good morning good afternoon

good evening

wherever you are and whenever you're listening

I wanna congratulate

you on taking steps towards bettering yourself

improving this thing we call real estate in your world

hey look

today we are gonna be joined by the one

the only Sherry Rihanna what's up Sherry

yeah I'm here today for another fun chit chat

and we have like one of the phenomenal people in

in town and one of my favorites

we do actually

she's been voted the best real estate agent by WRL

and 5 West magazine she lives in

and is a

incredible representative of western Wake County

the one the only

the owner of the mini me

that we so commonly see on social media

Nancy Grace what's up Nancy

hi guys thanks for having me today

absolutely thanks for being on

we're so excited um

we love to see your social media honestly

like

that's the one thing I've always kind of come back to

every time we have a conversation

is like you know

you are known for that

like I can mention that in passing to someone like oh

she's like a little cartoon

yes that's her absolutely

so gonna dive into that little bit later on the episode

but let's kind of start with who you are

and where you're from just personal

Nancy Grace okay

um thanks again

like I said for having me

I am from Buffalo New York originally

and you'll hear that New York uh

come out in a little bit that my

my hard hour um

I'm a native of Buffalo I'm very proud of that

I still have a lot of family up there

I'm avid Buffalo Bills fan

go bills um

there are a bunch of Buffalo Sabers that were on the um

the Florida Panthers team

so in a way I kind of think

the sabers won the Stanley Cup last night

I don't know anyway

anyway we'll take it

we'll take it um

but um

I have lived in North Carolina now for about 25 years

I went to school up in Buffalo

and had a degree in communications

from Kenesia's College with a focus in advertising

okay I worked at a small ad firm right out of college

then I went into inside sales

and I was in inside sales

for about eight or nine years

for a top computer distributor wow

I started entry level and then by the time I left

I was a senior sales account executive

handling one of the top 50 accounts in the company

all the way up and I had a team around the show

four or five people yeah

working for me um

then I met my husband at work as well

we had a baby

and I was able to stay home for a few years actually

yeah a few months after we had our son

my husband got a job down here in North Carolina

so that's what brought us down here he yeah

we work at Cisco Systems

and that's what brought us down

so that was a little surprising

we have a six month old I decide to stay home

and now we're selling our house

and moving to a totally different state

but it's all worked out

I was able to stay home for about 8 or 9 years

had a daughter

and when our daughter went to kindergarten

everyone's like what are you gonna do

you know when she's in school

and I never thought about real estate

I just

I wasn't sure if I would go back into the tech market

cause we have so much opportunity here in RTP

but with my advertising background

in my sales background

a friend of mine was a real estate agent and she said

did you ever think about real estate

and I thought no

I've never thought about real estate yeah

so that was kind of what LED me into that direction

wow so got my real estate license

sold a couple of homes a year

you know really um

it's an expensive career to get into that

nobody really tells you that

but it is an expensive career to start

and but my my goal was to um

take the cost of school

our kids went to ST Mary Magdalene School in APEX

and I thought you know what

let me take that off my husband's plate okay

I can if I can do that

that would that would help our family at the time right

so here I am 7 I've been licensed for 17 years now

it's hard to believe it's I I truly enjoy it um

it's definitely a passion of mine

I was never about you know

my next sale or the next transaction

I love people I really enjoy getting to know my clients

nine times out of 10 I am BFFs with my clients

and you know sometimes

I'm the only person they know

when they move to the area

so I'm their resource for you know

anything from what a great representative

oh absolutely

well thank you

I appreciate that we've lived in Carey and APEX

and this is really my specialty

and it's an easy easy Sal if you will

because this area is so awesome

we raised our kids here like I said

um our son went to Carolina go heels go heels go heels

yeah and um

our daughters up at the university of Maryland

to College Park but um yeah

no we've raised our kids

we've gone to all the parks

and just seen this area explode

and let's revisit how long I've had my license for

17 years that means I got my license in 0 7 guys

what was happening in the mortgage industry in 2007

do you do you remember that going in about toilet

yes so I'm like honey

I'm going back to work

and I'm gonna be a real estate agent

and I'm just like what am I doing

but here's the thing I'm still here

there are so many agents that are

that were in my real estate class

I'm sure that are not still agents

um it did give me the flexibility to

you know be home with the kids a lot

which I appreciated but um

I'm still here and I've been through every market

I've been through the you know

the UPS and the downs and the end of the short sales

the foreclosures the craziness during Covid

I mean I really feel that I have experienced so much

reciprocal work is what we should be calling

because up and down up and down exactly

you never know you cannot really project a year

you have no idea where it will take you

I mean we went through Covid

selling house as you just walked in

took a picture somebody said

I'll take it right

race were crazy yeah

we turn around and come out of that and then right

skyrocket to seven almost eight

people just absolutely lose their mind

stop basically buying right

and we've kind of rode that for

last question it's really been hard

I think finally now there's going okay

well maybe this is our new norm

which of course if you look at the averages

over the time that they've tracked

interest rate 7% is the average right

we got spoiled right exactly

you know what

I will say that I'm one of those that are spoiled

I'm lucky enough that I have a house that you know 2%

yeah I'mma think about that bad boy for a cut it loose

but at the same time

if the right investment property were to come along

or maybe I decided to move

I don't think it would stop me itself well

that's what I'm finding

people are still moving here for jobs

people are relocating here

people have to move out of the area

for whatever reason so the market still continues um

I mean

the the the saying is there is no bad market right

you just have to adjust to it

and I've

I'm working with a bunch of first time home buyers

these guys have their act together

I mean they've got money in their pockets

they've saved um

the interest rates are not deterring them at all

because they do know they're gonna refinance

they do know that

that rate that they sign on Closing Day

isn't their forever rate yeah yeah

absolutely like

Nancy's like

theme song in the background should be like Ellen

John's like I'm yeah right

I really wanted to hear the background

you talking about you know

I'm still here

I'm still here and I'm thriving and I truly enjoy it

like it's really a passion of mine and we can see that

well it's all in your vice

thank you

do you think that like coming in at a time like 0 7 0 8

do you think that being your start maybe

trial by fire strengthen you as an agent

because you can come in where

you know

a lot of ages entered when rates were at 2 and 3%

and their sales technique was by cause cheap

but you went through yep

I've only only known I work really hard

I mean that's

and that's kind of always been my

I'm a little bit of an overachiever

just a little bit

yeah but um

but yeah so

and I've always kind of had a standard for my brand

and not necessarily just my

my logo

but the type of listing I put out there in the market

you know I've always staged my homes in any market

and they were

agents that were pulling back on those expenses

when you didn't have to when

you know

during Covid you were getting sight and seen offers um

I had a nice compliment once from an agent

and she was showing a bunch of homes during the day

and she pulls up and she sees my sign

and she texts me and said hey

we're going into this house on you know

X Street um

I don't know if this is the one for my folks

but I was so excited to see your sign

I know where I'm walking into

a very well presented home

and I would love to work with you yeah

I mean so it's it's your reputation right

it's your it's

it's your standard

and that's what I mean also by brands right yeah

something I've built and I'm really proud of

and you don't want

just because you don't have to spend the money on it

to have that presentation

doesn't mean that you shouldn't exactly

cause somebody's gonna want your house

more than they're gonna want the next house

yep and you have one chance to make a good impression

true that's right okay

well I know you are still involved with ST Mary's

to this day yep

um very have

they have a very much

a strong presence on your social media

and things like that I hear you talk about them

talk about your relationship with the school um

where that sense today obviously

you have children graduate from there

those guys but

you know talk about where you're at them today

yes so um

Saint Mary Magdalene is um

a kind of foundation for us because when we moved here

I think it's important to kind of get grounded

um and one of the things that helped us get grounded um

you know on the spiritual level was

you know finding Mary Magdalene

we we love the community

our kids did go there for many years

my husband is still the boy soccer coach over there

we he just had his

I think 11th year so um

and he loves it he loves doing that

and um

I love spoiling the teacher

so that's one thing I do is I'll um

very involved with the

the parent organization over there

the principal and um

any opportunity I get I will

you know buy them breakfast or

you know for a teacher work day

or treat them all to ice cream from fresh

local ice cream I've partnered with them and

you know it's just a really neat community

I'm also um

a corporate sponsor at Cardinal Gibbons High School

yes which is the Catholic high school in rally

so yeah I

I really um

I really enjoyed being partnered with those

those two uh

educational our daughter graduated from Cardinal

oh me okay

very cool it's been a hot minute though

yeah right

it goes by fast yeah

so another way that you're involved in the community

and one place that I've actually seen you there before

is a steamed coffee in in Carey

and you are very involved

you're actually there regularly

post up for the day on the first of every month

talk about that talk about your relationship at such a

a beautiful relationship you have with that

establishment and just what you do there

right so

Esteemed Coffee is a non profit coffee shop

located right here in downtown Carey

on Academy Street it's in an old house

so first of all hello

I love that I'm a real estate agent

so um

but I heard it was coming and um

I wanted to be involved but I

don't have a lot of extra time

for a lot of volunteering so um

I became a founding financial supporter

and it's female own there's two women that own it

and they employ adults with differing abilities

and it is a wonderful wonderful coffee shop um

hunter like you said

I'm there on the first of every month

and I like to buy everybody their coffee

now I don't know if this podcast is gonna make me

make me pour drain all my money

if it goes out there's gonna be a line out the door

so if if it's a Monday

they're closed on Mondays so July 1st is a Monday

so I will not be there until August 1st

and I try to be there for a good chunk of the day

you know maybe until 12 or 1:00

sometimes

I can't stay the full day because of my schedule um

but I love hanging out with with my besties and it's

it's excellent I just popped in the other day

and about three of them are like

why are you here

it's not the first I'm like can't I just come visit you

and they're like yeah I mean um

it's a very very

very cool place and I do

recommend that you guys all look up a steamed coffee

and and give them a follow on social media

absolutely it's a great place for support of SRT

why don't you jump over on the social sites

and also be and follow them

support them and then when you're in the area

grab a cup of coffee I

I I like Starbucks

none personal against him

but why can't we help others

then them would appreciate it just a little bit more

and their coffee is really

really good really good

yeah they've got

you know iced coffee

warm coffee chai

they've got smoothies they have seasonal um

seasonal specials so

if you follow them on the social media

and the social medias you will see um

see their special menu such a cute vibe in there too

you mean

I really feel like you can go in there and work or plug

plug away and there's a lot of people that do

yeah it's awesome

it's awesome that's right

all right so we've talked about you and the family

talked about where you from

talked about the

many ways you're involved in your community

but you are actually in real estate

and we would love to do dabble

yes I do dabble in real estate

love to hear more about that

especially this mini me that you have created

and what I mean

I was speaking to someone this morning and told them

you were Amelia Show right

and they knew exactly who you are

because you're meeting me

so right

talk about that well

um first of all

let me just say that I'm not a team

cause I know that a lot of people will be like

oh are you a team

an individual agent

I actually looked into becoming a team

and I have absolutely no interest right now in my life

okay to be a team

it's just not something I wanna do um

I have a I have a transaction coordinator who's local

who is amazing I have a team of professionals

if you will that I work with for every listing etc

but um

you're stuck with me when you hire Nancy Grace um

you're stuck with me to the end um

sometimes if you copy my transaction coordinator

as well on an email for say

per say um

you know she'll be able to answer quicker than I can

if I'm out with with buyers or whatever um

but you're stuck with me which I again

I take pride in that um

and my mini me yeah

so my my mini me was a cool idea I had really

right from the gecko yeah

um

I was a little nervous about putting my face out there

and I walked into a graphic design shop and I said

I'm starting a business I'd like a logo

and it's funny cause if you've seen it um

it's a it's a cartoon and

and she's wearing a purple dress with yellow shoes

and we did a couple different versions of it

and I must have pearls on that day

cause she has a pearl necklace on

and I remember thinking purple dress

yellow shoes what

and this and the

the artist I work with she was like

this is so you and I'm like really

so there we go I

I ran with it and I I put it everywhere

um about five or six years ago

I hired a trademark attorney

so I trademarked her in black and white

um so I own that logo now and nobody else can use it

so don't get any ideas out there

real estate agents yeah

um but yeah

so that is something again

I think with my marketing background

I just have so much fun with

with her and she's kind of an extension of me

if you will and people love her

it's very memorable yeah

it is your clothes

you bring you bring little

little sticks of yes

people can take pictures and stuff like that

I do have a cardboard cut out um

and then I have the little um

light face my face

see my mini me face on a cardboard stick

so we'll take some pictures today after this maybe

so awesome with that yeah

so excited I love it

yeah I love it

very cool all right

well what is your passion

where does it I mean

obviously it's evolved

you didn't do this in Buffalo or so

you know it's something you've developed here locally

um being that you've done this for 17 years

you have watched this community grow

um where do you find your passion

I mean

you are very busy already

it just has a one agent show

but you still do a lot of business

so where's the desire for that

you know when you feed hit the floor every morning

what's your what's your reason

what's your why well

a couple things first of all

um life has gotten a little bit easier

because our kids are older right

so our son is 24 now um

he and he is in gene therapy at a local um

uh yeah

oh wow yeah

he works for a pharmaceutical company in the area

and then our daughter is gonna be a senior in college

so again we

we don't have the everyday demands of children

so that has kind of opened things up as well

um and we're empty masters and we love it

we're having a really good time

um but my passion

I'm really

truly excited to get up in the morning and do this

I really love this job I love people

I love that they trust me

I I take that um

I'm so humbled by it you know

and it's again

just people moving here and they have no idea and

you know even people that have to move

I mean and it's not always for great reasons

I've got people you know that

you know they're getting divorced

and they haven't even told their kids yet um

I did have a couple I worked with a couple months ago

they told me they were pregnant first

before they told anybody else

and I'm like oh

my goodness well let's

you know change

let's you know

cause a couple things changed

right as far as their

their search um

so it I just love the fact that people trust me

to be involved in their lives

I mean it's just

some of these moves are so monumental

and I just I find it so gratifying and I'm grateful

that's beautiful

I find you to be one of the most um

kindest and genuine people

um I know the first time we were on the phone together

I was like oh

she's definitely part of my job

you know and one thing you relay that

so I think people feel that as well

um hmm

um you really are concerned about other people

um it's not a transactional business for you

it's a long term and that's what I built my business on

that's why I really felt

that's why I think we worked together so well

you know yeah

I knew it would be a good fit

and it has every minute of it on my side

yeah well

you guys are amazing and can I

can I just talk about you guys for a little bit

absolutely you guys are amazing

I mean I've

I've obviously over 17 years

I've gone through you know

my fear of my fair share of local lenders

your communication is above and beyond you know

I think you reached out to me

reach back out to me I'm like

good Friday one night cause I had buyers

I mean just

I mean I hate to

to work on those holidays and such

but when I mean

real estate doesn't stop

and you guys are always there for me

and even when you're not if there's a delay

you tell me there's a delay

you tell me what's happening again

communication is so important

cause all it just

it really makes you think that oh

I'm important they're

they're they're thinking about me

you know

even though they can't get back to me today or tomorrow

or you know

whatever they're on it

you you are doing the research

you're doing what I need

and the partnership has been amazing

so thank you guys you know

thank you I have to say

this is

because you are on the other side with that person

that wire yes

right or the seller because

you know we represent both sides

we do a lot of different things together

but I want somebody's knocking at your door calling you

and so

if we can't be responsive and answer the question

then I feel like I'm failing you

and I don't wanna fail and so for me

picking up the phone

communicating that sometimes I may have to go Nancy

I don't know but I will find out

right

so that you can at least relay that to the other side

and then they feel like

all you and I have to do in our life

and all we are thinking about is them

and that is the power of getting more clients

over the life of the lawn

because they realize genuinely in a world that

I hate to say this sometimes doesn't care that we do

yeah yeah yeah

it's not at the end of the day

it's not it's not about you know dollars and cents

it's about making people happy

these are big

big um experiences in their lives and you know

I I just

I'm grateful to be a part of them

and you guys make me look good

so thank you I do appreciate your part

thank you

I think that's an equal good look for both of us

thank you for sure

you're very consistent and that that's that

I love consistency

I love Status Quo I love you know yeah

expectations like my job is to set expectations really

and you guys make it easy for me to do that

so thank you

well thank you for being on the show

thanks for coming thanks for having me go bells cowboys

oh boy wait a minute

I didn't know that

I didn't know that before I say I go heels yeah

oh yeah we'll go back to heels hey

there's the common denominator okay good

hey look

thanks for listening today

if you would like to be a guest on the show

please reach out to us 9 1 9 2

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we'd love to talk to you about what you provide

to your section away county

what you provide what you excel at

we'd love to have you on talk about it

my name is hunter this has been the mortgage mindset

thanks for listening we'll see you next week

the Mortgage Mindset Podcast is hosted by the share

Rihanna team at Clear Mortgage

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