The Road to Becoming a Realtor - Melissa Touris
/I didn’t grow up thinking about real estate. There were no Realtors in my family. We moved a few times, but I never went house looking with my family or ever met the Realtor when our house sold. It’s an industry I never really thought of at all until I was in it.
In college, I first thought I would get a degree in marketing. It was generic enough and advertising sounded appealing. After all, in movies, advertising companies always had a sexy office, young good looking people working and it seemed fun. My first economics class changed that route for me. Economics seemed so interesting. A way to study human behavior outside of physiology, to predict the future in some senses, and it wasn’t something everyone was doing. So just like that, I changed my major to Economics and wanted to either work for the Federal Reserve Bank doing research and forecasting or become a professor since I loved the discussions happening on campus.
My college advisor suggested I get some work experience before pursuing my masters degree so a few months before graduation, I started applying to entry level jobs rooted in financial work. I was thrilled to get an offer from an investment company making $17 an hour and 2 weeks of paid vacation. 30 days after starting my job, 60% of the company was laid off, me included. Welcome to the real world!
At that point, I needed a job and applied to just about anything. I had 2 job offers, one from Capital One Financial, the auto financing division and one from a small residential property management company. The idea of working for a small company was really exciting. I would be able to actually talk to the CEO! I saw so much opportunity and even though it wasn’t in the exact field I saw for myself, I couldn’t let go of the idea of making a real impact on a company. In many ways, taking this job was the best decision I have ever made in regards to my career. It put me on the path to were I am now.
After a few months, I decided I wanted to get my real estate license so that I could take on more responsibility within the company. I still had no desire to be a Realtor - work on the weekends - no way! Work without a guaranteed and regular paycheck - that’s crazy! I started managing the REO properties. Properties that had gone into foreclosure that were occupied by tenants in a lease or previous owners that qualified to stay month to month during the time the property was listed for sale. Towards the end of my time with the company, I worked directly with leasing and started listing and showing the properties we leased.
As I was working in property management, my dad started dabbling in the real estate world as well. He started flipping houses and had a few projects under his belt by the time I became pregnant with my second child. I knew I wanted to stop working a 9-5. The daily grind of rushing out of the office in time to pick up my oldest before the school closed and the limit on how much I could grow at the small company got to me. My plan was to solely represent my dad on the properties he bought and sold part time which would allow me focus on my kids. In March 2015, I quit my full time job and went part time Realtor. Well, the universe had other plans for me. Part time was never anything I could do as I struggled with work life balance. I even handed over an option check to my dad at the hospital as I was in labor with my son. In January of 2016, I attended the Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s award ceremony and my eyes were open to what is possible to accomplish in real estate. That year, I sold almost $7 million in real estate, and have always looked to bigger goals.
In 2019, I partnered with Compass Real Estate. Their focus on the future of the industry and their programs to help our clients in ways other brokerages didn’t, convinced me this was the best place for me to be.
In 2020, Marmie Leech and I formed the Touris Leech Group. Marmie and I share the same vision of service for our clients. We both offered complimentary staging for our sellers, and partnering together allowed us to extend our staging furniture stock and move into a storage warehouse instead of storing the pieces in our garages.
In 2020, my husband and I began to invest personally in real estate. It was time to put my money were my mouth is, and since I do not have a 401K through a company with company contributions, thinking of retirement was haunting me. We decided rentals would be a great way to generate additional income as well as take advantage of the appreciation of the properties. Becoming a real estate investor myself opened my eyes up even more to the challenges but also rewards that my clients experience.
Real estate is so much more than buying and selling a house. We have the opportunity to build real relationships with our clients and guide them through life changing experiences. Not every transaction is happy. I have sold childhood homes after the passing of parents. I have sold homes that no longer work for a family after divorce. But with each transaction, I am able to provide hope for better days in the future. In happy transactions, it's exciting to think forward to all the loving memories that will be made in new homes. Bitter sweet selling first homes, but just think of the adventures of moving on.
I have goals to meet sales numbers. It’s an easy way to track progress, but at the end of the day, the numbers are not what matters. It’s the friendships, the hugs, the tears and the excitement for the future that keeps me doing what I do.