Last Day, Last Commute, Last Trenta Black Tea Lemonade from Starbucks ((((from the Starbucks at Parkside)))))
In the blink of an eye, this incredible experience was over. I knew it would go by fast, but I didn’t think that fast. Natalie and I went in this morning and showed Kristi our projects, all of which she really liked! Afterwards, we had a good conversation about her duties as an admin. As an admin, she is in charge of everything from keeping track of attorney’s files about mortgages to thank you gifts to clients. One thing she echoed (we had heard it ALOT) was the importance of getting our real estate license as a young age, because in the end it does make us more attractive to agents. Afterwards, we warned her about all the fun facets of 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, yeah you get the idea, grade. We had a heartfelt goodbye, all agreed to keep in touch, and left. It was really a great experience and gave me great insights into development, sales, administration work, and leading a team. Thank you to Kristi and all of Keller Williams Elite for helping me realize that real estate is truly where I belong!
I take it back, THIS is my dream houseAll I want is this to be my back porch. That is all.Proof that I’ve been working and not just taking pictures of random houses
If being a realtor means I can sleep till 9:30, sign me up! Natalie and I met at 11 this morning to tour a new development….that is so new it didn’t exist! Great. Instead, we decided to take a road trip out to Pittsboro to another new development…that while built was unattended and as either of us wanted to break in, we kept driving. Third time’s the charm? You would’ve thought. The third development was a cult meeting. Literally. We arrived and about 22 of the same color, model, year pick up trucks did too and then they proceeded to almost surround us. Needless to say we packed up and drove out quicker than we came in. We finally arrived at Lake Castleberry, a CalAtlantic development built right on *Shocker* Lake Castleberry. When I tell you these were crazy homes, I mean crazy. We toured three models, each nicer than the last, and learned a lot about how to market a neighborhood. In short, put every feature in the model to bump the price from $500,000 to $995,000. All humor aside, it was actually a super important lesson. Natalie and I then went back to KW and worked on finishing touches on our projects, two things we are both pretty proud of! Truth be told, leaving will be bitter (with no sweet) because I will miss all of the staff, all of the fun real estate lessons, and the houses of course. Oh the houses.
Tech Tips & Team Meetings!Where I should be writing my blog from!A kitchen I would be (less) willing to learn to cook in :/
Apparently, my wicked good looks and on the spot smarts make me look like an actual agent because EVERY SINGLE PLACE I went today someone asked what agency I worked for. I’m 17 guys, not that hard. Today started at 10, a bit earlier than usual, with a tech tips meeting. We pretty much learned how to use the KWMLS (Keller Williams Multiple Listings Service) and how we can put leads into a database. In real estate, leads are the biggest help because they help agents gain listings and therefore gain business (and money)! Afterwards, I re-parked my car because anyone that has seen me drive knows that is a necessary endeavor, which made Natalie and I almost late to the team meeting. In the conference room, we met with Kristi, Sarah, Ed, and all of the other agents to catch up on how everything is going. The team members shared leads and listings, a mortgage agent answered any questions, an attorney helped brief everyone on what to do, and everybody thanked each other for all the hard work. Naturally, Natalie and I headed out after to go check out even more new construction. I’m not going to lie, at this point every house looks the same. We went to one development near CA that was nice, albeit cookie cutter, that gave us good insights into the difference between Cary and Durham’s new developments. Afterwards, we headed out to check out another model, learning a lot more about what is takes to both stage and sell a model home. Finally, we headed to another development near downtown Cary and while there was no model, the agent on duty was more than happy to brief us on both the neighborhood and the industry as a whole. I have to admit, with each day of work, my interest in real estate just intensifies!
Homey extra living space in Amberley!A kitchen I would be more than happy to learn to cook in!Never thought I would find my dream house at age 17 but here we are!Tell me this isn’t the biggest selling feature of, well, ANYTHING!
This was a nice morning. I woke up at 8. Go figure. After a leisurely morning, Kristi let me run to the DMV to grab my gold star license (unnecessary, I know) because Natalie had to go too…or we thought. Turns out I’m a chauffeur for another week! Anyways, once we got to the office we started grinding. I managed to finish my first new development flyer, a nice paper filled with information about location, features, and pricing of a development close to the office. After that, I went ahead and added pictures and links to the unofficial fun holiday list that we had at the office. Afterwards, we met with Ed, a commercial developer at KW. We had a good chat and to be quite honest, it was super productive because he taught me that I really don’t want to get into development. He talked about how it takes a while to get into it and even longer for projects to be completed, two things that would cause my impatience to skyrocket. Similarly, he really conveyed the message that it is not a field to enter into. After this meeting, we met with Dona again to debrief the appointment we had last week. We discussed the comparables that were near the clients house, what they closed for, and what the strategy was to list her house should she really want to move. Natalie and I then went to check out more homes after we finished the morning meetings. We first stopped at the Piazza at Stonewater development, an amazing community right near the Tobacco Trail and Parkside Commons. We toured two models (Sonoma and Oakhurst) and when I tell you they were tricked out, you have no idea. Sonoma was my favorite out of the two, due to the amazing basement (cinema, workshop, and wine cellar included), awesomely huge kitchen, and the amazing closet space. Oakhurst was super nice too, just a bit smaller and less tricked out than Sonoma. However, we learned that Sonoma would be sold anywhere between $735,000 and $1,250,000 (aka the model we toured), so it made sense that Oakhurst was less finished (Oakhurst was listed for a measly $850,000)! Afterwards, we headed out to Amberley Estates, the second community of the day. We had a bit of trouble locating the community, but it was worth the wait! We toured two models again and realized the same thing happened: first model was CRAZY and second was….nice. We thought the first was super cool, albeit a bit awkwardly spaced. However, the second was a bit cheap looking, with more average finishes. Today was an awesome and eyeopening day and we cannot wait to see more properties tomorrow!
Construction at my future neighborhood (I mean Southpoint Trails)!This was the worst house of the day….that says something!If you need me between now and next Friday, you can find me at the Drake model home at Southpoint Trails!
Today was the most laid back day of the experience thus far. After our somewhat of a failure discovering the new developments yesterday, Kristi called the agents at both of the developments (Southpoint Trails and the Meadows at Southpoint) to let them know we were coming. We went to Trails first, where we toured two different model homes (1 and 3 Photos were at that development). The homes were awesome! I liked the first one best due to the light and airy feel, while Natalie preferred the darker, homier one we toured second. After we gained information surrounding Southpoint Trails, we continued down the road to the Meadows. The Meadows featured smaller, lower priced homes that we targeted much more to a starter home level. They, while still nice, were much less stylish than the other ones. We toured these homes in order to gain insight into what the neighborhoods were really about so that when new clients come to town, Kristi will know where to show them. Natalie and I were supposed to meet with a development expert today, however that was postponed until next week, so we got a great lunch at the mall. After lunch, we met Kristi at one of her listings where she showed us how to show a house. One thing that I found interesting was that in reality, it is better to not shove the information down the client’s throats, rather to let them wander and provide information when necessary. It was an awesome day today and I can’t wait for what next week holds!
Today made yesterday seem like a piece of cake! We got to KW at 9:30 this morning (the normal time) and worked on our independent projects for about 15 minutes before we met with the team leader (CEO equivalent) Sarah for about 2 hours. Sarah covered EVERY base possible in terms of real estate and becoming an agent. She gave me much deeper insights into development and what it takes to be a developer (the path I hope to pursue) as well as much more. She gave us a great lesson in the necessity of hard work, telling us that if we put our all into it we could be easily making upwards of $500,000 at age 25 (not too shabby!). Sarah then told us about her story and how she began as a development team member and has risen through the ranks, running both a successful team in Charlotte and Durham as of now. Right after we finished with Sarah, we met Kandyce, the coach of the office. While she too gave us insights into real estate, she spent much more of her time explaining the principle of loans and equity, as well as interest. Interestingly enough, she said that we could easily get our licenses at age 18 and start then! Imagine that! She gave us tons of tips to survive HS and College, as well as then giving us tips on how to be successful in life. She said to always have a source of money, which shouldn’t be an issue for her as she currently runs 6 successful businesses! While Kristin wasn’t in the office today, she sent us to go check out some new developments and while today we were not able to tour them, we got to know the area and we are expecting to tour some tomorrow and next week. Tomorrow, we are meeting with the head of development as well as touring a home, so it seems like we will stay busy!!
Oh what a day it was! It was a very nice morning, as I was able to sleep in since we weren’t required to be at the office until 10:30 this morning! Once we got there, Kristin put us to work with our 3 main ongoing projects: new development reviews, a social media revamp, and a calendar. With the calendar, Natalie and I googled fun holidays like Lazy Day, Chocolate Day, or Donut Day (this Friday!!) that the office can enjoy as a whole. After about an hour of work, we got in the car and drove out to North Durham for our first listing appointment. Truth be told it was far, but it was a super fun drive as Natalie and I jammed to our new WEP playlist! Upon arrival, we met Kristi’s fellow agent Dona and she gave us some quick background on the client. The client, Renee, was planning on selling her townhouse to move to a larger one closer to work. During the consultation, Natalie and I learned a TON. We learned a lot more about mortgages and loans, what work should be done to a house, as well as some people skills necessary for the job (aka managing expectations). As we continued the consultation, we took a tour of the house and learned something that stuck with me the most: don’t put too much work into a home! Afterwards, we headed to lunch and finished our work for the day! I can’t wait for tomorrow!
Oh what a day it was for Natalie and I! After going on my first *real* work commute all the way out to Durham, Natalie and I were greeted with a huge smile from our new best friend, Ms. Kristi Burkett. After we introduced ourselves, she took us to her mini office/conference room for some background. She told us why she got into real estate, what drives her everyday, as well as why the market reacts the way that it does. Afterwards, she gave us an office tour and we saw all of the different cubicles that were there. Something that was interesting to me was the fact that their office was actually many different smaller teams that were all united under one umbrella company — Keller Williams. With this in mind, Kristi introduced us to many of the other agents, including two that actually are involved with land development (my hopeful career path), so it was super cool to meet all different types of agents. She then took Natalie and I out to lunch at my personal favorite, Zinburger, and we all had a super good conversation about Cary Academy (her daughter is currently a sixth grader). After lunch, Natalie and I snapped some quick photos of the office before we attended a training class centered around how to host a successful open house, hosted by a guest speaker. It was super informative and we both learned that to have a successful open house you actually should not make it very formal and honestly to make it more of a party atmosphere. We then learned about sphere of influence more in depth, something very useful regardless of fields. We are both super excited for tomorrow, where we plan to tour one to two new construction developments, as well as accompanying Kristi’s colleague, Dona, to a listing appointment!
