GUEST PANELIST AT IONA COLLEGE'S REAL ESTATE ASSOCIATION
March 2019 I was honored to return back to my Alma Mater, Iona College located in New Rochelle NY as the only woman to speak about my career in Real Estate. Topics of discussion included, What it's like to be an agent?, How did you get into property management? How do you advise on investing in real estate?
Leaving my 9-5 creative job in marketing was a leap of faith. I knew I was always a natural connector, and had a knack for visualizing the abstract, and could see the opportunities before I turned them into a realty.
As a client representative in the real estate world here are 3 take-aways I had for the students of Iona College.
1) Understand What it Means to be Emotionally Intelligent
In a world where IQs, GMATS, and SAT scores are glorified when you enter into the real world of business you need to be in tune with your intuition, instinct, and yes - emotions. Money is an emotional item, and often times is the center of people's focus and happiness. Advising on such large investments or purchases in real estate means soothing any anxiety, understanding both parties' motivations in the transaction, and staying neutral.
2) Having Integrity
The reality of today’s world is an influx of silly, flashy, unimportant distractions. Too many agents and brokerages have taken focus away from actually understanding a neighborhood's value or saving clients money. Instead the trend is to focus on the entertainment of real estate, or tilt the priority and focus on what makes the agent or brokerage happy. The amount of Instagram followers an "influencer" broker has will not save their clients money or teach them how to avoid mansion tax. The fanciest CRM to send all your clients annoying emails won’t help you understand a reverse 1031 exchange. This market has brought back the focus, value and thriving of the steady, old school and educated broker. Thankfully I was raised around them.
3) Do WORK
Actually touring the neighborhood, walking the streets, researching what block and lots have DOB permits pulled out on them to be able to project what will be built in the next upcoming years are all testaments to a good agent not afraid of actually putting in the work. The spring is my busy season and I've toured a new development every week to understand, "What's all that jazz equating to higher prices here versus there".
I had the honor to give back my experience so that others looking to enter into the realm of brokerage can learn how to move forward and not fail after the first year. I welcome you to learn more or meet with me to discuss in person.