Desarrie McDuffie is Philly's "Real Estate Diva"

By Terry L. Watson

Photos Provided by Desarrie McDuffie

In some circles, “Diva” describes a celebrated woman with outstanding talents. In the city of Brotherly Love, Desarrie McDuffie is known as “The Real Estate Diva”, because she gets the deal done with finesse and efficiency.

Born and raised in South Philadelphia, PA, Desarrie is one of ten children. She attended Arcadia University (formerly Beaver College) and graduated with honors and a degree in Elementary/Early Childhood Education. After college, her focus changed from teaching to starting a career in Social Services. “I worked with at-risk children and families. I also worked with mental health and the homeless populations for ten years before deciding to pursue my real estate license,” she says.

Desarrie says she chose a career in real estate after becoming burnt out as a Social Worker. Her love for serving others hadn’t faded and she realized that with real estate, she could still help people in her community. That was 2007, and at the time, she was in the process of purchasing her first investment property. She was having trouble finding a suitable agent to work with because she wasn’t spending much money, so she decided to become a real estate agent. “I promised never to turn away someone because they were not spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, and I made a vow to provide good service to everyone, buying or selling, regardless of their price point,” she says.

By most standards, the chips were stacked against Desarrie from the beginning of her life. She was raised in a lower-class section of Philadelphia and had no examples of successful business owners to learn from. Those challenges only fueled her fire to become more than she saw in her environment.

Desarrie has worked as an agent with Coldwell Banker for 15 years. There, she assists home buyers with purchasing their homes and homeowners with selling their homes. She also assists investors by helping them acquire properties based on their long-term or short-term goals.

“I promised never to turn away someone because they were not spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, and I made a vow to provide good service to everyone, buying or selling, regardless of their price point.”

Assisting people with their first home purchase is something Desarrie shares she loves about her profession. “Many people I’ve worked with believed that home ownership was not something they could achieve. Many were renters I worked with for months, even years at times, assisting them with budgeting and improving their credit. The most rewarding feeling is handing over the keys to them at closing. I feel like a proud mother watching her child cross the stage at graduation.”

Desarrie says she also loves assisting homeowners in getting top dollar for their properties. These are properties they’ve owned for many years and have appreciated in value. “I take pride in swaying them away from equity-stealing investors and wholesalers. “There is nothing like assisting a person with selling their property for thousands of dollars more than they were told they could by a wholesaler looking to take advantage of their lack of market knowledge,” she shared.

Being an independent real estate agent and investor is like being a small business owner. Desarrie says that as a small business owner, “you are in charge of budgeting, marketing, hiring and training employees. Learning how to effectively run and manage my business has been challenging, but I have adapted to them over the years,” she says.

If she could rewrite the story of her journey, Desarrie says she would have purchased more properties earlier. “I prefer to buy and hold versus fix and flip. Throughout the years, I have witnessed an increase in the value of properties. Properties I could have purchased for ($30,000 -$50,000) years ago are now valued at $300,000-$500,000. I didn’t completely miss out, but if I could turn back time, I would,” she says.

Futuristically, Desarrie says her goal is to grow her real estate team. She also plans to purchase more rental properties and show other agents how to invest and grow their real estate businesses. Her end goal is to retire, travel the world, and live solely off rental and residual income by age 54. “I’ve been working since the age of 14. At 54, my focus will be on living and enjoying life to the fullest,” she says. To learn more about Desarrie McDuffie, please contact her directly.

www.PhillyRealEstateDiva.com