NORTHERN CALIFORNIA 7-11-22

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA EDITION

3 EASY AT-HOME

DIY PROJECTS TO INCREASE PROPERTY VALUE

FEATURED AGENTS

CARLA FERRANTE DAVID HOLMES JULIA & GRANT VILLENEUVE BRANDON XIONG

7 REASONS WHY

YOUR PROSPECTS AREN'T TURNING INTO CLIENTS COVER STORY

CHRIS ZANGER & MATT MUELLER

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7 Reasons Why Your Prospects Aren’t Turning Into Clients Real estate experts suggest prospecting daily so that your sales pipeline never runs dry.

But sometimes all that effort doesn’t translate into results. If your prospects aren’t becoming clients, there’s a reason, which is better than it sounds because that means you can fix the problem.

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1. You’re Too Slow The Association of Real Estate License Law Officials estimates that there are about 2 million active real estate licensees in the United States alone. Of course, not all these individuals are working in the same markets. Nonetheless, that

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If your prospects aren’t becoming clients, there’s a reason, which is better than it sounds because that means you can fix the problem.

means that realtors face a lot of competition. If you are slow to respond to messages from prospective clients, someone else is sure to beat you to it. As a rule of thumb, it’s best to return calls and emails within 24 hours.

If you’re too busy working with active clients to return the phone calls and emails of prospective clients, consider hiring a real estate assistant who can help take administrative or marketing tasks off your plate.

2. They Don’t Trust You There are different reasons why a client might not trust you, some of which overlap with others on this list. When a client asks you a question, do you answer it directly or do you sidestep it?

Do you have testimonials and reviews from happy clients publicly available? Do you have an online presence? Social proof of your skills and knowledge is key.

3. You Don’t Seem Knowledgeable Enough Is your client constantly coming to you with new listings or marketing ideas rather than the Top Agent Magazine

other way around? Do they mention real estate and finance terms you’ve never heard of or ask you questions you’ve never thought to ask yourself? Every agent starts somewhere, but if this seems to be a pattern, it’s one clients will pick up on too.

Your clients want to know that you will add value to their home buying or selling experience, and part of that value is your expertise and passion.

4. You Have No Web Presence It’s not enough to be on Zillow or have a Facebook page. There are clients who don’t use these platforms, and at the end of the day, you don’t own the content or your access to it. Both platforms could suddenly go out of business and any following you’ve gained could be lost.

It doesn’t cost much to create and maintain a website today. If customization matters little to you, sometimes you can even get up and running for free. At the very least, it’s a good idea to invest in a domain name because yourwebsite. wordpress.com looks a lot less professional than yourwebsite.com.

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5. You Don’t Seem to Care When clients don’t think you care, it usually means they don’t feel like you are listening.

You may have systems, processes, and a proven marketing strategy. You may like to get right down to business, but to your client, this isn’t just business—it’s their life and their family’s livelihood.

When your client tells you what’s important to them, they want to make sure that you really hear them. Make sure your body language conveys that. Slow down. Shut your office door.

Make eye contact, nod your head, and pause before you speak so that they understand that you’ve put thought into your words—that they aren’t simply lines from a script.

6. You Use Too Much Jargon Remember that your clients don’t speak real estate. At most, they might buy or sell a home once every few years. They hired you to be their advocate and may even expect you to be a bit of a teacher too. Use layman’s terms so that your

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client fully understands how the two of you will work together.

7. Your Target Audience Is Everyone Your clients are home buyers and sellers, yes, but who is your ideal client? Some specialties you might consider are college students and recent graduates, working professionals, military families, seniors, CEOs, or other high-profile clients.

As a newer agent, your target audience might be anyone who will hire you, but over time, you might find that you click more with certain clients, that their lifestyle is similar to yours, or that their goals align with your mission. Whatever the reason, marketing your business to this “ideal client” rather than every potential client will make selling your services easier.

Remember: It’s within your power to alleviate your client’s concerns, but understanding why your prospects aren’t turning into clients is a good start.

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CHRIS ZANGER & MATT MUELLER

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Top Agents Chris Zanger and Matt Mueller have cleared a benchmark of $750 million in total combined career volume.

Chris Zanger and Matt Mueller boast a combined thirty-one years’ experience in the real estate industry. The two find themselves currently relishing their day to day work-life balance, and thanks to a process that’s been refined and perfected, they feel they’ve hit on a proverbial “sweet spot” pairing intimate industry knowledge with a (well documented) track record of happy clients and collaborative 8

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agents. When asked about plans for the future of their business, they immediately laugh with one another, and Matt responds, “Keep on rockin’. We’ve got a pretty good thing going process wise – our ability to continue to exceed our clients’ expectations is there.”

The journey to the present-day Mueller Zanger Group at Compass starts (and ends) Top Agent Magazine

with family. In the mid seventies, Chris’s father purchased and operated his own brokerage in Silicon Valley: Referral Realty.

His inherited industry knowledge helped him build a foundation of intuition, and also helped him spot areas for much needed Top Agent Magazine

industry improvement. Matt’s older brother and sister-in-law are residential developers and brokers, which fueled his desire to pursue construction and construction management after college. When the two met through a mutual friend in 2010, they quickly 9 Copyright Top Agent Magazine

discovered their common histories, and were even more delighted to learn that they shared future aspirations.

The seeds that were planted when their paths first crossed blossomed into Mainstream Real Estate Group: a boutique brokerage that relied on a culture of collaboration and cutting edge technology to seize the South Bay real estate 10 Copyright Top Agent Magazine

industry by storm. “It was a situation where we needed to better ourselves, and provide different tech tools to our clients, so we decided to create our own brand – we just wanted to do what was best for our clients and the industry.” By the time they sold the brokerage to Climb Real Estate in 2017, Mainstream had grown to a volume of $200 million per year, working with twenty-five producing agents.

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Chris is endlessly grateful for the experience, especially because it helps him provide unparalleled service each and every day. “That experience in sales management and operations within the company has really helped Matt and Top Agent Magazine

I be very concise with our transactions. Back then we didn’t have a lot of time to tend to our personal transactions; we were forced to be efficient. So now, our process is very precise: we make it very easy and efficient for our clients.”

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With the Mueller Zanger Group humming along (with the help of agents Cassandra Bowers and Andrew Arild), and steadily building on their recently cleared benchmark of $750 million in total combined career volume, the duo can afford to prioritize their families and extended communities.

In between coaching baseball and football games, or traveling to nearby mountain trails so that their kids can compete in downhill races, they’re grateful that their work gives them the opportunity to sponsor WalkA-Thons and Little Leagues in their own neighborhoods.

To learn more about the Mueller Zanger Group, visit compass.com/agents/mueller-zanger-group, www.

email mz@mzresales.com, or call 408.914.5046 12 Copyright Top Agent Magazine

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3 Mental Tricks That Will Take Your Business to the Next Level It’s no secret that running a successful business requires careful planning and a tireless work ethic. Beyond those obvious ideals, it also takes the right mindset in order to capitalize on professional opportunity. In the world of real estate and mortgage lending, mental fortitude is a major component to reaching the next Top Agent Magazine

level and achieving longevity in a sector that requires so much self-discipline. With that in mind, we’ve compiled a few key mental tricks you can employ to reinvigorate your working philosophy. Incorporate these techniques into your daily mindfulness routine and your business will surely benefit.

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Visualization helps you work efficiently and keep your cool.

This may sound like one of the oldest tricks in the book, but there’s a reason why Olympic athletes and those serving in first-responder positions use visualization as a time-honored mental technique. Not only does visualizing your daily tasks help you organize your mind, but it amps up your ability to focus on what’s important. Visualization also helps reduce stress in the moment, since you’ve already created a mental expectation of the task ahead. Whether you’re preparing for a negotiation or a pitch to new a client—visualization primes your brain and affords you an extra sense of control as you tackle your day.

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Distill concepts into their simplest terms for ultimate understanding.

As an agent or loan officer, you’re likely juggling numerous clients and commitments on any given day. That’s why it helps to distill your responsibilities in clear, definitive terms. Let’s say you have a meeting set with a client to outline a marketing approach for their property. You may understand the broad strokes, but beforehand, try verbalizing the exact takeaways you’d like to impart to your client.

This may seem obvious, but one of the best ways to clarify your communication and ensure your com-

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plete understanding of a subject is to explain it aloud in its simplest terms. This crystallizes your main point and can come in handy if you drift off-topic or need to double-down on your message.

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Accept that mistakes will be made.

While it’s natural to fear failure, sometimes the dread of making an error can overwhelm your ability to perform. As the saying goes: don’t let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.

If you accept in advance that set-backs will occur, challenges will come, and things won’t always go accordingly to plan—you’ll be less confounded when hurdles do arise. What matters is keeping an even keel as you sort through unexpected delays or mishaps. Accepting that mistakes will happen allows you to shift your focus towards a solution or contingency plan. In other words, don’t spend your energy trying to achieve perfection. Aim high and work hard, but be in touch with reality: upsets are bound to occur. Accept this and you’ll be ready when they do.

The path to lasting success is ongoing, and there are bound to be challenges along the way. It takes mental fortitude to make it to the top, so keep these tricks in mind as you continue to grow as a person and a professional. Seeing situations in a new light can make all the difference as you adapt, evolve, and take your business to the next level.

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CARLA FERRANTE When Carla Ferrante purchased her first property at the age of 23, she had no idea it would lead to a lifelong career in real estate. That purchase produced extraordinary financial headaches and surprises, but it uncovered her passion for this industry. “My agent didn’t tell me to go research permits at the county building and planning departments. When we closed escrow, it was only a week later that I received a letter telling me my cabins had to be torn down,” Carla explains. Shocked and heartbroken, Carla spent the next few months learning about local building codes, septic systems, environmental standards and everything in between. “I truly went down a rabbit hole, but along the way I fell in love with the process.”

Nearly 20 years later, Carla is thriving as a real estate agent, leading Ferrante Group Realty. Her team consists of two full-time buyer’s agents, one licensed assistant, one transaction coordinator and two inside sales assistants. Based in Placerville, California, Carla and her team service their clients where they need them, including all over El Dorado County, Sacramento County, Amador County and more.

Carla loves helping her clients accomplish their goals, specializing in listing and marketing homes. Her team is laser focused on delivering a very high level of service whether they’re retirees, first-time home buyers or investors. Many of their buyers are coming in from the city, wanting to get back in touch with nature and enjoy everything the Sierra Foothills has to offer. Regardless of their long-term plans or reasons for moving to this stunning region, Carla’s team provides them with the same exceptional service. “I’m

100% committed to them,” she explains. “I communicate with them throughout the journey.” She stays reachable even after hours, knowing that missing or not returning a call could lead to her clients having a stressful experience and possibly missing out on the home of their dreams. Her buyers and sellers become raving, lifelong fans of her work, never hesitating to refer her to everyone they know.

One buyer recently said, “Carla was an absolute God-send. The best experience I could have imagined.

She got to know us and knew what we wanted better than we did. She never stopped working, hunting, and fighting until she secured us the place we wanted to be for a great price. I couldn’t recommend her more!”

When Carla isn’t working, she’s staying active in her community through fundraisers and informational events. She and her team consistently donate to St. Jude’s Hospital, and hosted a fundraiser last year for those suffering from the effects of the Caldor fire in 2021. “We invited anyone who had been evacuated and displaced, served dinner with dueling pianos, and raised $4,000 for the community,” she explains.

During her free time, she loves enjoying the outdoors with her two teenage sons, exploring the neverending farms and wineries in El Dorado and Amador counties and enjoying local live music and events.

Carla plans to continue growing her business and team. She finds joy in bringing her agents to the next level in their careers. “There is so much room for education in our industry, so I love being able to mentor and teach agents the correct way of doing business.” Wherever her path leads, she will continue to provide her clients with a remarkable experience, alleviating their stress and making their buying and selling journeys memorable.

For more information about Carla Ferrante, please call 916-275-3174 or email carlamovesyou@gmail.com

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DAVID HOLMES David Holmes is a former investment banker who turned to real estate as a career after learning more about the business while looking to diversify his investments. The more he learned about the industry, the more he liked and he soon realized that given his skill set, he could be a broker. After receiving his license, David represented a relative with the sale of their house.

Since then, he hasn’t looked back.

“One door opened after another after another and here we are today.” David is approaching his 10th anniversary as a solo agent. He is thankful for the people that have helped him get this far and who continue to aid him with transaction coordination and marketing.

David has spent most of his adult life in the San Francisco Bay area and serves Alameda County and Contra Costa Counties. His experience in the region generally allows him to cover a much wider area than your typical agent. Alameda County is known for its K-6 public schools and award winning private schools.

It is also well positioned to commute to San Francisco and Silicon Valley. “It’s a nice place to live. It’s a nice place to grow up and a nice place to raise kids.” The local universities, UC Berkeley and Stanford, are notably some of the best in the world.

With a 50/50 mix of buyer and seller clients, David uses his banking, marketing, and negotiating background to create custom strategies for each group. For buyers, he keeps a spreadsheet of the value-added in each transaction. The Bay area has been a competitive market long before things began to heat up nationwide, so identifying areas of success and repeating the process allows him to prevail. “To be successful you have to understand market dynamics, pricing, strategy and you have to be a good negotiator.” Approximately half of David’s business is repeat client or client referral and that number is trending upwards.

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For sellers, one of the biggest service offerings he provides, through his company Compass, is the Compass concierge program. The program offers its sellers an upfront cash advance of 3-5% of the sales price so that they can make repairs and upgrades to the home to get top dollar for their sale. It has been very successful in helping clients who either have their equity tied up or time locked in other investments. At the end of the sale, the client repays Compass interestfree. “That program has changed the marketplace.”

Over the years David has participated in some charitable activities, however, the past two years have put a damper on volunteer work while simultaneously increasing transaction volume. As the pandemic tapers he looks forward to volunteering his time at local organizations. Moving forward, David is looking to grow his business and build out a team. He is in the process of partnering internally with other agents and hiring external agents to work on the buy-side and the sellside. Still a work in progress, David hopes to have the team built out in the next few months. “I think that’s the #1 objective right now to build out a team so I can leverage the business and grow commensurately.”

To learn more about David Holmes please call (510) 325-6479, email david.holmes@compass.com, or visit davidholmesrealty.com https://

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3 Easy At-Home DIY Projects to Increase Property Value Most homeowners have a lengthy list of chores and bit projects they intend to accomplish around the house. Oftentimes, those to-do items are completed piecemeal over a long stretch of time, or else sometimes not at all. However, when it comes time to prepare a home for market, all those tasks begin to pile-up and overwhelm. The Top Agent Magazine

list of things to do before the photographer comes or the first open house is held might seem endless, but not if you tackle just a few things here and there as you go. These sorts of projects—easy, DIY, at-home tasks you can accomplish in a few hours or less, with tools you most likely have on hand— go a long way with marginal effort.

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Complete a quick rehab of closets and storage areas Many agents advise clients to declutter and depersonalize their spaces ahead of professional photography and home showings. The idea is to provide prospective buyers with a neutral palette. Not only does this allow them to imagine their own lives unfolding within those four walls, but it also helps make a home’s square footage stand out. One way to add visual space to your home without calling in the contractor is to declutter common storage areas and closets. When buyers can get a complete look at a closet’s capacity, or a pantry’s depth, or the garage’s full functional potential, they get a better sense of a home’s potential and thus, its value.

In that vein, consider decluttering and cleaning your high-traffic storage spaces: the garage, pantries, closets, attics, and basements. Besides, organizing and discarding unwanted items help you prep for a move anyway, while giving potential buyers a peak at how spacious your home really is.

Add easy curb appeal with a bit of sweat equity Sure, curb appeal can arrive in the form of a new mailbox, pathway lighting, or updated house numbers, but it can also come cheaper than that. Curb extends to the upkeep of your lawn, landscaping, and home’s façade, and there are plenty of ways 18

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you can give these zones a refresh without spending anything but time. Keeping your front and back yard green and uniform adds a lux layer to exterior square footage.

Likewise, polishing the outside of your windows, trimming hedges, and sweeping the walkway can make a tidy and wellcared for first impression. There are other measures you can take too. Planting wildflower seeds in empty beds, or collecting some landscaping rocks to frame mulched areas can add a bit of character to your residence. Repainting the front door, ensuring trees are trimmed, and keeping back patios Top Agent Magazine

neat and uncluttered also underscore a home at its finest, which is ripe for buyers to snatch up.

Transform tiled spaces into sparkling clean surfaces.

Bathrooms and kitchens are where sellers can stand to add plenty of value in the process of selling a home. While pricey renovations might be out of the question for some, there are still affordable and time-effective ways you can transform for these spaces for the better. Cleaning,

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bleaching, or redoing your tile grout—in either kitchens, bathrooms, or other tiled spaces—can give these high-trafficked areas a new lease on life. Ensuring windows, mirrors, stainless steel appliances and backsplashes are streak-free and polished also demonstrate to buyers that your home is well-cared for and practically move-in ready. Sometimes, the devil is in the details. You might consider relining drawers, changing out knobs and fixtures,

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or else decluttering cabinets and shelves for a fresher look.

No matter the challenges ahead as you prepare your home for sale, completing a few small tasks every weekend or so can put you miles ahead of the competition.

Without spending a dime, you can add serious value to your home’s bottom line, setting you up for success as you begin your own home-shopping adventure.

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Area Specialist JULIA & GRANT VILLENEUVE What makes a good Realtor® today? How does a Realtor® guide their clients to success in one of the most competitive markets in the US? How do you guide your clients in making one of the most expensive purchases of their life? How do you help your clients get beyond their comfort zone? Before you can get to all that, before you sit down at closing, before you negotiate, before you even show a property, Julia and Grant Villeneuve have a secret to share.

“The business is all relationships. It’s not so much sales, which people don’t really know. All my friends say, ‘Oh, you must be such good salespeople.’ And I’m like, real estate has little to do with sales. It comes down to trust, ability and reputation. When you want to buy or sell, or know somebody who does, the crucial thing is that you will think of us, and our ability to get what you want,” said Julia, who along with her husband Grant own the San Francisco/Peninsula based agency Villeneuve Properties. “And when someone really gets what they want, and are completely thrilled about it, I think, OK, we’ve done our job.”

Julia and Grant have a great backstory. Grant’s mother has been in real estate in the San Francisco area for more than 30 years. The two high school sweethearts began working for Grant’s mom as teenagers and both got their licenses after college; Grant worked a few years in commercial real estate while Julia helped build a startup that focused mostly on furnished housing before joining her husband’s family business.

Now they work hand in hand covering San Francisco, the Peninsula and Marin County. At 31, Julia and Grant say they bring a unique perspective to the market – they are ingrained in the Bay Area and are young enough to keep up with the way tech is changing the business on a day-to-day basis.

“We’re obsessed with our local community and the people in it,” said Julia. “This is the backbone of our success.” The couple lives in Pacific Heights near Fillmore Street and are known around the neighborhood. “This is an out and about

business. We know many of the owners of the restaurants and stores on our favorite streets and they know us – we’re constantly sharing business.”

They love meeting clients at Palmers or Balboa Cafe, supporting the local bookstore, Browser Books, or the second-generation store Mudpie for client gifts. They say their daily walks enrich their lives and present opportunities to enrich others when strangers come up asking for real estate advice.

“It’s just one of those things that feeds itself. Nothing is more powerful than a good reputation. We’re just nice and approachable people. And when you put blinders on commission, and focus 100 percent of your attention on your client’s goals, everything just falls into place” says Julia.

“We know buying or selling a home is a huge decision, most likely the most expensive purchase of your life, so often it simply starts with a therapeutic ‘Ok, let me hear you out’ attitude and we go from there.”

The couple believes an empathetic approach has been a major driver to their success as opposed to the more aggressive old school tactics one hears about, with Julia noting “We don’t win unless our past clients are obsessed with referring us to new clients. And when this happens, nothing feels better. Real estate is such a part of our lives that it doesn’t feel like work, at least in the traditional sense. Getting our clients what they want, and doing this in a way that enhances their lives and makes them happier and more productive people, hardly feels like another day in the office.”

The team averages about $50 million in volume and never takes on more than they can handle. Going forward, Julia said with a laugh that she and Grant have “too many plans” for the future, but they are buoyed by their success so far at a young age.

“I mean, it’s risky for two people at an early age in the Bay Area to be fully on commission. I told my husband I would give it one year and we ended up selling 30 homes that year. Now we just want to become the top Realtors® in the Bay Area,” she said.

Julia and Grant Villeneuve can be reached by phone at 650-400-3109 or via email at julia@villeneuveproperties.com. Their website is VilleneuveProperties.com www.

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Creative Ways to Say Thank You

Most top real estate agents find ways to welcome their clients to their new home. A common theme is a bottle of wine and some wine glasses for that first post-threshold toast, or a bouquet of flowers to brighten up that empty living space until the furniture arrives.

But are you truly being as creative as you can with your appreciation? Here are some innovative gift ideas that will truly keep you front of mind with your valued customers and assure their gratitude and repeat business, not to mention a slew of referrals.

1. How about a streaming video device, like a Roku

or Amazon Fire Stick? There’s a good chance your clients will not have their cable service up and running for a few days, and this is an excellent way for them to enjoy their television before they get that connection going. Bundle it up in a basket with some DVD’s for the kids, and don’t forget all necessary cables.

2. Matching bathrobes and Bath kits: Fleece or ter-

rycloth bathrobes and a basket filled with highend his and her body scrubs, bubble bath and other luxurious pampering items can make the first night in a new home feel like a check-in at a fabulous resort and make the memory of that first night one to cherish. Again, don’t forget the kids!

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3. Arrange a catered meal from a local vendor. As-

certain in advance dietary preferences and restrictions, and have a wonderful, healthy meal delivered on move-in night. To complete the magic, provide brand new plates, silverware and glassware to serve it all on.

4. For homes with swimming pools or Jacuzzis, a

stack of fluffy pool towels is always appreciated and will be used by family and friends for years to come. Additionally, acrylic stemware for celebrating safely can be provided alongside them.

5. If it’s winter time and the home has a fireplace, make sure there’s plenty of wood to burn. Some fireplace accessories and a log holder will certainly make your clients appreciate you on every chilly night to come.

So when it comes to gifting your buyers, the trick is to be creative. A bottle of wine lasts one night, and the flowers wilt in a few days. Try coming up with something a little more creative that will remain with your clients in their day-to-day lives and remind them of you consistently. The little bit extra you spend to show your gratitude can reap huge dividends when it comes time for your client to purchase a second home or refer a friend.

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BRANDON XIONG Born in Berkley and raised in Sacramento, Brandon Xiong has always possessed an entrepreneurial spirit. Coming of age on the move in a mixed family of 10, he would take an interest in real estate at a young age while watching his parents struggle making ends meet towards the American Dream.

Later, he found himself seeking an opportunity that spoke to his passion for helping others, which inspired him to seek his real estate license in 2019. Sure enough, he would find fast success in the business, completing $8 million in volume in 2021, his first full year as an agent. He’s been going strong ever since.

Today, Brandon is a Member of Best Sac Homes Group of Big Block Realty North, where he assists clients throughout Sacramento and the surrounding areas. There, he has cultivated a boutique workflow around the core values of openness and integrity to meet the needs of any buyer or seller.

When listing a property, Brandon equips his clients with a comprehensive strategy. After helping them fully prepare their home for the market, he broadcasts it to a highly targeted blend of digital and social media campaigns over leading platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Zillow, Realtor.com, etc.

Elsewhere, Brandon is just as attentive when assisting his buyers, leveraging his in-depth knowledge of the region to uncover the right home for their best interests. More than anything, he enjoys welcoming newcomers into his Sacramento community—from its thriving business sector to the diverse culture and cuisine found in local hotspots like Ella Dining Room & Bar, Hoa Viet Pho Bac, or Topgolf. “We live in a very competitive market,” he says. “Some buyers may feel

discouraged from getting beat out by higher bidders, especially in California. But keep your heads up and your hopes high: You’ll reach the finish line in the end.”

Since delving into real estate, Brandon has earned a fantastic reputation throughout California, as evidenced by his rapidly growing rate of repeat clients and referrals. On pace to exceed last year’s volume in 2022, he remains committed to the proven standards that have consistently set him apart in the region. “Because I grew up in a low-income neighborhood, I have seen firsthand how important it is to educate people on putting their money towards an appreciating asset. Whether a client wants to create a passive income or build generation wealth, real estate is a terrific vehicle to help them realize their goals.”

Outside of real estate, Brandon is deeply committed to his Hmong community. When he’s not with clients or giving back, he can be found hiking, taking his dog for a walk in the park, or exploring the city—enjoying all Sacramento has to offer.

Going forward, Brandon has a clear vision for the future of his business. As his volume maintains its steady growth, he intends on scaling into the luxury market while pursuing his license in Florida and Iowa. In the meantime, though, he offers sound advice to any aspiring agent: “Don’t be hesitant. If you’re passionate about real estate, get out there and find a great brokerage to guide you through the business. But most importantly, be yourself. Don’t think you need to put up an image to sell yourself to clients; rather, be authentic with them and focus on building that genuine connection. At the end of the day, that’s what matters most.”

To learn more about Brandon Xiong email brandon@mdbestates.com, visit mdbestates.com or call (916) 223-0873. www.

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