While I do love working in real estate, I  find that I don’t resonate with much of the industry status quo, often finding myself at odds with industry conventional norms. I seamlessly blend into gatherings of real estate investors, where my unconventional mindset resonates more than it does in the typical Realtor conferences. 

I believe that if after a few years in this business, you’re income is entirely derived from sales commissions, you’re missing a key aspect of lasting success and true financial growth as a real estate professional. To work in real estate and not be actively involved in real estate investments is a tragic missed opportunity to maximize your knowledge and resources. 

When I first drove my old Honda with no A/C down from Northwestern Montana to Las Vegas in early  2002, to begin an internship as an appraiser, I knew nothing about real estate. And I do mean nothing. I  both laugh and cringe when I look at that old yellow notepad with glossary words I was working on learning at the time. Ya know such brain busters as equity, mortgage, title, and lien. 

Despite knowing next to nothing about real estate at the time, my curiosity and eagerness to learn laid the foundation for what would become a rich and diverse career. 

Fast forward over twenty years and this curiosity has only grown. My journey through the real estate industry has led me to managing a successful appraisal office, to opening my own appraisal and consulting firm. This led to an increase in investment opportunities. The relationships I built within my investor network would prove to be career-saving when the 2008 market crash hit. It was after a couple of hard years of struggling that I got my real estate license in 2010, selling many fix & flip properties for investor friends as well as many of my own fix and flip investment projects. 

Several years later I would do something I’d never done before. I got a job. Entrepreneurialism runs deep into who I am but when contacted by a corporate recruiter and offered a salary position with a  national mortgage company, I found myself curious again. 

Spending the next couple of years building, staffing, and training I met more incredible people and we established an in-house appraisal department that promoted compliance and smooth transactions for  Realtors, loan officers, and borrowers alike. 

I spent the bulk of my time putting out appraisal-related fires for loan officers and Realtors from diverse markets across this country. It was through this process of broadening my view to a national,  industry-wide perspective that I came to see many gaps within this industry. Gaps that could easily be closed with the proper perspectives, coaching, and education and yet, for decades, haven’t been.

I began offering live trainings in my local markets and quickly expanded, serving realtors in other markets. While this was a great experience, I found that much of the time was spent answering the same few questions over and over. I was putting band-aids on serious misunderstandings and issues.  Without treating the problem the symptoms would continue to show up throughout the careers of the  Realtors I was teaching. For my personality, this was not okay. I needed to go deep, offering skills,  techniques, and methods that would achieve the results the Realtors were truly needing. Through training on communication and properly setting expectations, I’ve developed methods to stop valuation, pricing, and appraisal-related issues before they start. (valuedrivenagent.com)