Real Estate Agent Magazine recently sat down with Adrienne Allen, a broker with Homie in Las Vegas to discuss how she came to real estate and how her career has grown over the last 20 years.
REAM: What drew you to a career in real estate?
AA: I actually stumbled my way into real estate. As a young mother, I found myself needing a job and luckily a friend of mine, her father, owned a real estate brokerage. After working as a transaction coordinator for a time, it wasn’t long before I realized that this was what I wanted to do. Real estate embodies everything I had envisioned as the perfect career — legal work, customer service, and most of all, bringing happiness to others. It doesn’t get any better.
REAM: Tell us about one of the most important lessons you learned from a mentor.
AA: Best advice I have ever received is to remember that we have two ears and one mouth, and to use them accordingly. For me, one of the hardest things I have had to learn over the years and still find myself struggling to do from time to time is to be an active listener. When you grow up in a household where it was normal to talk over each other, listening really wasn’t a skill that you picked up. Grasping onto this advice and taking it to heart, I quickly realized how much I could learn by really listening to people to hear them and not just to respond to them. Which is so important when helping clients make huge financial decisions. It’s life changing.
REAM: What drew you to your current team?
AA: I was drawn to my current brokerage and team because of the change that they offered. When I was fortunate enough to find Homie, they stood for everything that I already believed in, which was allowing clients to keep more of their hard earned equity. In addition, this is the first brokerage that I have come across that truly cares more about the client than about their bottom line. They also care deeply for their agents and staff and live by their motto, “We’ve got your back.” This is something I can be proud to be part of.
REAM: How would you describe the culture of your real estate company?
AA: We are not just a real estate company, we are a family. Our clients are part of our family too. When you don’t have to focus on the numbers and commission amounts, that leaves you the ability to give all of your attention to customer service and eliminates a lot of stress. It’s also a refreshing change to build a team with fellow agents in the office, rather than feeling like we are all competing against each other for the next big lead. We have had some very fun lunches and a lot of laughs working as a team.
REAM: What are you most proud of professionally and personally?
AA: My determination. When I first started as an agent, I was very young. At the time, it was hard to get clients to trust me with their transactions. Not only was I just barely out of high school, but I had very little business experience. In fact, even the first broker I worked for told me, new agents have to work their butts off, but with me being super young and a brand new agent, meant I was going to have to work even harder. So I did. I read every book I could possibly read. I took every class I could possibly take, and I found top agents to mentor under. Anything I had to do to become the agent possible for my clients. Now, over 20 years later, I’m still here. I carry this same determination over into my personal life as well. If someone tells me I can’t do something, my simple response is, “challenge accepted.”
REAM: Tell us about your life outside real estate.
AA: Besides my passion for real estate, I also have two other passions in life — my family and my writing. My family is everything to me. I have a wonderful husband of nearly 16 years, an extremely intelligent daughter and big-hearted son. We love doing family game nights and Saturday dinners with extended family. For my quiet time, I love to pop in some headphones, turn on some low tunes, and write. Who knows, maybe one day I will actually try to publish something.
REAM: At the end of the day, what makes you happiest professionally and personally?
AA: Professionally, as a broker, I love seeing the agents we have grow and succeed. I love being able to help them through a difficult transaction and teach them the same way my mentors taught me. I want nothing more than to help the agents reach their goals and make them top producers. On a personal level, I feel like I have succeeded when I can find balance between my work life and professional life. Real estate is a 24/7 business and finding that balance is a challenge. After many years of missed practices, games, and family events, I have changed my priorities and focus more on finding this balance.
