Andrea Vaccarelli - From Fashion PR to Real Estate Innovator and Community Builder

Have you ever wondered how skills from luxury fashion and PR could transform the real estate world? In this episode, Andrea Vaccarelli, the innovative founder of Level Up Homes, shares her remarkable transition from the glitz of New York's fashion scene to the dynamic world of real estate. Andrea opens up about her journey, starting with a simple favor for a friend and propelled by the encouragement of a loan officer. Her unique path underscores the challenges of balancing professional and personal life while emphasizing the critical role of delivering an exceptional client experience.

Uncover the secrets behind building a strong real estate brand through authentic community engagement and innovative marketing strategies. Andrea explains the power of the seven-touch theory, creating multiple touchpoints through community-focused events and engaging content. From summer bucket lists to BBQ recipes, we explore how these creative touchpoints foster genuine connections without overt selling. Andrea provides practical tips to make the real estate process not just a transaction, but an enjoyable and memorable experience for everyone involved.

Facing the post-COVID real estate market? Andrea offers her expertise on navigating the complexities of rising interest rates and the shifting market landscape. Understand why buying based on life needs rather than market timing is crucial in today's environment. Andrea also highlights the psychological and financial impacts of these changes, comparing them to the early 2000s market crash. Learn about the indispensable role of a knowledgeable real estate agent in guiding clients through these turbulent times, ensuring they feel valued and supported throughout their home buying or selling journey. Join us for an insightful conversation filled with valuable advice and heartfelt stories from the world of real estate.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:31

Andrea Vaccarelli. My business is Level Up Homes and I service my clients through their real estate needs, whether it's buying, selling, investing, buying, holding, renting and just helping them meet their real estate goals and building their portfolio. How did you get into real estate.

Speaker 2: 0:48

Well see.

Speaker 1: 0:50

No, you're good. So I got into real estate because I've always had really like a love and it's like your typical. Oh, I loved HEDV like 10 years ago, but I just found where I like to service clients a lot. So I came from like the service and client services industry like in high luxury fashion world PR marketing, but experiential marketing, so like making an experience for clients, and I've always just really loved and enjoyed looking for homes. So one of my first girlfriends like from a long time ago, she started looking for a house. She was going to be my first friend that like bought something and I was like, oh, you should try this, you should try that, and I was in Manhattan at the time and she was living in Alexandria, so I like sending her links. And then one of my friends was a loan officer and he was like you'd be so good at doing real estate, you should think about it. And I was like I'm not going from that.

Speaker 2: 1:44

And what?

Speaker 1: 1:44

were you doing in New York? Oh, in New York I was doing like PR and events and experiential marketing. But I worked at like Bloomingdale's in their PR department, but I worked at like Bloomingdale's in their PR department, and then after that I was just in this like luxury house of, like all-fashion houses, where we did experiential marketing for brands and like American Express Centurion members. We had to create like a one-of-a-kind experience, okay. So it was just it kind of like and my background is marketing, basically marketing and advertising.

Speaker 1: 2:14

So I started my career in the advertising world and then I slowly moved over to like luxury marketing if that makes sense, but I just always really liked real estate and then I just I had my son and I was gone all the time. I mean, I was traveling 70% of the time. Wow that's hard. I just wanted something like a little bit different and, like I say this with a grain of salt of like I thought I wanted something a bit more like balanced, like work-life balance, but that's not what this job is at all.

Speaker 2: 2:51

You're like. I thought it would be that way. It's one of those things.

Speaker 1: 2:54

Like I say it's flexibly. I'm flexible because it's very dependent on your client's schedule and a lot of times you're working when other people are not, but if I, and then when I'm working, I'm not, um, if I'm not working, I'm not working towards a paycheck, right, because it's one of the few jobs that you can work for on for months and never get paid right, right, which is fine. Like, because we're one of the few jobs that you can work on for months and never get paid Right, right, which is fine. Like, because we're here for the clients, but it's just different, like it's not as you know, it's a little bit discouraging, I would imagine, at some times.

Speaker 1: 3:27

Yeah, sure. So I think like the thick skin from being in Manhattan and stuff like definitely helps, sure, but it's like the long-winded way of saying how I got into it. Yeah, um, but it does. It's something I've always like really enjoyed. So it's nice to have like like kind of come full circle. But being able to utilize my background and I think that's like how we built our company is really that um, one-of-a-kind client experience, like somebody experiencing a product Like buying a home is an item, right, but like we want to create an experience around it. We're not transactional agents, we are very much relationship-based. So I make it from like start to finish, from the moment I meet you to the like years down the road, like just because we closed the table, that's not where our relationship stops, so it continues on and we just, you know, try and make it fun. Make it fun, yeah.

Speaker 2: 4:21

Yeah, do you feel like you were able to use a lot of those skills from marketing and advertising, like how did those kind of blend into the real estate market?

Speaker 1: 4:30

Yeah, so the marketing is super important Right now. I mean, we're in an industry that can be very flooded with agents, but we're all not created equally right, so everybody has their little shtick, if you will or everybody has their own thing.

Speaker 1: 4:43

But the biggest thing is you really want to provide that value to a client, because anybody can put a sign up in front of a home and then fingers crossed. But what I've really worked on with our team and my partner, what we do as a company is like a 360 marketing. So we're just not. So my experience from marketing is very indicative of specific to your demographic that you're trying to reach, not necessarily who I'm working with, right, so I move that over into selling a home. So when we're listing a home, it's okay who's likely to buy? Like, who's buying in this area? Like is my demographic, somebody who's downsizing or right-sizing or upsizing or leveling up, or somebody who's like a new family, young professionals, and that's how I'm going to gear my marketing.

Speaker 1: 5:31

So, whether that's the song choice of like the Real, or doing it on Instagram or pushing it on social media or setting emails, things like that, so we really try and individualize every home's marketing plan. Like we have something in place but, um, we also want to create an experience for that, um, that particular client too, if that makes sense. So it kind of all just intertwines where, like, we also do like reverse prospecting circle marketing. So I know all of those things that we need to do because we don't want to just touch one person. We want to see how many people we can bring in the door, because obviously the volume is important. The more people through the door, the more opportunity you have to show the home, the more opportunity you have for potential buyers.

Speaker 1: 6:18

Exactly, and then same with like on the buy side. Same thing with just creating that experience and then explaining the process and like hand holding I don't care how many times you've bought, sold like invest, it doesn't matter Like I still educate you along the way because our biggest thing is we provide at least two to three options every single time so you can choose what's best for you and your family, because, with all good intentions, I could be leading you in the wrong direction, because what I think would be great may not be great for your scenario, right? So I think it's just really that individual aspect of what's best for the client and their goals and how can I meet them there and how can I best educate them to make that happen, right.

Speaker 2: 6:59

Yeah, it makes absolute sense.

Speaker 1: 7:02

And then we give gifts along the way because it's fun.

Speaker 2: 7:04

Because it's fun, yeah yeah so what are you doing specifically for advertising and marketing these days? What is working for you and what's not? Yeah, because I'm hearing all you know. Some people are like social media. Some people are like we still send flyers like, yeah, what's kind of working for you these days and how has it?

Speaker 1: 7:20

evolved. Yeah, so there's two different ways of of. I think there's two buckets for us. So there's the marketing bucket and advertising that we do for our sphere of influence and to get people to like recognize our brand and like we always go off like the seven-touch theory, like I'll never just do like a one-off sponsorship, like they have to see me, like multiple times, seven touches in different channels, multiple times seven touches in different channels. So it's worked really well for us, like getting our name out there and getting people to understand like who we are.

Speaker 1: 7:52

We're not just like realtors, like we're not just, um, you, another person, like of 10 people, 10 realtors that are in like the community. They started really doing like events that based off of what I would, what I love, and like what I think people would love. So it just makes it more authentic. Do you know what I mean? And when you're authentic, it's I'm not selling anything. You know like I'm. This is just me and not everybody's cup of tea, everybody's shy tequila. You know what I mean. Here's me like we can work together. But I think that's the relatability right. So like I'm a mom of two boys and like a boy mom, struggle of the juggle right, like how old are your boys?

Speaker 2: 8:30

they're um eight and five, yeah, so I'm not gonna think of it total.

Speaker 1: 8:32

Think of it like I'm a sports mom like crazy. It's just insane, and I love being on the field. But like I will make my life work for me too, right? So I have kids, so a lot of my life revolves around going to the school. So, like I'm the VP of fundraising at the elementary school, so I try and be involved there. So what I'll do there is I'll sponsor a lot of like different events for the kids. Or I like to show my face and show up Like I bring ice cream during Teacher's Week.

Speaker 2: 8:58

That's time-consuming.

Speaker 1: 8:58

Yes, oh, my gosh Volunteer job too Holy smokes.

Speaker 1: 9:00

It is Holy smokes it is. It's insane, but I love it and I like to stay involved, you know. But like we had an ice cream truck the last day of school, we did that. And then in the community I held like a Sips and Shamrocks event at my house, just like get to meet like neighbors and stuff. We had a bartender showing us like how to make different like St Patrick's Day drinks and stuff like that.

Speaker 1: 9:23

Oh, that's fun. To make it fun, you know, yeah, and we're going to be doing like a cookie exchange. So it's really just stuff like I enjoy doing where I get to meet people and then, like my friends and neighbors get to meet each other and we just start building this community. Like we just start really, you know, we've gone to like the local, like bar for like a mom meet up for drinks, like we'll meet up like at the pool, things like that, and like I'm doing that because I thoroughly enjoy the company of people, not because I'm like, oh, I have to do this now because I they need to see me. It's more of like this is what I love doing, this is what I would want to do.

Speaker 1: 9:56

Like I love I'm going to do this regardless if you hire me exactly to sell your house like exactly, I even have realtors come, other realtors in the market come to like those events and stuff just because, or those get-togethers, because that's what it's about. It's not a competition, it's a collaboration, right, it's a sense of community and like the more we get to hang out and like create that tribe and stuff. So I really just do stuff that works for my personality, that I would be doing anyway right works for my personality that I would be doing anyway, right.

Speaker 1: 10:27

And then people, and then I find like, oh, like you're Andrea, like, oh, like I see you pose, or I've seen your name or I've gotten your flyers. So then, like in my community where I live in Lansdowne, so I'll send mailers out, but, like, my mailers are not sales-driven.

Speaker 1: 10:41

So, they come from a very different approach where, like it's an item of value. So I come from a different, very different approach where, like it's an item of value, yeah, so, but it's, but it showcases my personality, right, and like our, and like our agents and our team's personality, because we're all really much the same, a little bit different, but we all have the same foundation, right, and that's just like making it fun, having a good time, like educating.

Speaker 1: 11:01

Right and because this is a very stressful process. We want to take that stress off and make make it a good time. Yeah, um, but like education. It's like we want people to feel comfortable with the decision that they're making. You know what I mean. So, in the sense of like, fully confident, educated. So I'm I'm making an educated decision based off of, like all the information provided.

Speaker 1: 11:23

Um, so, and I totally forgot my train of thought oh, so, my mailers that we send out to people, like whether it's our sphere of influence already, or our biggest cheerleaders, or just maybe a big area that we're farming is going to be more stuff like summer bucket list, and it's like little. It's very visual, everything's very visual, and it's just like little things like water park, water balloon fight, like picnic at the park, and it's a little checkbox that you could check off. Or it's like spring cleaning checklist, or it's, you know, barbecue time, like mocktails and cocktail recipes. So it's just like hey, like here's something that you could use Instead of being like, hey, the last five homes that sold sold for this, Right yeah.

Speaker 1: 12:07

Because to me personally, I'm like, oh, but like the average person, like they actually like to look at that, because, like my husband will see it and be like, oh wow, they sold all these homes. Like no, that's just what they did.

Speaker 2: 12:16

Like that's just the area. I remember we sold our first. It was a townhouse in Alexandria like the Kingstown area, and the kids were young at the time I think they were four and one and we were moving out here and we didn't really know any real estate agents. And this was really before a lot I mean, social media was out but not really popular at the time. It was 15 years ago and we had a real estate agent that every single month that she sent us a calendar of events and I loved it so much because it just wasn't readily I don't know readily accessible other places or whatnot. And we get this calendar from her and I loved it. And when we hired her to sell our house, I said we I said we're hiring you because I just loved your calendar for the past year.

Speaker 2: 12:58

yeah, but it took a whole year of her selling her that or, you know, sending that calendar for us to connect with her.

Speaker 1: 13:05

But it did work yeah, and this is like you feel like you're not being sold to like I'm actually giving you something that you can use, which is awesome, right, and I love that. It's like it's actually just shows, like who that agent is as like a person, right, because it's like here's some value to you. I hope you can use it. If not, like that's okay too. But here it is. You know, like we talked about um recently like the best splash pads to go to like over the summer. Like I'm a mom, like not everybody is a mom on the team, so they utilize it in a different way.

Speaker 1: 13:34

Like because you just really kind of have to like hone in on, like your like I think your audience finds you in a way you know what I mean and I always I I'm more, I identify more of like the hot mess, mom, right, I'm like like, yeah, I'm all over the place, but I think that makes me like relatable, like that's what I've been told you know, and uh, but yeah, I think that's like the best way. So those hot that's really how we do our marketing and advertising for like our sphere of influence and for getting people to like a brand awareness. Brand awareness and like then also like our brand association is like we are heavy into our partners, like it's hard to get on that list but easy to get off that list because, oh, you mean like your vendors, yeah, use this paint chair, Use this carpet cleaner, exactly, yeah.

Speaker 1: 14:19

So we can try and get, because we give so much business, we can get preferred pricing. But also like none of those partners want to get a phone call from us being like hey, like why is my client upset? Like what happened, like I've gone over there before and checked on stuff for them, and like we don't want to be necessarily like general contractors right, but we want to be a resource for the community too. So like, whether it's like a painter, a lawn landscaper, or like the best coffee shop, the best place to get my hair and nails done, the best pizza place, that's like my thing.

Speaker 2: 14:52

And people trust realtors because you really are in this day in, day out, and I feel like when we get referrals from realtors, I'm like I know they're top notch.

Speaker 1: 15:01

Exactly.

Speaker 1: 15:02

Because it's like it's an extension of who you are and it's our brand. So like it's funny because we even have other realtors being like hey, like who do you use for contractors? Because they know we're so like hardcore about it. Like, oh, do you guys have a painter? Do you have somebody over in Winchester? Because, like we try to build a community in every county, in every area too, and like something goes wrong, like you know, like we're there to help support everybody if we need to. Yeah, so that's really been helpful. That's good. And also it's like great because, like we have like lawyers, or we have financial advisors who we'll refer people to who maybe are uncomfortable with like the contracts or like spending the money that they're about to spend.

Speaker 1: 15:44

Who's like a third party game, like they have no like hand in it right so they feel comfortable that they can make again an educated decision based on what their needs and goals are. But then they refer business back to us because we're a trusted partner for them too. So that's like another thing. And then I think, as far as the country goes to like marketing, the homes and stuff, is where we come into that 360. Like marketing, um, reverse prospecting, so we try and go find the buyers. So like we again, that's individualized depending on who's buying. What's the market like? Like do we? Like we know, like the last couple of weeks in June, not great. But like can we push to like end of July, august instead Like okay, historically speaking, this is what happens during this time of the year. Yes, we have low inventory, but option one, option two, option three, which one works best for you? And the biggest thing that we do too, is the best form of advertising is word of mouth right.

Speaker 1: 16:42

So when we list your home, we are contacting within a mile radius, like all of your neighbors. Like hey, we just been hired to sell your neighbor's home. Like here's an opportunity to pick your neighbors. Like, hey, we've just been hired to sell your neighbor's home. Like here's an opportunity to pick your neighbors. Like we'd love to tell you more about it. Because, like how many times like I've said like oh my gosh. Like this home is this and they send it to my friend. Like it would be so great to be neighbors. Like you should go see this house.

Speaker 2: 17:15

Like you know're going to send that, so we really utilize that too, to our benefit.

Speaker 1: 17:18

For sure. Yeah, a house is getting ready to get listed right next to us. Yeah, who do I know? Yeah, exactly, I'm like who doesn't want to pick their neighbor.

Speaker 2: 17:23

Right Like.

Speaker 1: 17:23

Monday margaritas, let's go. Yes, let's go.

Speaker 2: 17:25

I'm all about it. Yeah, what challenges are you seeing in the real estate industry these days and, kind of, how are you overcoming those?

Speaker 1: 17:33

Yeah, that's a great question. So there's a couple of challenges, as always. Right now, like there's an influx of agents and I think that, like I mentioned, like we're all not created equally. So it's really important for clients to really either interview multiple people and have that chemistry with somebody too and somebody they feel very comfortable with. But I think that the biggest challenge is right now is after COVID, like everything blew up right Because we had such low interest rates that everybody could afford more homes. They were able to kind of bid, bid, bid right, and now it's like we're at top dollar. But the problem is now we made an adjustment right, because the adjustment was way too slow in my opinion. But the rates are higher now, so we can afford, so our purchase power is lower, but we have no inventory. So, like I think our biggest thing is people got spoiled, we all got spoiled with those low interest rates, and so it's really hard to.

Speaker 2: 18:29

Oh my God, it was so great. It's really hard. It was a lovely time.

Speaker 1: 18:31

Oh my God, it was so great. It's really hard to get over that, even though we are still historically like lower than the average rate. I mean we had people like our parents' generation 18%, right, yes, so like right. You have to remind yourself of that too.

Speaker 2: 18:44

Yeah, you really do when we came, like the 5% Right.

Speaker 1: 18:54

That's when I purchased. So I think it's the interest rates and kind of getting over that mindset for people and helping them understand like we're not going to see those 3% again and if we do, like the world is in big trouble again, you know, and trying to get over that hump. But then also because of those 3% interest rates when we already had low inventory, because we always had the supply and demand which is what pushed those prices up is that the supply and demand is going to stay consistently low. Because now if I have a 3% interest rate and I go to purchase the same house, but that's 6%, 6.5% to 7%, I'm now paying more for less or more for same. So I'm going to hold on to my home.

Speaker 1: 19:36

So we're going to be in an inventory shortage for a good amount of time. So really when you're buying or selling, your need has to be higher than your want. So maybe a life change where you're having kids, your family growing, maybe your kids are like, are going off and moving, going to college, so we're going to right size or downsize or level up um to another home, or we're moving out of state because of work or just to retire. So those things I feel like are where that inventory is coming from right now. I think those are.

Speaker 2: 20:05

Our biggest thing is like the rates getting there's not a lot of people just moving by choice.

Speaker 1: 20:09

Like yeah, I just want another house Yay.

Speaker 2: 20:13

I'm over this one.

Speaker 1: 20:14

Yeah, you know, it's like your need has to be greater than your want, really For sure. And so I think, between the rates and like that mindset and getting people to understand what that looks like now and what it's going to continue to look like, and explaining the difference of the early 2000 crash versus now where, for instance, like we had over 3 million homes available nationwide during that, so we didn't have the supply issue Now we have like less than a million, so so that supply and demand is there. So, like I mean, at one point we were like less than 950,000 nationwide, nationwide that's low.

Speaker 2: 20:50

I don't think I've heard those statistics.

Speaker 1: 20:51

Yeah, so like that's where, like you can't really compare, because there's always a supply and demand, like anything like remember when gas went crazy because we couldn't get it, and like toilet paper, yeah and I sold my SUV immediately yeah this is ridiculous, exactly exactly and you think it kind of has to balance out, like that's a natural reaction and it.

Speaker 1: 21:11

But you're not going to see those price drops like we saw, or the marketing crash because we don't have the inventory. What's going to regulate it is the rates, right. So we always explain to everybody you know there's no competition in like refinancing. It's like getting your home that you want and then, when it comes time, if rates drop, but like you can't time the market ever, ever Right, cause, like all the people were like, oh, we're waiting, we're waiting, we're waiting. And those people who waited last year are now paying more because not only are the rates a little bit higher, but the value of the home is now higher. Why? Because of that, cause you're waiting, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1: 21:49

And so there's statistics like for every one point that the interest rates drops 5 million buyers. I think it's 5 million. Don't quote me on that. I think it's 5 million more buyers. Let's just not say that. So I'm pretty confident it is, but I don't want to quote myself on that. But it's like every time it drops, the rate drops, more buyers come into the industry. So more competition. So what do you think is going to happen? You're going to be paying more because you're competing, so it's like you really can't time it.

Speaker 2: 22:19

It's like you really have to time not the market, but your life Right, and I've heard that over and over again from real estate agents that just say just don't wait. Yeah, if you need to buy, buy, set your expectations realistically, yes, and when things bounce out with interest rates, you refinance.

Speaker 1: 22:37

Yeah, exactly Exactly. I refinanced twice in one year during COVID, because it just kept going down. I was like, okay, welcome to be here. Yeah, you know, and it's just having that good partner of a real estate agent that is going to be like, hey, now's the time to refinance. Like when I was going through my list during COVID, I was like we got to refinance, we got to refinance, we got to refinance Just be like just to help everybody out and like, well, like we'll raise everybody's hand when it comes time, or we'll raise our hand when it comes time to like for them to refinance, Cause I know what your rate was.

Speaker 1: 23:04

Right, yeah, that's in the actual market. And then, of course, you have the lawsuits that have gone on, which I tend to like avoid talking about in a way, because it is so scaled out of context right now that what I do is I have those one-on-one conversations with my clients and explaining them, because a lot of agents I see, or a lot of people in general, they'll do the grab right when it's like oh, no more commissions, you don't have to pay real estate agents and you have three seconds for somebody to make an impression on somebody If they don't listen to you longer than three seconds. They're not listening to your explanation of how. That's not true, right?

Speaker 2: 23:53

You know so longer than three seconds. They're not listening to your explanation of how. That's not true, right, you know so like you just see this boilerplate of like no more commissions, or something, like that, with your hearing on the news and all of that stuff.

Speaker 1: 23:59

Yeah, and that's the thing, when you have a good realtor like you like they know before it hits the mark, before it hits the news, right, so like, if you actually listen and like take the advice and all that stuff or like ask the questions, right, but yeah, the news is just blown so out of proportion and we're in like a bit of a bubble, being with like the largest employer in our backyard, right, it's like we're a lot different than nationwide. Our contracts already reflected those items that those like in, like Missouri, and those Midwest, like Western states like didn't have Right. Those Midwest like Western states like didn't have Right. So it's like very so. I like to have those conversations one-on-one because it's very easy for people to make assumptions and to be skewed out of context For sure. So I really like to talk like individually about, like our market. Yeah, you know so Well as we kind of wrap up here.

Speaker 2: 24:51

this has been such great information. Is there any parting words you'd like to leave us with? It could be a mantra that you live by, or business advice Maybe advice for someone looking to get into real estate.

Speaker 1: 25:02

Yeah, I think that it's just really important to know who your partners are and like that's like who we are. As a real estate agent, this is one of the biggest investments you're going to be making potentially in your lifetime. Like you want it to be, a sound one, like our mantra we live by is it's not business, it's personal, because everybody is so individual and everybody's needs are so individual. It's not a transaction, it's not buying a home, selling a home and like here, sign here, here you know. So, um, we really make sure that everybody feels that sound purchase, that they're happy and they have that chemistry with the home, that we're a reliable resource for them.

Speaker 2: 25:41

Moving forward, I love how you said that, because you usually hear it the other way. It's just business, it's not personal right, yeah, exactly, yeah well, thank you so much for being here today and thank you for sharing your story with us. Thank you for having me pleasure.