8 minute read
A LIFE OF SERVICE
BY MELANIE ROBITAILLE, SR. STAFF WRITER & GRAPHIC DESIGNER
With the nature of their vocation being relocation, military personnel understand moving better than almost anyone. No other profession values a good exit strategy like they do, ensuring a safe passage minimizing damage and loss.
It’s no coincidence why EXIT Realty was so named, and no surprise that U.S. Army Staff Sergeant, Christopher Portillo, with permission from his superiors, chose a real estate career with EXIT to ensure he had something to fall back on when he retired. Having learned the benefits of passive income through his parents who’ve since retired and live entirely off their earnings from their investment properties, the idea to get licensed came while examining the closing paperwork on his last home sale.
“I was like, ‘why don’t I just buy and sell my own home and keep most of the commission?’” he said of the idea that has grown into an avenue that helps his family and other military friends.
Chris obtained his license in 2021, but if his military training taught him anything, it was about trust and connection among your team, and he was looking for that same feeling in his real estate career. He knew he was onto something when he first met Franchisee, Brandy Brown and learned of the culture at her EXIT Realty Mountain View office in Colorado.
WELL SUITED FOR REAL ESTATE
Now it sounds like no two worlds could be further apart, but the truth is, the values inherent to both the armed forces and the real estate industry are more similar than you might think. There’s a servant heart at the center of both professions that makes real estate a great career for military personnel transitioning to civilian life, or in Chris’ case, on active duty. Aside from being highly adaptive, he brings a militant level of organization, discipline, and accountability to his real estate career, all of which have served him well.
“We’re taught these networking skills,” he explained. “What makes [real estate] a good fit is having that connection with other military members, having that door. Once you get out you still have your veteran’s card. You stay in contact with your unit, and you can always talk about being licensed at Family Readiness Group meetings. A lot of military members, when they move, don’t know many people, and they’re not going to know many REALTORS® in their new community. They often reach out through friends in their unit for referrals. But if I’m in the unit with this license or my spouse is, I have that extra foot in the door. If you know someone in the same unit, you tend to trust them a little more because you work together, you deploy together, and you really rely on one another.”
Sales Representative U.S. Army Staff Sergeant, Christopher Portillo with his wife.
THE EXIT DIFFERENCE
Chris would only get a few deals and several months under his belt before receiving orders for a deployment to Poland early in 2022. But that didn’t stop him from closing a deal while abroad with the help of his broker and fellow EXIT agents.
“I never worried once about things being unfair, or about not being paid. I never had any doubt in my mind about any of that while I was deployed. Brandy reached out to me to see how I was doing out there, and she sent me care packages. It’s why I love EXIT so much because it’s like the military. It’s a sense of belonging. It’s an awesome place to belong to.”
This certainly took a lot off Chris’ mind as he not only had to prepare his family for his departure this time, but also his clients as well. After receiving his orders, he immediately reached out to Brandy and the office, asking for help.
Since his entire client base is made up of military personnel, they understood his call of duty without question, but he still took his computer and everything with him saying, “Thank God we had internet where we were located so I would still reach out, still do emails. I used different platforms like WhatsApp, and Messenger because I didn’t have an active cell number in Europe. I was eight hours ahead and I would make sure that I reached out at a reasonable time.”
THE HARD TRUTH
It sounds incredible, but the reality according to a 2021 National Association of REALTOR® (NAR) report, is that three percent of today’s real estate professionals are also active-duty service members. It puts agents like Chris in a unique position to not only assist active duty personnel and veterans, but also educate them on the programs available and the benefits for the military because several are still unaware.
He feels a responsibility to help service members get into real estate earlier. In Chris’ experience, most wait until they think about owning a home when they start a family, or they might assume they won’t qualify even if they were interested.
“Everybody in my unit is very aware of the VA loan, they all use it, but I know kids who don’t or don’t know about it because they’ve never been informed. I like to give classes about it, give out pamphlets, and talk about it. I share what I’ve done and show them the benefits because some just don’t know or ask about it. I even hear people who say, ‘you use it once and you can’t use it again’ and that’s not true.”
Chris has the experience of personally making countless Permanent Change of Station moves, even living overseas, so he knows what his military clients go through. For the average real estate agent in the industry who lacks this perspective, he respects NAR’s® Military Relocation Professional certification saying, “It helps people who aren’t familiar with the moving process of the military better understand, so they can be empathetic to the stress that comes with moving every two to three years.”
MILITARY REAL ESTATE BY THE NUMBERS
Originally getting his degree to become a Certified Professional Accountant, Chris didn’t like the idea of sitting at a desk all day, but it means he sees this moving pattern as a great niche and good source of steady business saying, “When you think about it, the turnaround ratio for moving in the military is every two-to-three years. So, every two or three years you have new clientele or people who are leaving. That’s buying and selling, so you can basically double end every two-to-three years with one client.”
The same NAR® report states that 14% of recent home buyers were veterans, so Chris encourages those looking to work in this niche to take the courses to help military clients as best as they can. But he also warns it’s more about building rapport when working with the military than just the numbers.
“If you can get on base or have some kind of luncheon with some units where you can get your business name, business card, and your face out there, do it. Let them meet you one-on-one, in person. You can educate them, and they can also refer you to anyone they might know who has questions or is looking to buy.”
CREATING A REAL ESTATE UNIT
Having spent eight years in the Marine Corps, then switching to the army in 2017, Chris has also served as a military recruiter. He has a self-confessed comfort level with rejection as well as a keen eye for seeing how people are best suited for different things. EXIT’s Formula of Sponsoring also appeals to his desire to earn passive income and build his retirement.
“I wouldn’t preach anything that I don’t believe in. When my other buddies show interest in getting into real estate anywhere from here to Texas, New York, or California, I always tell them to go for it,” Chris said.
Now back safe in Colorado from his tour, Chris already had a friend enrolled in a real estate pre-licensing course. The plan is not only to introduce him to EXIT, but also to create a team together.
With plans to further invest in his own income property, but the uncertainty that he could receive orders again at any time, Chris aims to create his own real estate unit so-tospeak, saying, “If one of us has to deploy or has to go into the field for training, we can back each other up.”
