VIRGINIA 6-6-22

VIRGINIA EDITION

5 Lessons from Silicon Valley to

Modernize and Monetize Your Business

Uncommon Contact:

CONNECTING WITH CLIENTELE THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA GOOGLE ADWORDS:

FEATURED AGENTS

LOLA COKER & GORDON HASSLINGER LLOYD RITTINER SEAN ROOKS

HOW TO MAKE GOOGLE DO THE WORK FOR YOU

COVER STORY

PATRICIA RAY BARTON

mailto:mag@topagentmagazine.com http://www.topagentmagazine.com

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Google AdWords:

How To Make Google Do the Work for You There is no denying that the internet is the first place a buyer begins looking for a new home in this digital age. Knowing how to put the powerful tools available on the internet to work for you can give you a decided advantage when it comes to attracting prospective buyers to your listings, as well as you as an agent. Google is easily one of the major superpowers of the internet, and they have one of the most powerful advertising tools available. Knowing how to utilize Google AdWords in the correct manner can make your internet advertising immensely powerful and possibly your best way to reach prospective buyers.

Google AdWords is also extremely cost-effective. This multifaceted tool gives you much more control over your advertising campaign than other more traditional methods. You can target specific audiences, choose the specific search terms, also known as keywords, that will bring up your ad in someone’s search results, and you can set a budget for each campaign that will dictate it’s reach and how long the campaign will run. Here are some tips for how to put Google AdWords to work for you.

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ent websites. You want to set yourself apart from every other real estate website users are viewing in their search for a house.

MAKE SURE YOUR ADS ARE GOING TO SEND USERS TO A SITE THAT WILL CAPTURE THEIR ATTENTION

You can spend an infinite amount of money on Google advertising campaigns, but if those ads don’t send users to a site that will capture and hold their interest, then you’ve just wasted all that money. Don’t put your cart before the horse. Make sure you are considering exactly where these ads are going to send users. To set up your website for success, at the very least you want to make sure users are greeted by clear call-to-action, such as a message that will encourage them to sign up for your newsletter or subscribe to your blog. You want to set up your website to maximize and capture the leads the ad campaign sends your way.

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BUILD CUSTOMIZED OR CUSTOM-MADE WEBSITES RATHER THAN TEMPLATE WEBSITES It is easy and tempting to use template websites, or to offer your agents template websites if you are a real estate manager or broker. While this offers a cost-effective solution to providing every agent with a website, it does little to set you or your agents apart and capture the attention of users that are used to seeing a wealth of differ-

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MAKE SURE YOU ARE OFFERING VALUE ON YOUR WEBSITE

Don’t simply use your website as a kind of brag sheet. Let users know what makes your particular services valuable to them. Highlight your expertise in a certain location through tools such as blog posts, providing market updates, or giving pertinent information on a unique type of property. This will ensure that your online advertising campaigns are much more successful.

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LOCATION IS EVERYTHING!

Location is everything in real estate, and the same holds true for Google AdWords. You can target specific locations in your ad campaign. While one approach is to focus on the area around your location, a more advanced approach would be to link AdWords campaigns to your Google My Business account. This is a Google service that includes your address in the ad, allowing people to then click on it and see exactly where you are located on a map.

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USE GOOGLE ADWORDS IN YOUR CAMPAIGN TO EXPAND YOUR BUSINESS IN GENERAL

Focus an AdWords campaign on expanding your business by incorporating specific zip codes and neighborhoods that will help you establish a presence in an area where you would like to increase your real estate business. Making sure that your ad appears in search results that are related to the real estate in a specific area will help shape the image and brand of your business as well as bring in new leads.

HARNESS THE POWER OF DATA

When you run a Google AdWords campaign Google Analytics captures a wealth of information about your target client demographic.

You can gain real insight into your online visitors, such as when they visit, what they do and look at on your site once they get there, and what search terms they use. You can use all of this information to grow your business. Use Google Analytics to determine which users (location, gender, age) are utilizing specific aspects of your site, such as looking at multiple listings, reading your blog, etc. You can then use this information to target these specific demographics in your AdWord campaigns, Gmail ads, the Google Display Network, and other advertising.

Using the internet to help advertise your business and your listings is one of the smartest moves you can make as an agent in this modern age. However, you don’t want to simply go into the process blind or you’re wasting a lot of potential resources and data that could make all the difference. To reap the benefits of Google AdWords, you must apply an intelligent strategy to using these campaigns.

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PATRICIA RAY BARTON

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THE BARTONS

Trisha recently celebrated her 20th year in the industry.

Her team currently consists of her and her husband and they now market themselves as “The Bartons.”

Patricia Ray Barton (Trisha) has served Central Virginia for the better part of two decades and practically become a part of numerous families along the way. Together with her husband Robert (Rob), this dream team continues to set the real 8

estate industry bar high.

Over 20 years ago, when a fractured arm left her unable to work as a court stenographer for several weeks, Patricia’s mother suggested that she take a real estate Top Agent Magazine

class during her downtime. Inspired by an ad in the paper, Trisha completed the required training and quickly earned her licensure, which set her on a brand new career path.

Trisha recently celebrated her 20th year in the industry. Her team currently consists of her and her husband, who she Top Agent Magazine

coincidentally met on the job. She shares, “My husband was the loan officer on my very first real estate deal in ‘02.” Five years ago, Rob joined Trisha in the sales part of their real estate business and they now market themselves as “The Bartons.”

Patricia’s business consists of about 80% repeat or referral clients. When 9

asked why so many people come back, Patricia laughs, “We live and breathe real estate!” She continues, “We feel called to serve.” She and her husband strive to provide exceptional service 10

and “to always be accessible and readily available to our clients.” The Bartons market current listings everywhere they can. They share properties on social media, across LinkedIn, Instagram, Top Agent Magazine

Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. They provide a virtual tour as well as a video tour for every property.

Patricia keeps in touch with past clients by regularly sharing local information, including keeping them in the loop about local events such as Greek festivals, Oktoberfest, and upcoming concerts in the area. She notes, “We also like to send personal handwritten notes and Christmas cards.” Patricia and her husband often serve at their church. They regularly contribute and participate in local charity events, community functions, and golf fundraisers.

In her spare time, Patricia enjoys power walking and taking “High-Intensity

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Interval Training” (HIIT) classes at Zing Fit, which she does five days a week. She and her husband also enjoy boating in the summer and can often be found entertaining clients on their boat along the James River. When asked about her plans for the future, she shares, “I would like to continue to serve others for however long God wants me to.” She continues,

“We take such pleasure in providing outstanding ongoing service to our past and repeat clients and their referrals. We are now helping their children, nieces, and nephews. It’s all coming full circle.”

From selling a home to renovating an investment property, “The Bartons” are dedicated to helping you through the real estate process.

To get in touch with the Bartons, call (804) 721-7495, email Patricia.Ray@Joynerfineproperties.com, or visit patriciaraybarton.com. www.

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Uncommon Contact:

Connecting with Clientele Through Social Media Social media is one of the newest and most powerful tools in an agent or mortgage professional’s arsenal. With just a few keystrokes, you can stay top-of-mind with buyers, sellers, and borrowers near and far, past and present. The key is knowing how to use these mediums to your advantage, working smarter instead of harder to keep the thread of professional relationships intact. With that in mind, here are a few ways you can maximize the pull and power of social media by shifting just a few of your ideas and practices for the better.

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Not everything has to be about business.

While your relationship with a client or fellow vendor began over the course of business, your relationship going forward doesn’t have to be limited. One of the great things about social media is that’s it’s social. Not every comment, post, or communication has to revolve around your business, its metrics, or turning a sale. In fact, you should do your best to branch out and curate a brand and online identity that’s about who you are and

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the lifestyle you’re authentically interested in living. In that vein, consider interacting with clients in an organically-driven way, encouraging them during life’s milestones, reaching out with a local event, restaurant, or news item that’s relevant to their interests or neighborhood. The goal is to be a persistent presence in their lives without feeling like a talking head. Engage as you would like to be engaged with, as a human being with interests and needs and boundaries. Keep that personal thread in mind and your dynamic will shift from past business contact to present resource.

Expand your medium.

Many Realtors are comfortable on Facebook as an interactive meeting to connect with clients, but there are several other mediums where you can connect with clients both past and present, as well as future. Particularly when courting Millennial clientele, the fastest-growing segment of the buying market, a presence on Instagram and Snapchat are key to finding new faces, demonstrating hot properties, and creating an interactive brand as an agent. Not only does this help when you’re listing a property and seeking potential buyers, but it also serves as a perusable portfolio of your work and real estate prowess. You can also use these mediums to interact with clients on an outlet they might feel most comfortable in. Liking pictures, commenting, streaming Instagram Live home tours and Stories are all ways you can build engagement by simply spreading your social media presence around. Likewise, 14

these photo and video driven mediums are popular for home design ideas, and before and after renovation pictures. When you expand from Facebook into these new platforms, you’ll already have plenty of visual content ready to be transferred and consumed by an expanded audience.

Don’t just react.

Create your own content.

It’s easy enough to post a link to a new listing, or retweet a helpful article on real estate news. Creating your own organic content is a different story, but worth its weight in gold when it comes to luring engagement, ranking higher in search fields, and overall crafting an interactive presence for yourself and your business online—which is where more than 90% of homebuyers and sellers begin their process. Creating your own content can seem risky, or else like no one is listening in a digital world already crowded with information. However, original content is sure to boost personal engagement with your social media pages, guaranteed.

Instead of recycling content, consider posting a video with a Q+A theme for first-time homebuyers, or perhaps posting a live tour of a new listing will perk up your clientele surfing at home.

No matter how you decide to expand your social media presence when it comes to interacting with clients, consistency is key.

Find the ways that work best for you and stick to them, and you’ll watch your audience and business grow in tandem.

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LOLA COKER & GORDON HASSLINGER The relationship between a real estate agent and mortgage broker should be one built on trust, communication and the mutual desire to help clients meet their goals. When you’re looking to buy a house, you typically seek out a REALTOR® first, but your mortgage lender is another critical piece of the puzzle.

It’s not always easy to find a duo as hardworking as REALTOR® Lola Coker and Mortgage Loan Originator Gordon Hasslinger. They’ve cracked the code to create a seamless process that makes owning your dream home a reality without the stress.

While a lot of mortgage lenders have reached out to work with Lola in the past, she instantly had a connection with Gordon who is a go-getter, like her. “He was awesome from the beginning,” she says. “I decided to try out the partnership and now, my clients love him.” Working for Team Tyler Homes at Prodigy Realty, Lola focuses primarily on the Seven Cities in Virginia: Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, and Virginia Beach. Lola works directly with her Broker , Karen Tyler who is not only a great mentor in the industry but truly phenomenal to work with. Gordon’s company, Cazle Mortgage, Inc. recently opened a branch in Virginia Beach, which is how his path crossed with Lola’s. Based in Baltimore, Cazle is helmed by Founder and CEO Barry Diggins. “Everyone is phenomenal at Cazle,” says Lola. With in-house processing and underwriting, everyone at Cazle is in tune with each loan which cultivates a smooth loan process. As Virginia Beach is known for its military base, Gordon specializes in VA loans as well as FHA, USDA, and conventional loans.

Keeping in touch with past and current clients is of the utmost importance to Lola and Gordon. Both reach out

via phone and email to make sure they are answering any client questions. Lola sends out birthday and anniversary cards to clients and even goes so far as to take a gift basket for special occasions. “You never know what one connection will bring you,” says Lola. “Last year, I had a listing that sold and the client recommended another client to me. They purchased a home and six months later they called me again to re-list it. All that came from one initial client,» explained Lola. As far as marketing goes, both are aligned in their goals: to get their message in front of clients and show them the value of working with them. Lola puts a lot of effort into her social media strategies to keep connected with clients on both a professional and personal level. “I post pictures of listings everyday so people can see something different and get a feel for what is out there,” she says.

When they’re not working, Lola and Gordon make an effort to get involved in their community. While Lola attends local events in the area, Gordon’s interest in environmental conservation has led him to volunteer with efforts to save the Bay. In her downtime, Lola enjoys going to the gym and traveling while Gordon finds fishing to be the best way to unwind and have fun in the great outdoors.

As they look to the future, the sky’s the limit for this dynamic duo. Gordon plans to expand his office and grow a team. Lola eventually has plans to get her broker’s license. In the meantime, however, they’re concentrating on helping people from start to finish in the home buying process. “We provide the education and make the complicated process of acquiring a home simple.” Gordon says. “It’s one of the bigger moments in our clients’ lives and it’s exciting helping them achieve their goals.”

To learn more about Lola Coker, call 757-351-5570 or email Lola.prodigy@gmail.com To learn more about Gordon Hasslinger, call 757-903-8063 or email gordonhasslinger@cazlemortgage.com

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5 Ways to Transform

Renters into Owners Perhaps the largest demographic of untapped business lies in the rental market. From major cities and suburbs to rural communities—renters across generations are opting to rent rather than own. The question is: why? For starters, many Americans are undereducated about the inventory and financing options available that might suit their budget and lifestyle. Secondly, many would-be homeowners have difficulty 16

visualizing the potential investment of purchasing property, and how homeownership can build wealth and security in the long-term.

As an agent, you’re always on the lookout for potential clientele. Now, to guide renters toward the real estate market, keep a few of these strategies in mind as you meet and greet this untapped demographic.

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Show renters that purchasing a home isn’t impossible

Possibly the biggest hurdle for renters is believing homeownership is possible. Beyond saving for a down payment and boosting credit scores, there are dozen more factors to consider: affording utilities, homeowner’s insurance, renovations, property taxes, and more. Besides that, assembling pay stubs, finding an agent, arranging house tours, negotiating a price, and timing the transition are all major considerations to surmount.

One way to combat this thinking is to make the process transparent and demystified. Find examples of past clients who made the leap successfully, or profile the average buyer in your marketplace and see how that renter compares. Provide evidence that it’s been done before and can be done again, then build a game plan from there.

into play. Consider making a checklist, or step-by-step road-map, that guides clients through the process from start to finish. This way, you’ll manage expectations and create a path to ownership that’s specific, instead of abstract. They won’t have to wonder what goes into buying a home when they can look at an interactive site or read a document and see the steps outlined before them, with you there to guide the way.

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Collaborate with mortgage professionals to find the right financing opportunities

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Help would-be homebuyers create a road-map to ownership

It’s no secret that buying a home can feel overwhelming. Compared to signing a yearlong lease on an apartment, taking on the house-hunting process is a daunting affair.

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Many renters aren’t aware of the variety of mortgage financing options out there that cater to first-timers, offer low down payments, or down payment assistance. Most buyers believe that the standard 20% down is a hard and fast rule, when in reality, there’s far more flexibility out there to cater to renters where they are. There are even loan options catering to freelance workers, renovation options, and other unconventional routes to ownership.

Work with a mortgage pro and find the route that suits your renter best.

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pay monthly in a mortgage—while building a lasting asset.

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Compare and contrast rental rates with monthly mortgage payments One way to convince renters to make the shift is to demonstrate the savings potential of paying into a monthly mortgage, rather than throwing away rent on a property they don’t own. To do this, draw up the average rental rates in your area, then find some potential listings that would demand a similar amount in monthly mortgage payments. Sometimes placing these numbers and images sideby-side can prove to renters that what they manage to pay monthly in rent, they can

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Paint the big picture

For most, renting isn’t the most sustainable financial option when it comes to housing.

Rents rise, families grow, and retirement looms.

Building a financial future and homeownership go hand-in-hand. When planned appropriately, buying a home can create a path toward retirement and position homeowners in a better place for further investment in the future. A rental has little security or investment returns to offer, while owning a home makes a renter king or queen of the castle.

Prospecting renters as potential homebuyers may seem like a time-intensive way to cultivate new clients, but logic is on your side.

Keep these tips in mind as you broach the conversation with renters in your hometown.

All it takes is clear-cut value proposition and a listening ear.

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LLOYD RITTINER If you’re in the restaurant and hospitality biz for 30 years, it’s got to be because you love interacting with people. Lloyd loves working with people. When the COVID pandemic hit, it gave him a chance to take a step back and make some changes.

It was too early for retirement and he knew he needed a position that kept him working with people. He had been told by many people over the years that real estate was the career for him. All it took was a simple phone call from his sister saying it was the right time. The next day, he started his training.

With 30 years in the restaurant industry, Lloyd’s gained quite a reputation as a chef, and has a YouTube channel which is mostly devoted to cooking, but his real estate world is starting to creep into that.

He’ll leverage his audience there and on all of the major social media sites, from Facebook to Instagram and LinkedIn. Working in hospitality at Morton’s The Steakhouse was a new challenge every day, and the real estate world presents the same ever-shifting focus on hospitality and service. In both restaurants and real estate, there’s a different and exciting challenge daily.

Lloyd’s method is to figure things out for himself, even if that means doing it the hard way, so he got to business. He dove right in, working out of Warrenton, VA, west of DC, but finds that he gets pulled all directions, mostly through Northern Virginia, around Loudoun and Fairfax counties. Twenty years ago, it was mostly open space. Ten years ago, businesses and homes began to dot the area. In the past two years, the area has skyrocketed. Lloyd believes with so many people now working from home and the shifting face of business, people are simply choosing where they want to live now without concern for work or commute. With more and more people coming into the area, it only gets more attractive, and he’s on target for over $8 million in transactions this year.

Lloyd brings his chef skills to the forefront, with plans to sponsor a chili cookoff fundraiser for the local fire department, and there’s nothing he hasn’t volunteered for to help out at his kids’ school, he coaches his son’s little league when they’re not doing martial arts together. There is even a plan in place to participate in Stuff-a-Backpack, getting supplies to kids in need.

With all of the activities he gets involved in outside of real estate, he’s looking to get his own team of 6-10 agents up and running and may even decide to get his broker’s license where he can keep interacting with more and more clients. For Lloyd, every interaction is an experience, and every experience a memory.

The area is beautiful and spotted with great restaurants, like the Black Bear Café, where Lloyd often takes care of phone business over lunch, or maybe you can find him at Denim & Pearls. While he’s out and about in the community, he’s overseeing his monthly newsletters and emails that keep him in touch with his client base in addition to the personal connection of text and phone calls. Relationships with Lloyd last long after the deal closes, and he’s always willing to offer his advice or help in any situation that his clients encounter.

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For more info, call 703-928-8530 or email lloyd.rittiner@pearsonsmithrealty.com Copyright Top Agent Magazine 19

5 Lessons from Silicon Valley to Modernize and Monetize Your Business Silicon Valley may be the region for disruptors, tech entrepreneurs, and futurists, but even the most forward-thinking, abstract companies are still businesses that have to keep tabs on their bottom line. There’s much to learn from America’s fastest-growing sector, and even if Silicon 20

Valley seems like a world unto its own, there are key lessons prime for adaption in your own endeavors. Below, consider a few ways to translate the trends and teachings of Silicon Valley for your own business, and reap the rewards in the process.

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1. Diversify your value Real estate is a business built on relationships, but your relationships will go stale if the only thing you communicate is you interest in making a sale. In order to sustain relationships for the long term, you’ve got to remain valuable to your clients beyond the transaction. Serve as a local resource, not just a salesperson or real estate expert. Ensure your marketing materials, social media presence, and communications offer useful, relevant, and original content your clients will benefit from. What’s more, vary your communications so that every time you reach out it’s not just about new business or a referral.

2. Company culture matters Silicon Valley tech giants always emphasize the importance of company culture—not just as a way of drawing and retaining talent, but also as a way to appeal to clientele. What are your company’s values? What do you stand for? How you’re positioned in the marketplace is becoming just as important as what you do and how well you do it. Your company culture is part of your branding, and your brand should feel clear and composed to clients eyeing your services.

3.Think big picture More and more, clients want to have an experience, not just a transaction. When it comes to buying a home, this means they care more about a property’s bedroom and bathroom count. As an agent, consider showcasing properties in terms of lifestyle. What neighborhood amenities are nearby? What opportunities are there for community involvement? How does public Top Agent Magazine

transportation stack up in the area? Before making the purchase of a lifetime, clients want to envision a complete lifestyle.

4. Leverage multiple platforms By now, you probably recognize that social media is not afterthought. Your social media presence should fit your brand and voice, interact across platforms, and actively engage with your audience. In other words, if you want to reap the benefits of social media, it’s not enough to post a few times a month and walk away. Active engagement means responding to comments, interacting with your followers’ profiles, and posting original content beyond a sales pitch.

Likewise, you’ll want to be active across multiple social media platforms and ensure that your profiles are interconnected. That way, you’ll be working from a unified voice and brand.

5. Reputations rule the roost Never underestimate the power of word-ofmouth marketing and testimonials. If you haven’t asked for feedback from past clients, and you aren’t sharing positive testimonials and reviews—you’re missing out on one of the most powerful tools at an agent’s disposal. You can pitch the virtues of your working style all day long, but those courting your business want to hear about positive experiences from the client’s perspective.

If you want to take your business to the next level and maximize the twenty-first century values of a company on the rise, look to the lessons of Silicon Valley to get your start. There are always opportunities to innovate, and doing so will help you break from your routine and stand apart from the pack.

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Are You Doing Business As YOU On Facebook?

Are you ‘Doing Business As YOU’ on your personal Facebook page? In other words, are you posting your business content from your personal page?

Yesterday a REALTOR® asked us, “Why should I bother with a company Facebook page? Can’t I just post everything from my profile page?”

The answer lies in what we call division of content. As you may be aware, social media began as just that… social. It was never truly intended for business use.

Over time, as businesses began to see the potential in reaching the masses in a new way, they began to intrude on this communication. Today, it is widely accepted that business will be conducted on all social platforms, but the manner in which we do so (and in which we are received) is still a touchy subject at times.

We believe it’s important to be transparent on social media. Draw the line between communicating as the Person and the Professional. Not only does this help you keep your content separate and appropriate, it also gives the control to your network of family, friends, colleagues, acquaintances and customers.

They get to decide whether to ‘like’ or ‘follow’ your company page. They get to decide whether they want to see your business related posts. User control is the #1 reason you need a business page if you’re conducting business on Facebook. Wouldn’t you rather have a willing and engaged audience over a forced, potentially reluctant one? We have personally eliminated many of the ‘DBA’ offenders from our news feeds and you have likely done the same.

As in all controversial social media topics, there is some gray area. And that gray area is often subjective, so consider this post food for thought and decide for yourself. We try our best to keep professional content on our business pages, with a couple of exceptions: 1. Philanthropic Promotion: We’re in favor of posting anything that will help an organization in need on both your personal and business pages. Nonprofits often have little to no marketing budget and rely on all of us to promote their good works, so we believe that’s a good line to cross (as long as it’s about the organization, and not you).

2. Recognition Tagging: Facebook does not allow you to tag an individual on your business page. Yes, there are some tricky work-arounds, but they are inconsistent at best. So when it’s truly important for us to recognize and tag an individual, especially someone who has done something nice for us (inviting us as guests on their radio show or podcast, for instance), we will generally post that on the business page first, then share it from our personal pages, along with a comment recognizing and tagging the individual(s) or business who helped us.

Either way (personal or business), remember to be true to the social aspect. Our participation on social media should be about giving, helping, recognizing and connecting…especially when it comes to your business.

Tonya Eberhart is the Branding Agent to Business Stars and founder of BrandFace®, LLC. Michael Carr is America’s Top Selling Real Estate Auctioneer & BrandFace® partner. Together, they focus on personal branding and marketing designed to help real estate professionals become the face of their business & a star in their market. BrandFace® for Real Estate Professionals is a book, professional speaking series and an exclusive workshop for agents, and is currently active in 18 U.S. states, Canada and New Zealand. For more information, visit www.BrandFaceRealEstate.com.

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SEAN ROOKS After years of investing in his own properties, REALTOR® Sean Rooks decided it was time to get his license in 2020. He started out as a real estate partner, but quickly transitioned into working independently to represent buyers and sellers in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia.

Last year, he did $4.7 million in sales.

This year, he’s already hit that mark and has the potential to double it.

Sean’s business primarily caters to investors and as he is one himself, he is the perfect guide for those looking to add to their portfolios. “Being the boots on the ground and assisting newer investors in getting started is very rewarding for me. As an investor myself, we speak the same language,” Sean explains.

“Some of my clients have gone from being brand new investors to now doing it full-time as their business. It’s a really exciting journey to be a part of.” As the region Sean represents includes many tourist attractions, from Busch Gardens to the oceanfront, it’s a popular place for investors to buy one or two short term rental properties per year. Additionally, the strong local economy makes long term rentals affordable and profitable for many in and out of state investors. Sean gets to work with many of his clients again and again for this reason. To keep up with them, he posts regularly on social media. He also helps to organize fun and educational networking events every month for his clients to get together and learn from one another as well as professional speakers.

When he’s not working, Sean makes it a priority to stay involved with activities at his church, River Oak Church. Last year, he went to Honduras with a group called the Builders Team. “We built the foundation of a foster home that will be next to a free school that looks after the children of working parents. Just to see how different living conditions are there and the way they build everything by hand was very impressive,” he explains.

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With a wife and three daughters, Sean also has a busy home life of his own. He strives to maintain a healthy work-life balance by keeping nights and weekends free. “Family is always number one,” he says. “I got out of the Navy to be with my family and I want to prioritize being there for them.” In what spare time he has, Sean trains for triathlons, completing a few of them every year.

There’s a lot that is about to change in Sean’s life soon as he and his family have plans to move to the Triad area of North Carolina. Eventually, he’d like to open his own brokerage. His career has progressed very naturally, but it comes down to his willingness to experiment and work hard at everything he does. “If I can give one piece of advice to new investors, it’s to find a mentor, get educated and take action. Don’t try to predict the market. Just take it step by step and go for it.”

To learn more about Sean Rooks, please call 757-204-1359 or email sean.rooks@1stclassagents.com 23 Copyright Top Agent Magazine

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