Katie Cawood - From Animal Science to Real Estate Success and Empowerment Advocate

Katie Cawood's journey into real estate is anything but conventional. Imagine starting with a background in animal science and human resources and then pivoting into a successful career in real estate. It's a story fueled by encouragement, adaptability, and a sincere passion for helping people find their dream homes. Katie emphasizes how crucial it is to find a real estate agent who genuinely advocates for you, even if they haven't been in the business for decades. She also offers a peek into the evolving landscape of regional MLS systems and realtor associations, highlighting the need for flexibility and up-to-date knowledge in today's market.

Balancing a bustling career in real estate with a vibrant family life isn't easy, but Katie makes it work. Between supporting her daughter’s competitive horse riding and cheering on her son’s Taekwondo progress, she continues to excel professionally. Katie opens up about her dreams of becoming a principal broker within the Virginia Alliance Group and her ongoing journey from mentee to mentor. She also clears up common misconceptions in the real estate industry, such as the difference between clients and customers, and underscores the importance of referring clients to expert advisors when needed.

But Katie’s mission goes beyond just selling homes. She's dedicated to empowering first-time homebuyers and underrepresented groups to achieve homeownership, fostering generational wealth. Heartwarming stories of clients’ milestones serve as powerful reminders of the impact a committed real estate agent can make. Katie's philosophy of living a life rooted in contribution and reciprocity shines through in her professional and personal endeavors. Tune in to hear an inspiring conversation that blends valuable industry insights with touching personal anecdotes.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:31

My name is Katie Kaywood. I'm a real estate agent and I work out of Keller Williams Chantilly.

Speaker 2: 0:36

Perfect. Can you tell me a little bit about how you got started in this industry? Was it always your goal to become a real estate agent? Actually, no.

Speaker 1: 0:45

I have a degree in animal science agriculture Cool and then I transitioned from that into a career in human resources for 12 years, wow. When that career ended abruptly, my good friend and real estate agent who had helped me purchase my home here in Virginia thought I would be a great fit for real estate. So she introduced me to her team leader at her office in Leesburg at the time and they convinced me that I should take a shot at it. So I went and got my license, and that was in the summer of 2015. So here I am.

Speaker 2: 1:16

Wow, and I think I saw that it will be nine years in September, is that?

Speaker 1: 1:22

correct Yep. I've been licensed in Virginia for nine years. In September I added the Maryland license, six months after that and a few years later I was licensed in Washington DC.

Speaker 2: 1:33

Wow, that's pretty impressive. Good for you. I love that. Can you tell me what have been some of the most memorable moments that you've had with your clients when you're helping them either buy or sell a home?

Speaker 1: 1:44

Probably with the buy side. I prefer to be that way with deals, with transactions, because I like the look on their face when they walk in and know that that's the right home for them. The most rewarding part of it is handing keys to first-time homebuyers. That's the coolest thing on the planet is because you know you really had an opportunity to change their lives or to help them change their lives. So handing keys to them at the settlement table is really like the coolest experience ever. Getting paid is great too, of course.

Speaker 2: 2:15

It's a job.

Speaker 1: 2:16

It's a career like anything else, but that's the part that really is the most rewarding for me. I love that.

Speaker 2: 2:22

Can you tell me a little bit about what people should be looking for when looking for a real estate agent to work with or hire?

Speaker 1: 2:30

The most important thing is, everyone always wants to go with or thinks that the person with the most years experience is going to be the best option. That's not always the case. What I think is the most important is finding someone that you mesh well personality wise, with and who you know is going to be there, have your back all the way and advocate for you the best possible way. Way and advocate for you the best possible way, even if they don't know everything. If I hadn't had clients and people with enough faith in me to do that, I never would have been able to get past six months in the business. I would never have had those first few clients, because they knew I was a first time agent, that those were my first transactions ever, but they had enough faith in me as a person, as a professional, to know when I didn't know something, to ask questions and to advocate for the best possible way for them to get them to their goal. Awesome, now that I have had some years and experience under my belt and I've had various different types of transactions, no two transactions are the same, even the simple ones. There's always something different. So as long as you come to it with that kind of approach that you don't know everything, because you really don't. You're learning every day, especially now.

Speaker 1: 3:46

There's been a lot of upheaval and a lot of change in our industry, particularly in this region Maryland, dc, virginia. We're going to be going through a great deal of change over the next couple of months and, with the settlement with the National Association of Realtors, it's been all over the media lately. We're experiencing a lot of changes in how our listings are displayed in the Bright MLS that's our regional MLS system that we use here, and then the various realtor associations that we get our documents from, whether that's in Northern Virginia, dc or Maryland. All of those organizations are right now, as we speak, in the thrust, in the throes of changing all those documents, and they're all doing it differently. So not only do I have to know all of that, those first few transactions that everyone is going to go through are going to probably be a little bumpy at first until we all get used to using all these new documents and incorporating the new rules that are happening for all of us. Wow.

Speaker 2: 4:46

Yeah, that's something to think about. So I'm glad you're putting that out there so people are aware to and not be maybe a little bit rough on like hey, why is this process so crazy?

Speaker 1: 4:55

Like this is why it's going to be a learning process for all of us. Um, actually, I think the, the people who are walking into this scenario in the best possible way are actually the newer agents, because this is going to be the only way they learn how is, with all the new stuff. That's going to be normal for them. They're not going to be the the more experienced agents who are coming into it with a certain way of doing things for so long that now it's going to be changing, yeah, and that those are the people who are going to have the hardest time adjusting. But it doesn't mean that we can't do it. Yeah, right for our client?

Speaker 2: 5:29

Absolutely no. I love that perspective that you just gave. Like I didn't think of it that way. So that's, that's something to think about Give the new agents a shot.

Speaker 1: 5:37

Everyone and everybody and everybody knows someone, who knows someone who's a licensed agent. There are more than 15,000 licensed agents in Northern, in Loudoun County alone.

Speaker 2: 5:46

Just Loudoun County.

Speaker 1: 5:47

Just Loudoun County. Not all of them are working. Of course Fairfax County has a similar number. You go into Maryland and DC there's even more than that. So just because someone has 30 years experience or maybe just got their license last week, give them all a fair shot and see who's going to be the best advocate for you and help you reach your goals. Well said.

Speaker 2: 6:08

Absolutely With marketing yourself and your business and all that you do. What are you doing if you're doing anything?

Speaker 1: 6:17

I tend to have a more reserved personality. I'm not the out there go getter, heavy hitting, you know advertising type person. It's just not my personality. It works great for a lot of other agents out there who are really comfortable with it. I really get the majority of my clients on referral either from other agents. Those are my greatest way.

Speaker 1: 6:42

Yes, being licensed outside of Northern Virginia.

Speaker 1: 6:44

I'm a resident of Loudoun County but I actually do more than half of my business in the state of Maryland and over the years that business has come from primarily referrals from other agents, whether they're in my office or they heard someone ask for a licensed agent in Maryland and they would refer me.

Speaker 1: 7:04

And then now that I've had several years under that, now the referrals are coming in or I'm having repeat clients from my past, clients that are repeating transactions where they bought with me in the past and now they're selling. I work with a lot of military home buyers who are rotating out every so many years, so if they bought with me in the past, I actually had to sell two properties this summer for people who had bought at the same time four years ago. So those two people that closed within a month of each other four years ago have actually also closed within a month of each other. Look at that Selling so it comes back right. It comes back around Yep and maintaining the relationships with all my past clients. It's really where the majority of my business comes from.

Speaker 2: 7:49

I love that. I love hearing all the different ways that people are using to get their name out there Referrals, advertising, marketing.

Speaker 1: 7:56

There's a million different ways to be involved in the real estate industry, whether or not you're an actual agent or perhaps you're just an assistant or you're doing transaction coordination. Or a good friend of mine who has a successful real estate team down in the Woodbridge area, she got her start really in sales by being a stager, and being a wonderful stager at that. So if you can think it up, there's a way to be involved in this industry and to make it work for you and your personality.

Speaker 2: 8:27

Absolutely yes, and I love that there's different kinds of personalities to work with. Right, because not one Asian is going to be perfect for everybody. You find like who you mesh well with, who has the same values or everything, so I love that there's a variety of people out there.

Speaker 1: 8:42

There's always someone out there for everyone and what works for you and your needs. There's going to be someone out there, and if it's not me, I can usually help you find someone that will.

Speaker 2: 8:54

Oh, that's lovely, yeah, so hit her up. And now, what do you like to do outside of work, like when you're not trying to help people sell, buy, what do you like to do to?

Speaker 1: 9:04

unwind. Well, I have two children a 15 year old daughter and a 13 year old son. I'm kind of a horse girl.

Speaker 2: 9:11

Oh, I love horse girls. I didn't grow up with them.

Speaker 1: 9:14

My family were not involved with horses, but it's something I always wanted to be involved in, so I got involved through college, hence my agriculture degree. I wanted to be a veterinarian, like every little girl did. It didn't work out, but you know, I get to use that degree now to help my clients with horse properties. But also my daughter rides horses. I rode a small amount. I say small amount. Was it a lot? Yeah, as much as I could through college and the early 20s and into my 20s and stuff, and then I had children so I had to give it up for a little while. So but when my daughter turned four I started teaching her to ride and now she's 15 and riding competitively. So we're on our third mare, so a female horse, and now she's a full size, quite large horse. So she's riding her competitively and taking lessons out of a farm in Upperville.

Speaker 2: 10:09

So that is awesome, and that's also like another.

Speaker 1: 10:12

I'm doing that a lot of lot of spare time spent at the barn for her lessons and away at horse shows, both locally and, uh, even as far away as kentucky last summer we had to make a trip to kentucky okay is that where the main like horse competitions are uh, it's one of the we're some of the larger um hunter jumper related.

Speaker 1: 10:32

That's the the genre that she's in. Yeah, that's where her pony finals championships were last year, so we had to make the trip out there last year pretty awesome and try to volunteer for other equestrian related events in the area. Northern virginia and maryland is a quite rich history area when it comes to equestrian related events, so so we volunteer a lot. And then my son is a brown belt in taekwondo locally, so he's he's working toward that as well.

Speaker 2: 11:01

I love that it sounds like you're a busy woman. Yes, I love that you still get to be near the horses right through your daughter. That would be like it's a pet them and just experience and see her grow?

Speaker 1: 11:11

Yeah, I do. Now that she has a horse instead of a pony, I do get to ride a little bit again. Yeah, I do. Now that she has a horse instead of a pony, I do get to ride a little bit again, but for the majority of the time she's riding. So there's not a lot of room for me yet. I don't have the money yet to have a second horse just for myself. So when she's done with this one and perhaps goes on to college, and if the horse doesn't go with her, then it's going to be my horse again.

Speaker 2: 11:32

She'll fit him right in the dorm. You know her yeah.

Speaker 1: 11:37

So, and it's going to be my horse again, she'll fit him right in the dorm. You know her. Yeah, yep, yep. So hopefully, when she moves on to do that, then I get to keep Frenchie for myself.

Speaker 2: 11:42

Yay, oh, frenchie's the name, love it, so cute. And then, where do you see yourself in the next five years? Either as a person or with your business.

Speaker 1: 11:50

Um, my goal ultimately? Uh, I do a lot of aside from just being an individual real estate professional for myself and running my own clients and my own business. I work with our ownership group, the Virginia Alliance Group. They own five local offices here in Northern Virginia. I serve on their broker team as well, so I do compliance work for them as both primarily in Maryland and DC, I review all of the Maryland and DC contracts for all of those licensed agents that flow through those five offices and I also assist with some of the questions and whatnot in Virginia. So eventually my goal would be to be a principal broker for one or more of those locations for Maryland, dc or Virginia, wherever I'm needed. But I'd like to really transition into that aspect of it. Pretty cool To be more full-time on the broker side, yeah.

Speaker 2: 12:40

I love that you've given that some thought, huh.

Speaker 1: 12:42

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 12:42

Like what you want to do. I love that you know when you're helping clients or was it clients?

Speaker 1: 12:49

customers, clients Once they have signed an agreement with you to work with you, you then they are considered a client by law definition of it just any brand, like if you were and I were just speaking at an open house or I met you at Starbucks, you'd still be considered a customer. You're not a client of mine until you've signed a brokerage agreement to work with me.

Speaker 2: 13:09

That is good to know. I think I have been saying it wrong this whole time now. Well, okay, but thank you for letting me know. That's okay. When you are helping them, what are some common misconceptions that they come with you that you help clarify? Whether it's like something going on with their house, Like wait, should I be looking out for this? I thought that I saw like a reel online that said something about that.

Speaker 1: 13:30

Um, the first important thing is to understand what a real estate licensee can and cannot say. We are licensed real estate agents Unless we're holding a license in some other field, like home inspections or appraisals. We really shouldn't be commenting necessarily or giving our opinion on those, because we're not subject matter experts. We would be stepping over the line, so to speak, with our license, unless you have direct knowledge of a particular thing. When you're showing a property, I do the research by looking at the listing ahead of time, seeing what information has been disclosed by the other agent because they've had actual knowledge of a particular item being fixed or it was failing or something like that that they have to disclose that. Or when it comes to talking about loans, I refer to my lender partners or whatever lender that they're working with. I can tell them what I think, sort of what I think I know about it, but I try not to answer those specific questions about how something's going to affect their loan unless it's something I have actual knowledge in. So, for example, if a client is looking to use a VA loan very popular in this area, whether they're an active duty or retired military I know there are certain restrictions on those types of loans.

Speaker 1: 14:50

So I know to look at certain properties of what the VA loan is going to look for. It's an additional appraisal step, an additional inspection beyond what is done by the homeowner's inspection. So they're looking for things like peeling paint or rotting wood. They're looking for stair rail handrails along stairs, to be a certain way. I know to kind of look out for those kinds of things, particularly on older homes where that might be something that might potentially need to be repaired or changed. Otherwise they can't close on the property. Fha loans have similar requirements. If we decide to ask for rebates from the seller or credits for from the seller, there's limits on how, those's limits on what you can ask for. So I have to work really closely with the buyer's lender, whether that's somebody I've recommended to them or whoever they've chosen to use. I have to work with them quite closely throughout the pre-buying process as well as throughout and even beyond. Okay, wow, that is-.

Speaker 1: 15:53

But I have to put my trust in those other people who are licensed in those particular areas to provide me with that information.

Speaker 2: 16:00

Okay, that makes perfect sense, so thank you for clarifying that it's important to know.

Speaker 1: 16:04

when you don't know something and tell people I don't know, but let me find out, Love that.

Speaker 2: 16:10

Thank you for sharing that, that's no, that's that's so true, because oftentimes I feel like we were like a little bit too much on the real estate agent and it's like wait a minute, that doesn't mean they know every single thing.

Speaker 1: 16:19

I'm the person kind of leading the path. I'm I'm often going to be the first person they ask about everything. This is happening with my air conditioning system. What do you know what it is?

Speaker 1: 16:32

Uh, as a homeowner, I might be able to answer your question, but I'm always a real estate licensee so I have to be cognizant of here's what I can do for you. Here's what you know. Maybe their heat went out and I can rush a heater over to their house for a little while. I might be able to hand them off a referral to an HVAC contractor that I know and I've worked with. I have a few of those yes, some of them were past clients of mine that I can refer out that can answer those questions for them. But it's all about knowing where to direct that question, because more often than not I'm the primary person they have associated with their home. That's right. So they're always going to call me first and I do welcome those calls and questions from people and I try to help them as much as I can.

Speaker 2: 17:18

Yeah, you just lead them into the right direction, right? Yes, awesome, love, that you're a guide for them in that way. Lovely, and I know that you lived in Michigan. I did Tell me what brought you here to Northern Virginia.

Speaker 1: 17:30

So I was born in Southeast Michigan, about halfway between Detroit and Toledo. If you look along the I-75 corridor in that little corner of Michigan we all kind of do this and say where we're from.

Speaker 1: 17:41

So I'm from here. I went to school here at Michigan State. I lived there most of my life. I moved after I left college in 2002, moved to Maryland actually for many years, where I wanted to run, help run a horse farm because I had just graduated my agriculture degree and I thought I wanted to get involved in that. Unfortunately it didn't work out the way I planned, but that's okay. I ended up landing a job in my human resources field, so I worked in human resources. I had multiple certifications there in that in that genre. I worked for many different um, nonprofit organizations and government contractors for many years. So having that service background um really developed for me professionally doing that. And then I got married in 2006, um to someone who was also involved in horses.

Speaker 1: 18:39

Big surprise, big surprise guy. Um, we're no longer married, but we moved to uh, northern Virginia in 2014. Okay, um had a small horse farm for ourselves, and then I eventually got into real estate at that point, so Nice.

Speaker 2: 18:54

Wow, I love that. How was the change from Michigan to Maryland and then Northern Virginia Like? Are there anything that caught you off guard, Like whoa?

Speaker 1: 19:01

There's actually quite a few Midwestern transplants here. Um, some of that, I believe it's, of course, with the government involvement and people have staff and everything from here that come from their home states. But it always makes me laugh when I drive around the entire region and see how many Michigan license plates there are, or Michigan I went to Michigan State University how many logos from the different schools that I'm familiar with are on people's vehicles and stuff. So there's actually quite a few Midwesterners here, more than you think. You're not alone.

Speaker 1: 19:30

No, I'm not the biggest change, I think. When I first moved here, people thought I sounded Canadian because they thought I had an accent.

Speaker 2: 19:40

Okay, but that was the biggest thing, and learning to say soda instead of pop was kind of the biggest culture shock that I had to learn moving out here If I don't, and learning to say soda instead of pop was kind of the biggest culture shock that I had to learn moving out here.

Speaker 1: 19:51

If I go back to home to Michigan for a long period of time I might come back and keep go back to saying pop a little bit, but that's kind of the. I think pop's cute. We should bring that back over here. Yes, we should bring it down below the Mason Dixon line. It's okay, but that was kind of my biggest, you know, culture shock. And coming from a more blue collar factory worker type environment where I was in Southeast Michigan where everybody's family member earned their living in some way or shape or form from the auto industry to something that's more of a professional environment in this region you don't have those big manufacturing companies here. Everything's a little more professional. So there's a lot more lawyers, there's a lot more doctors, scientists, government-related professionals here.

Speaker 2: 20:38

Okay, and then, being an entrepreneur, what advice would you like to give to anybody who's maybe thinking about dipping their feet into real estate? I know you said right now there's's going to be like big changes coming along, so they're going to have to get over those hurdles. What other things would you like people to know?

Speaker 1: 20:55

about. It's not an instant money-making thing, unless you're really lucky and there's a good portion of this that is involved in luck and this is a relationship business. I just happen to also sell a house in the process. So and I think that's true in any service industry, regardless of what field you're in If you're, you're providing a service, you're helping someone solve a problem, whether that is something more on the short term side or because your typical real estate transaction can be anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, but because I've maintained relationships with those clients, those transactions can repeat and spread out over years. If you're working with an architect, for example, they happen to design your home, but that process can take years. It's really about determining what the client's needs are, addressing those needs in the most efficient way possible and being that resource for them throughout and then beyond. So I just happen to also hand them keys. It's almost secondary for me.

Speaker 1: 22:07

The other thing you have to be prepared for is working for yourself versus being an employee. There's a whole. It's a very, very different financial situation. Yes, there's a lot of flexibility involved, but for some people it can be really difficult from going from being an employee where someone hands you a task list every day and you get a paycheck at the end, a regular, consistent paycheck, where someone's taking out the taxes and doing all those things and providing your health insurance and things like that. So if you're not, it's a very different situation from going from that to being self-employed. I have to pay my own taxes every quarter. I have to buy my own health insurance that's not provided to me. I have to set my own goals every day. I don't have a boss telling me what my tasks are for that day. You have to start everything on your own, unless you choose to work on a team.

Speaker 1: 23:06

There's a million different ways to be an agent. I happen to be a solo agent, but if for some people it might be an easier transition to go from that employed sphere into a team environment where there is an agent above you that has multiple agents underneath them and they're directing you in which way they want you to go and they're training you and doing all that stuff, I kind of had to do it all on my own, um. But if you choose to join a team and do that, then you have to make certain concessions. You're going to be splitting your commissions off with that team, because they're providing you with all that, the leads, and they're providing you with the additional training. Um, they're, they're providing all that infrastructure for you, whereas a solo agent you kind of have to do it all for yourself?

Speaker 2: 23:50

Oh my goodness, Did you use a coach or mentor or anything at all?

Speaker 1: 23:54

Initially when I first started, my friend who got me into the industry was kind of my mentor and she helped me walk through my first couple of transactions. I did open houses for her to help me get started and she introduced me to the other agents in the brokerage office who then also had me helping it out, helping out at open houses, and I picked up my first few clients doing that, as well as just people that I knew that actually hired me and trusted me to do their to help them with their home purchases.

Speaker 2: 24:24

So that's awesome. I'm glad that you had like a friend to help you. Like, you know, dip your feet into that. I feel like that's so helpful. Right, you can have confidence to ask them and be like, hey, what's this? And they have knowledge.

Speaker 1: 24:34

Yeah, and my brokerage office was wonderful in providing a lot of training for because just getting your license means that you can study and memorize a bunch of stuff about real estate law and you can sit down and take a test for an hour.

Speaker 1: 24:46

It doesn't make you a real estate agent not a professional one anyway Even though legally you're expected to provide the same level of service as someone with 30 years of experience the day you get your license. But I was very fortunate in that through Keller Williams, they provided me with a great deal amount of training and, just in general, the collaborative family environment that, even though we are all individual licensees and we're all independent contractors, it's a very collaborative environment. Everyone is willing and eager to share and teach. I do a lot of teaching myself to both my brokerage and then our collective group of offices, and I have really ever since I got involved with real estate. As soon as anyone trusted me enough to do anything, I started teaching it. So I like to give back and make sure that the agents that I interact with also know how to do their jobs to the standard that I think they should be doing it.

Speaker 2: 25:43

Yes, so you've kind of become like the mentor too, right, and help coach them.

Speaker 1: 25:47

Yes, yeah, I work with a lot of newer agents, especially when I'm doing training and con with all these contract changes, I'm going to be doing a lot of. I actually scheduled a couple of classes ahead and there'll be more changes coming in August, so I'll be. I'll be in front of many of our agents for the. For the foreseeable, future?

Speaker 2: 26:06

Wow, so when you hold these events, is there anywhere where people can look if they're interested maybe, and they like what they're hearing and they're like, hey, I want to learn?

Speaker 1: 26:13

from her. Sure, if anyone's interested, they can contact me directly and I'm happy to put them in touch with a team leader or an office leader that is close to their home. Or if they want to come and join me in Chantilly, they certainly can, just because my office is in Chantilly. I live in Loudoun County. You can be a licensee and hang your license with really anywhere as long as you have. Because I work from home, I actually don't go to the office very often unless they ask me to come in to teach or to help participate in a meeting. So you can live from anywhere and work from anywhere. It really works. Whatever works for you and what, how much interaction in person you really want to have. A lot of brokerage offices do everything virtually. They don't even have physical offices. So it it really depends on on what someone's looking for, and I'd love to chat with them about what my experiences were and getting my license initially and I was fortunate. I had a few clients right off the bat, but a lot of people.

Speaker 1: 27:14

You be prepared to go six months or more without any income and that doesn't account for the expenses you have to have up front just to get to that point.

Speaker 1: 27:25

So you have to have a certain number of hours of pre-licensing training that you have to do. So you have to have a certain number of hours of pre licensing training that you have to do. Then you have to actually schedule and pay for your testing and then pay for your license and join a brokerage and pay whatever fees they're involved in. You have to have association memberships that you have to join in order to have access to different things. There's your Central Lock access and your Bright MLS subscription. So not only are you going to go potentially several months without any income if you go full time and you've left your employment situation behind, but you're going to have a significant amount of expenses up front as well, just so you can be able to open that first door. Even if you have a client on day one, you're probably going to have spent at that point up to a couple thousand dollars worth of stuff you've paid for just before you can even open that first door man.

Speaker 2: 28:18

no, this is great that you're putting that out there, just so they know what they're going into right, because I feel like a lot of people think like, oh so you don't want to sell a home like I'm going to make money.

Speaker 1: 28:34

That's it the end. Everyone thinks that it's very easy. Um, and if you can, if you can memorize some material and take a test, then yeah, in a certain in that sense, it can be very easy. I wish that the barrier to entry was a little more difficult than it actually is. If you've, I hear, it's very easy. It can be Like I said, if you can memorize some stuff and take a test, then you have your license and unfortunately it doesn't make you a good real estate agent, because there's so many aspects of just customer service that you have to have and things that just only come with experience working with different lenders and home inspectors. I'm always following the home inspector around At every property my buyers purchase. I'm learning something new from them every single time I go out, or just working with the lenders and asking them questions, so I can do my job that much better next time around. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 29:25

I love that, and now this is going to be one of my final questions and feel free to answer it. You don't have to. But what do you do to keep your skin so good? It's like so nice, it's smooth and glowy, but it's not like greasy. I'm just like staring, I'm like I want that, cause I get really like oily here, but yours is just like matted perfection. Oh, thank you so much, yeah.

Speaker 1: 29:46

Kind of you. Um, I actually, uh am a big believer in just, first of all, drinking a lot of water, um staying hydrated. In general, Um, I don't do a lot with my skin. Um, I'm I'm very fortunate, uh, genetically. I guess it's really nice skin. But, thank you, Um, I like my particular product line that I like to use.

Speaker 1: 30:09

Everyone has a favorite, Um, mine happens to be Mary Kay, A good friend of mine is a Mary Kay person and got me and got me into it and I just, you know, I don't wear makeup a lot, um, so I kind of let my skin breathe and whatnot. Um, but I just use, you know, a cleanser and all that stuff.

Speaker 2: 30:28

Are you wearing foundation right now? I am Okay, but still like what. It doesn't look like you are, it's all Mary Kay. What the heck. I didn't know they got down like that. I was just like oh, mary Kay, like I'm sure there's newer stuff, but I mean the testament right here on the skin. I'm tempted, thank you.

Speaker 1: 30:49

Yeah, you'll have to give me your friend's card so I can like look into this because it looks, it's glowing girl Thank you and I need to drink more water.

Speaker 2: 30:53

clearly is what you're saying. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 30:55

It doesn't help, it doesn't hurt, that's for sure.

Speaker 2: 30:58

Perfect. Thank you for sharing that. I was really curious. I'm going to forget later, so I'm going to do it right now, so other listeners can also listen in on that. Great, all right. And is there anything that maybe you would like to talk about that maybe I haven't asked about or touched on? That is maybe something that you're like. No, I need to get this out with a platform that I have.

Speaker 1: 31:16

I think the biggest thing that I would like to just make sure people know is that owning a home is not impossible. The hardest thing to get past is your fear of rejection. So people think that, oh, I've been renting my whole life or I think my credit's not great enough or I don't have enough income. That's the biggest thing. So they're afraid to even ask could I buy a home? Or what is involved in getting me to actually owning my own home. People don't realize how little they might even need to do. The first best thing you can do, if you're curious about it at all, is to ask a real estate agent, and then my first thing is to kind of you know what are your goals, what are your thoughts, what are your needs or what are you wanting to do for yourself. It's the single biggest transaction you're ever going to make in your life, but it's the single biggest investment you're ever going to make in yourself. So it might take us six months to get you in a place where you're able to buy a home. It might take six years, but finding a real estate agent who's going to stick it with, stick it out with you, that entire length of time, no matter how long that takes, is going to be key. My first thing is to get someone in front of a lender that I trust. Someone else who I also know will work with someone as long as necessary to get them on that path, because I can't look at their finances and tell them what they can afford and can't afford. So I work with lenders that I know and trust that will handhold that person. Find out if they had to buy a home today, what could they do financially. And then, if they can't do anything, or maybe they can't do what they wanted to do, what is it going to take to get them there and how long is that going to take? The lender can do that for me. They're going to lay out a path. They're going to give them a checklist. These are the things I need you to do. Here's what we need to do to get to this point and then beyond, and do that comfortably.

Speaker 1: 33:08

A lot of people don't know to ask or they're afraid to ask because they just assume that it's not for them or that they're not going to be able to do it. But that is such a misnomer. Oh, more people can buy homes more than they, than they actually realize. So, particularly my and one of my favorite clients in general are just, are women and women of color. They have women in general, and women of color have been one of my biggest groups of first-time home buyers over the the last several years, and that's something and veterans, military and, and you know, current and retired I'm so proud of that.

Speaker 1: 33:49

That handing keys to to people, like handing keys to anyone, yes, is a big, a big thing for me. But handing them to a single woman and someone who's or or someone who's never owned a home in their family's history, yeah, um, doing that for someone where it's a generational change and you're creating generational wealth by doing that. Um, I had one client bring their whole family to their settlement and they brought food and we had a whole party in the settlement office, um, but, and then afterwards they had a housewarming and they invited me to come and made me stand up in front of their whole family and I'm like you know, I'm just they're doing my job. But that's the kind of change we can affect as real estate agents. Um, particularly in in women, in, uh, with four women and in minority communities how, how influential we can be to create that change Absolutely.

Speaker 1: 34:45

So even if someone didn't even think that it might have been possible for them, you don't know if you don't ask yes, so, and there's always a way, there's always a way. It might not be in the location you were thinking of, or that picture of the house with the white picket fence may not end up being what you thought it was going to be, but there's always a path. So, starting with the people who are going to help you on that path is crucial, and finding someone who's going to, like I said, stick it out with you for however long that takes, and be your advocate. They might have gotten their license yesterday. They might have been in the business nine years, ten years, like me. Or they might have been in the business nine years, 10 years, like me, or they might have been it for 30 years. You know, find someone that you like, who's going to have your back and is going to support you through the whole process, and you'll be fine.

Speaker 2: 35:32

Well said. No, that's powerful stuff there. I love that you said that, thank you. And now my very last question is is there a mantra that you like to live by, that you would like to share with other people?

Speaker 1: 35:45

Keller Williams has a class they call bold, that everyone goes through, and there's these, all these bold laws or these mantras that we like to say or to have in our repertoire. My biggest one that has always touched me, and actually I can hearken it back to my human resources days, was come from contribution. How can I help you? Yes, and that's not just with one aspect or another of their lives is what can I do to help facilitate this, that or the other? How can I fix this problem for you?

Speaker 1: 36:20

So, as long as I'm coming from a place of contribution, not only am I helping my client directly, but I'm maybe helping the other agent on the other side. Maybe I'm helping an agent in my office that they can better serve their clients. Maybe I'm helping the home inspector or the lender or the seller on the other side. Sometimes I have buyers who are buying a home that might have been listed for sale by owner, or it's a seller with an unrepresented buyer on the other side. What can I do to help facilitate? What can I do to help everyone?

Speaker 1: 36:55

get to the end goal, which is to get to the settlement table. Yes, and that's coming from contribution in all aspects of my life um, just ask the people at my daughter's barn or you know anywhere else, any other part of my life and and I think most people would probably reflect that back At least.

Speaker 2: 37:13

I hope so. Yeah, no, that's great. I love that, like the selfless act of like hey, how can I help you Right? Make this easier for everybody, so everybody, because it all comes back around.

Speaker 1: 37:21

Yes, eventually, what you put out into the world comes back to you. So if you're always coming from a place of contribution, uh, I think it just it makes the world a better place in general. Um, but then occasionally, when, when it's your turn to need that help some, it usually comes back around for you. So I love it, amen.

Speaker 2: 37:43

Thank you so much for being on the podcast and sharing all your stories and advice.

Speaker 1: 37:46

Thank you for having me.

Speaker 2: 37:47

Oh, absolutely, it was a pleasure.