Today was day one at Cushman & Wakefield. I had a relaxed beginning to the WEP, arriving at 11am and meeting Sam Cronin, my host. It was great to have time just to talk with him at first, discuss our plans and expectations, and gain high-level information about what I would need to know. During a meeting over lunch, I had the opportunity to meet different people from different firms and fields and gain an understanding of the life science business in RTP. We hear all about major companies moving to the area and have witnessed the development taking place. To be given the opportunity to see what facilitates this development is amazing.
On our last day Tommy and I arrived at 10:30 and had a meeting with Kristi. We went over all the things we had done for the past week including, our meetings with Ed, Sarah, Kandyce, and Dona, our revamping of their Instagram and Twitter, our visits to the model homes, our articles on the model homes we visited, and our calendar. Kristi was very impressed by the work we had completed and appreciated our time and effort that we put into the work and we thanked for the wonderful opportunity that she had given us. Kristi then gave us a review on how her team runs and examples of situations their might of been. Tommy and I are very grateful for this experience and thankful for Kristi taking us in as interns and showing us, very in depth, of how the real estate business works.
Tommy and I started our day off by driving all over Cary and Durham trying to find some model homes that were either open or in existed. We eventually found one beautiful site where we looked at 3 extravagant model homes. They were beautifully designed and featured and they all had views of a lake. After that Tommy and I rode back to the Keller Williams office and finished our work on revamping 919 realty’s Instagram, writing articles on the model homes, and creating a calendar for the office. Tommy wrote the articles for the model homes and we both created the fun calendar filled with pictures and recipes. I found articles and created previews of model homes for 919 realty’s twitter and Instagram.
Today Tommy and I started off the morning with meetings. First was a tech tip meeting led by Precious, where we learned how to use Keller Williams’ form of MLS. Specifically Tommy and I learned how to add contacts to keep your sphere of influence up to date. We also learned how important it is to keep your leads and clients up to date on your business so they have you on their mind. Agents can do this through thee Keller Williams’ MLS site with welcome or listing emails automatically formed for you to send to your client or lead. After the tech tip meeting we had an office meeting where we discussed mortgage, law, and coworkers successes and challenges. Tommy and I then got lunch and headed out to another model home where we took lots of pictures and spoke to some agents about the communities.
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!
On this glorious Monday Tommy and I started our day off with doing some work on 919 realty’s Instagram, calendar, and twitter. After a cup of coffee and some work completed we had a meeting with a land development agent, Ed. We had a discussion about confidence in speaking and planning. After our interesting meeting with Ed we moved on over to Dona where she told us more about listing. Dona showed us how the competition is on the market now and the presentation of a home. At the end of the meeting we also showed Dona some work that Tommy and I had been working on earlier to get her approval of it. Since Tommy and I loved visiting the model homes and writing reviews on them, Kristi sent us some more locations to visit. Tommy and I visited two sites and were awed by there extravagant presentation. At the end of the day Tommy and I were exhausted going through the magnificent homes.
Ah Friday! The best day of the week in my opinion and one of the best days of this internship by far. Tommy and I started our day of by driving around to the model homes that we couldn’t see yesterday. We got to tour 3 model homes, take pictures, and talk with the agents responsible for those model homes. Tommy and I had lots of fun as we looked at every nook and cranny of these model homes just like we were buying the homes ourselves. At the end of the morning we got tons of pictures, a list of pros and cons of each model homes, and an experience that I will never forget. After our exiting review of these model homes, Tommy and I stopped for lunch while on our way to a mock open house with Mrs. Burkett. We met Mrs. Burkett at an open house where she pretended like we were her client and she showed us the house. It was very interesting to see what characteristics of the house she would point out and what things she couldn’t talk to us about. So far this week has been great and Tommy and I have learned so much about every type of real estate.
Today Tommy and I arrived at Keller Williams’ office at 9:30am starting our day a little earlier than yesterday. We first worked on some tasks like revamping 919 realty’s social media. After that Tommy and I met with the office’s team leader, Ms. Sarah. Sarah explained exactly what she does: paperwork, recruiting, and keeping the employees and teams happy in her office. Something very important and interesting that Sarah explained to Tommy and I was that you can never work alone. For example, Sarah works closely with their financial advisor to make sure that she stays on track and approve paperwork and such. After our meeting with Sarah we met with the office’s coach, Kandyce. Kayndce taught us some very important financial skills, like learning how interest rates work, and how to use our skills to build a business of our own or even a side business for some extra cash. Time flew by talking to Sarah and Kandyce and it was time for lunch. Again Tommy and I chose the classic Chick-fil-a for a quick meal so we could view some model homes in new construction areas. Sadly two of the place we went in Durham were busy and the other site closed all of its sales. But we are going to try again soon!
Today was a complete different experience than yesterday, and it was great! Tommy and I started our day off at 10:30am with a brief review of 919 realty’s social media like instagram and twitter. We decided to take on the task of revamping their social media because Mrs. Burkett felt like our young knowledge would be useful in making their social media more attractive to the younger generation who are buying these new family homes to live in. Mrs. Burkett also assigned us a fun task of creating a calendar, we would put days in the calendar to boost spirit in the office like chocolate day or pajama day. After our morning of marketing Tommy and I drove to our first listing appointment where we met Mrs. Dona. Tommy and I learned so much about preparing your house for selling, how to find the right price for your house, how the market is reacting now, and how little housing there is in the triangle. It was very interesting and Mrs. Dona’s client was kind enough to let us sit in the meeting and see her beautiful home and what renovations, if any, she needed to do in order to prepare for selling. Today was an exciting day, and I cant wait for tomorrow!
To start our day off, tommy and I were greeted with a huge smile by Mrs. Kristi Burkett, easing our nerves. We first sat down in one of Keller Williams’ conference rooms and got to know each other better. Mrs. Burkett spoke about her experiences that lead her to become an buyers agent and work in the admin side of real estate. She also lectured us on how to use the website TMLS, Triangle Multiple Listings Services, which is an essential part of listing and finding retail to sell. After discussing further into the process of selling a house we had a tour of the office. An interesting thing that I saw was that even though their were different teams in one office space, everyone was extremely friendly and knew everyone else, making the office space just that more welcoming for Tommy and I. Mrs. Burkett then took us out to a delicious lunch at Zinburger. After lunch, Tommy and I went to a lecture about how to have your own effective open house. It was very interesting as I learned that the more relaxed the better. I am excited and ready to learn for the week to come because we have something new and different planned for each day.
