If you are lucky enough to be Facebook friends with Laurie Weston Davis, you get two treats: beautiful sunrise photos and inspirational greetings from Pinehurst, North Carolina and adorable pictures of her dog Baxter.
Oh, and you’ll be connected to the one of the leading thinkers in real estate today. Because Laurie is on stages and pages all over the world of real estate, as a speaker and expert on both luxury and technology. Her gentle demeanor and wry sense of humor make her a great panelist or keynote presenter, and I’ve seen her do both. She doesn’t just throw out jargony terms — she makes them real and actionable.
Today, Laurie is CEO and Broker/Owner of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Lifestyle Properties. She got started in real estate as something of a second career. Her children were getting older and she wanted a job with flexibility. So she asked her own real estate agent, who suggested she get her license and come work with him.
Then Laurie was in a great position for a new agent — she worked on site with a builder, where buyers were coming to her all the time. But her first listing? That was a doozy.
“The home was unoccupied because the couple was getting divorced,” Laurie told me. “But one day, I was doing a broker open house and there was no electricity! I found out it was becoming a financial burden and the house was heading toward foreclosure. So suddenly it became a short sale. And I closed on both sides of the transaction.”
Talk about learning on the job! And learning is something Laurie does constantly. She’s not just on stage at real estate conferences, she’s consuming as much of the material as she can. And then she passes on what she learns through her site, The Geeky Girls. That’s her blog where she reviews technology and tools for real estate agents based on her own experience.
I asked Laurie what new tech she was most excited about and she surprised me — it wasn’t about lead generation.
“There have been so many tools to help agents create leads from cold contacts,” she said. “But now there are new tools helping agents target their sphere. Which is where most of our business comes from anyway, so if you’re going to spend money, why not spend it there?”
This is such an important point, because even though we have these people in our network and on our lists, it doesn’t mean they’ll automatically remember we are their trusted source for real estate! You have to remind people you have a relationship with them.
Even Laurie’s sister-in-law was buying a house without talking to Laurie first. It wasn’t her market, but still, Laurie knew she was going to pick a random agent and wanted to be helpful.
Being helpful and being an information source is integral to being valuable as a real estate agent — and knowing your market. It’s Laurie’s advice to anyone, especially new agents: know your local market! It what makes you stand out, and separates you from any technology that consumers can use. She notes that the portals miss the local factors: the market, the location, the condition. And also, most buyers and sellers have no idea what an agent does for them behind the scenes.
Everyone asked me how I became an expert. I did it not by searching “ways to be an expert” or just stating that I was, but rather, I made sure I was in fact an expert. I studied my market inside and out, I visited every open house and broker’s open I possibly could. I learned all the new technology that was out there (or ready to be out there), and made sure I knew the answers to tough questions…or at least knew how to get the answers. And in turn, I became an expert in my field.
In whatever industry you find yourself in, you must make yourself different, set yourself apart, and know as much information as possible about your craft — no exceptions.
Check out Laurie’s episode and don’t forget to subscribe!
Here’s what you’ll find in this episode:
0:50 What was Laurie’s Day 1 like as a real estate agent?
3:00 What drove the transition from one company to another?
5:40 What should agents ask of offices when they are looking to join?
7:00 What does Laurie do to further her own education?
8:44 What is Laurie’s favorite social media channel?
11:00 How would Laurie suggest using $100 on Facebook ads?
13:20 How did the Geeky Girls get started?
16:20 Does it help for agents to have other channels to build their business?
17:40 What is Laurie’s favorite new type of technology?
20:00 What’s the best way to argue for an agent’s role in real estate?
22:20 What old school methods are still working?
24:00 What was Laurie’s very first listing appointment like?