm Marlene W Hall and I'm a realtor with eXp Realty.
Speaker 2:
Okay, great.
Speaker 1:
And how do you serve your clients Basically? I try to do what's best for them and not focus on what's best for me, because I think they can tell You're not really focusing on them, focusing yourself, and I just tell people I'm not here to pressure you, I'm just here to help you. So if you buy great, if you sell great, but you don't have to, if it's not going to work for you, then that's fine. But I'm just here to guide you and help you make the best decision for yourself. But I don't pressure. The only thing I do say is the market is hard, it is tight. Especially if you're going to buy, you need to make sure you work with motivated people for selling and buying, because you can waste so much time. So if you're going to buy or sell, just make sure we're being responsive when we're moving fast, because we can't just think about it and overthink about stuff.
Speaker 2:
Right, yeah, and how did you get into real estate? Tell me a little bit about your backstory and kind of what led you down this path, sure.
Speaker 1:
I was an Air Force officer for eight years. Oh wow, and my family's all military and I got out of the military and you have a great sense of purpose and then I just kept trying to do like government jobs and like, um, government contracting. I just didn't have that sense of purpose. As a military officer, you can really help people cause you know you're in the middle of everything. But here you're like here, marlene, here's some paperwork, just go. And I just just didn't really fulfill me. And so I found that I really studied happiness and all this kind of stuff. You've got to find a job that really fulfills you, because once you leave the military you really want to be fulfilled.
Speaker 2:
That's the way it is.
Speaker 1:
You're spoiled. So my brother suggested it and it was a really good fit for me.
Speaker 2:
Was that a hard transition coming from the military to real estate? It was hard.
Speaker 1:
Well, once I got into real estate, it wasn't but just the other stuff. I fumbled a lot trying to find my way, but I'm just a go-getter and get things done and I know people and it's more dynamic. It's what I need.
Speaker 2:
And your brother kind of brought you into this.
Speaker 1:
He suggested it because my grandmother was a realtor back in the fifties and forties and she was very good. My grandmother and I are the same person and she went to college which was very rare back then and she was like a top agent here. And then my dad's a real estate investor, my brother's a real estate investor, and so it was kind of in the blood and then it's kind of fell into it but it's been great for 10 years now.
Speaker 2:
Oh, that's great. It sounds like a lot of military and real estate in the blood. That's great, yeah. What tools did you learn in the military that have kind of transferred to real estate? Is there anything that that helps you today that you learned while you were in the military?
Speaker 1:
Oh, absolutely, it's very transferable. I'm actually seeing a lot of veterans who are military I'm sorry, a lot of veterans who are realtors, but it's about taking care of people and having the resources and just helping people. Yeah, you know cause we have like one? I have an issue right now. We have water problems in the basement. I hate basements, by the way, Don't buy any homes with basements. I hate them.
Speaker 2:
I hate basements.
Speaker 1:
So every time I have a basement there's a problem with water. But I knew a guy. We immediately got in. We're fixing it, but we have to disclose until it's fixed.
Speaker 2:
So yeah, definitely, yeah, definitely. Some of those skills kind of transferred over. Oh, absolutely, 100%, definitely Some of those skills kind of transferred over.
Speaker 1:
Oh, absolutely, yeah, 100%. It's all about leadership, because I'm taking charge. They don't know what they're doing, you know, and so my job is to guide them.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, Now do you help a lot of military families in real estate and what's that like, especially in this area that's so expensive. You know, maybe someone's moving from outside of the area. What challenges do you see with that?
Speaker 1:
I think the main thing is making sure they trust you. That's the number one thing, because if they don't trust you it's just not going to work. So you have to have integrity and they trust you, but then just educating them about what's going on. If you can educate them and then they understand the game plan, then they're good to go. But the VA loan is tough. It makes me sad because I use the VA loan to buy my condo but it's tough. But my client just won with the VA loan. We won because of terms.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, so we did list price and it was a bidding war. We did list price, the other person came below, so we won and they were conventional. So you have to have someone who's skilled and knows what they're doing too, right?
Speaker 2:
And there's room for everybody.
Speaker 1:
Yes, Because real estate has a really high fallout rate. But if you're determined, if you're going to buy or sell, and you're determined, just grit, just hang in there, just hang in there. That's my word yeah.
Speaker 2:
What challenges are you seeing in the real estate industry as a whole right now and how are you overcoming those?
Speaker 1:
Inventory. It's just there's not enough homes and it's very expensive. Here I think we're the most expensive area in the world actually.
Speaker 1:
I'm serious it feels like it lately. No, I think it is especially the DC area. It's just very expensive and you just got to make sure that you have the understanding of how to win and be fast. You can't be like thinking about stuff. You got to be fast. You got to be fast. So one of my clients you know we were the first one in to get the offer in, but we were coming soon. We were immediately talking to the listing agent talk, talk, talk, develop a relationship. We got our offer in and then we just kind of stayed in touch with her and stayed in touch with her and then she helped us win actually because we had a relationship. Yeah, but just stay on top of it and be fast.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, how do you build those relationships with your vendors and and the title agencies and mortgage companies? How do you manage those relationships?
Speaker 1:
Um, I tried to do a lot of thank you notes. I do a Buffini. I've never heard of Buffini so quick story. He came from Ireland, he's his son of a painter and he started real estate in San Diego. Didn't know anything and he understood that real estate is all about relationships and so it's your sphere of influence. So he said, just come from value, contribute to people and write thank you notes, because you know what, nobody gets those, nobody writes them, nobody gets those and it makes such an impact.
Speaker 2:
It's so special when you get one that someone actually took the time to write it, mail it, address it, put a stamp on it.
Speaker 1:
So I write a lot of thank you notes. So, buffini, every month he gives you like 50 thank you notes. I don't write them all I should be, so I have a lot left over. And then he does these email to all your clients you have 100 top clients. And then he does newsletters, but they're really like informative newsletters about real estate and taxes and everything. But just stay in touch with people and then keep adding value to people's lives and helping people and I give business to so many people as a realtor like you're helping so many people, so it's really empowering yeah, doing that networking.
Speaker 2:
And yeah, what do you find most rewarding about what you do?
Speaker 1:
Just using my skills and just seeing the impact I'm making, because, as a realtor, you have such a huge economic impact on the area around you. It's huge. You don't even understand how huge it is. I forget the numbers and all that, but I'm employing so many people and just helping so many people. It's really empowering.
Speaker 2:
Do you have a favorite buying or selling story, something that kind of stuck with you?
Speaker 1:
I have a favorite buying or selling story, something that kind of like, stuck with you. Hmm, I have a lot. I can't think of anything right now. I'll come back to it.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I'll come back when it was like challenging, maybe it was funny, maybe it was like wow, that was a lot, the one I was just talking about.
Speaker 1:
I mean, we beat out, I think, six people, yeah, and the thing is I help buyers and sellers but as you get more into the game, more advanced, you tend to become more of a listing agent, which is actually a good thing because you control the market more. But I help buyers too. I'm still very good at that. I'll help anybody, I'll do rentals, I don't care. But again, just like staying in touch with a listing agent and just being involved and constant communication, day, checking in and hey, what's going on, yeah, but I'll think of some more stories. I can't think of anything right now.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I know we can come back to it. Absolutely. What are you doing for advertising and marketing these days? What's working for you, what's not working for you? What kind of trends are you seeing?
Speaker 1:
So you really want to be careful with your money because it'll go out fast, fast. So again, buffini. You know the Buffini is kind of expensive. I have a CRM. It's a database, and I should be calling people, which I haven't been. That's, that's bad on my part, that that definitely give me more return on investment. But I do mailers to the neighborhood. But you can you add value. It's just not like, hey, look how great I am. I just like, hey, this is how many days in the market, this is how much things we're selling for. Just kind of really educate people on that. And then one thing I do on Facebook. I'm a social media junkie, which is not great for my mental health. You get the comparison game, you know. Yeah, it's true. So my brother's like just get off of it. I'm like, well, I really can't because it's powerful.
Speaker 2:
And you've got to keep up with it and like what are other people doing that are working? What's working for them? Yeah, yeah, can I replicate?
Speaker 1:
the same thing. Yeah, but I do the postcards. You want to have a farm, you want to have like three farms. So I have a real estate coach. He's like well, just focus on this farm right now and then once. It's a historic neighborhood where Nixon and Ford lived back in the 40s.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I know where it is.
Speaker 1:
And the Pope blessed one of the homes. Yes, so I live there. It's a beautiful community, it is beautiful, and so it's like the greenest neighborhood inside the Beltway. That's my understanding. But they all get a postcard from me every month. Yeah, and I'll get a postcard from me every month. Yeah, and that's my marketing. I have a marketing assistant that really kind of helps me with my website, and we're really focusing right now on SOI on the Internet. So we're doing a lot of getting reviews, because reviews will pop you up to the top, for sure, but the main thing is Google reviews. So that's what we're really trying to focus on is Google reviews, yeah, and that's basically it. And then Facebook google reviews yeah, um, and that's basically. And then facebook, I just added. I added myself to all these neighborhoods, even though I don't live there. I just made up a fake address and a couple.
Speaker 2:
That's really funny because sometimes on our neighborhood face like facebook group, sometimes something pops up and I'm like I don't recognize that name.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, it's probably me it's probably me, um, but yeah, I add myself to a bunch of neighborhoods and made up fake addresses that I live there. But then they'll ask I need a pet center. So I just constantly add value by providing vendors and I've gotten deals that way.
Speaker 2:
It's a long game, though I don't recommend that one.
Speaker 1:
It's a long game and I've had realtors come after me like you don't live here and I just block them.
Speaker 2:
You're like you don't know that.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I just kind of block them, because I know they're mad that I'm there. But yeah. I'm giving away my secrets.
Speaker 2:
Where do you see yourself going? Where do you see all this going in the next few years?
Speaker 1:
Um, well, I know they had the NAR lawsuit, but, um, I gotta be careful how I word this, I don't want to get in trouble. But you really, I, the commission's always been negotiable, but I know, but I know some of the big brokerages um, they're kind of firm. That's probably where they got in trouble about what they would let people do. But it's always been negotiable, Right. And you know, if you want this percentage and the realtor says no, then go with somebody else. Right, that's what they should have done. But the thing is, if you're not going to offer a buyer-agent commission, you're going to have a hard time selling your home. Right, you really are.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, for those of us that don't know, explain exactly what the lawsuit was.
Speaker 1:
They're basically saying that there's price fixing and that it's 3% on either side for the listing and the selling, and again, I'm not an expert on this. So, yeah, this is what I think it is. Yes, this is like a little side note what we know so far.
Speaker 1:
This is what my understanding is. I'm not a professional on this. So they're saying you can't price fix. And maybe there was some price fixing with the big agents, the big brokerages. Because if you said, hey, the broker owns the listings, they own it, not you, right, so if you leave, they still own it. But if you go to the broker and say, hey, I want to offer this at this percent, they say no, we don't do that. Then that's kind of price fixing okay. But then go somebody else, right, you know, um, but now they're saying that the va loan you can offer.
Speaker 1:
It's kind of breaking my heart because the va loan is zero money down and it's like hardly any cost to the veteran. I've used it. Now they're just changed it temporary, where the veteran can pay the commission of the realtor, but that I mean they're still coming out of pocket. It's coming out of pocket now. Now you're hurting veterans, yeah, and you're hurting FHA. You know people are using FHA loan. I mean they can't. I mean it's designed for that so they don't have to do that kind of stuff. So I'm not really happy about that.
Speaker 2:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
Especially. I think it's really hurting buyers, yeah, so I feel bad about that, but I think there's going to be workarounds.
Speaker 2:
Workarounds. Where do you see the trends going? Where do you see the market going?
Speaker 1:
I think it depends on the area, but this is just. I think it's just going to be hard here. It's just going to constantly the prices are going to keep going up. It's just going to constantly. The prices are going to keep going up. It's going to be hard, and you got to be. You got to trust your agent. Um, don't micromanage them. Yeah, um, I've had that happen. It's really demoralizing. Sure, it's very demoralizing. Um, I'd be careful about telling a story about that though. Yeah, but um, yeah, it's just, I think it's. The market's going to keep. They're trying to build more homes. We've got to catch up with. There's not enough homes right now. Yeah, but the prices are going to just keep going up. I think they are yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:
What advice do you have for people that are struggling with that? Don't give up, yeah, don't give up and just work with. There's workarounds Like my preferred lender is Ashley Smith.
Speaker 1:
yeah, I'll introduce you to her yeah, she's the truth, truest mortgage and, um, she's fabulous and she has these workarounds and she gives grant money for people like first-time homebuyers, you know, like teachers, I think, and like firefighters.
Speaker 2:
There's workarounds and we can we can work with ashley and title and do you feel like you have to work with your clients to kind of adjust their expectations as well sometimes, yeah, yeah, and how does that work? I mean, is that a hard thing to do?
Speaker 1:
Um, it depends on the client and how motivated they are. Um, you, you have to be really careful who you work with, though. Uh, I think sometimes you know you're brand new, you'll, you'll take anything, but you gotta be really careful. It can really hurt you. So do you want people that trust you and listen to you and are motivated, and if they're not, you could really get hurt both ways, both ways.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, absolutely. What do you like to do for fun outside of work?
Speaker 1:
Well, I have a puppy, Her name's Gracie, and I have a cat named Adele, and they're mainly in my life. Now, yeah, how old's the puppy? Puppy's a year. She's a golden retriever oh fun. And she just loves everyone, every dog, everybody. So we go to the Spark Social in Alexandria and she gets to play and that's what we mainly do. Now, yeah, I see my parents. My parents are in Sterling. They're at Falcon's Landing. It's a retirement village and they love it. So I see my parents a lot.
Speaker 2:
That's great and I love travel.
Speaker 1:
I'm a world traveler, yeah, so I've been all over the world.
Speaker 1:
What's your top trip? I just got back from Israel. Oh yeah, that was kind of scary. It's a big trip. Yeah, I had a big birthday so I thought I'd go to Israel. And my mom's like, okay, you're not that religious, I'm very spontaneous, I'm going to start laughing, but I'm not that religious. But you know, I'm Christian and you know I'm going to the Episcopal Church, but that I'm not that religious, but I'm Christian and I'm going to the Episcopal Church, but it was a pilgrimage.
Speaker 2:
And I was like did you even read the itinerary? Did you know which one you were going to? I did not.
Speaker 1:
She's like I think you should have done that before you. My mom did not want me to go. It's like your moms have a sense of things. Sure, she just didn't want me to go. And I'm like so intense, yeah, so intense, like up at five, you know, hiking, hiking, hiking, hot sun, and yeah, um, and then you just feel this tension. There's this tension there the whole time you're there. You just feel this tension. So, um, and then I was there when the work kicked off and so I just I just left on my own oh, yeah, yeah it's like I'm gonna go home now.
Speaker 1:
It's about time. Yeah, it was interesting, though I mean I'm glad I did it, um, but uh, it's just a very tense area, yes, so it's still probably amazing to see another culture and I used to live in Saudi Arabia, so I've been in the Middle East before.
Speaker 2:
Oh nice yeah yeah, so well, as we kind of wrap up here, are there any parting words you'd like to leave us with any words of advice regards to real estate? Maybe a mantra that you live by? Sure.
Speaker 1:
Grit, don't give up. Work with people that you trust that has your best interest at heart. But do buy real estate because I think they say it's the best investment you can have for building wealth, so I'm very passionate about that. But just work with good people and you'll be fine.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, yep. Well, thank you so much for coming on today and thank you for sharing your story with us. You're