This month’s spotlight features Lilly Mail, a Realtor with Remax located in Virginia and serving the DC, Maryland and Virginia regions. Read more to learn about Lilly and her work.
You worked in the corporate world before transitioning into a career in real estate. Why did you make that transition?
Pure and simple answer: I was not happy. Capital One is a great company to work for but as the years there started adding up, the more I felt unfulfilled. I decided to take a leap of faith and leave and start out on my own.
Could you briefly explain some of your responsibilities in your current career role?
There are two sides to being an agent. As a buyer’s agent I represent the party buying the house. This entails understanding all of their wants and needs for their new home, what exactly they can afford pricewise, and making sure that their mortgage banker is able to provide the financing needed to make the purchase. As a seller’s agent, I am responsible for staging the home so that we can get strong offers, online advertisement, setting up open houses, and the most important thing is reviewing contract offers.
What challenges have you faced and what opportunities has your transition presented?
Great question on the challenges- the main one I can see is that sometimes some clients do not understand how the current DMV Real estate market moves. Buyers are not really in a position of negotiating with the seller at this present time. There are two main reasons for this, one the inventory is low and the number of buyers are increasing due to historically low mortgage interest rates. As far as opportunities, they have been plentiful. I always say my clients are my advertisers. I really appreciate them for always recommending me to their friends and family. Also, I was able to work with players from the Washington Football Team thanks to a fellow Eritrean David Mulugetta, who is the number 1 agent in the NFL. He recommended me to a couple of his clients and then those clients sent more of their teammates.
What do you consider to be your greatest professional accomplishment?
My greatest professional accomplishment to this point is buying my time back. Working for myself has allowed me more time for myself, my family and my friends. America is a great country, but it takes time away from you and I feel like I found a loophole in the system. I have been blessed with awards and accolades from my fellow agents, but buying back my time is head and shoulders above everything else.
What’s one piece of advice you would give someone looking to transition into your line of work?
That is a great question and as odd as it may sound, I cannot answer that. There is nothing special about my jump, I simply wanted it and I went for it. I understood the work it was going to take to succeed.
What are three things someone looking to buy a home should consider?
- The first thing I would ask my client is what do you want and what are they willing to sacrifice. Are they willing to have a longer commute, are they willing to save money on an older house? Things like that.
- The second thing I would ask is if they feel comfortable in a certain price range. Sometimes, to win a contract, we have to go above and beyond asking price.
- The third thing I would ask them to consider is location. Can they see themselves in the area for the foreseeable future? For example – if they have lived in DC, but are now heading to Springfield, VA, I would ask if they are sure they are ready for the changes.
Outside of all of your hard work and efforts toward building your brand, what do you do for fun? Hobbies?
Spending time with my family. My husband and kids are everything to me, so whether it is date night with my husband, or gymnastics with my daughter, or watching my son play basketball, this is all that I do outside of work.