Today we’d like to introduce you to Ellen Davis.
Ellen, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I am a CPA turned realtor.
I graduated from college in 2001 and jumped right into a career in accounting but I had actually taken all the classes to be a realtor just before I graduated from college because that was actually my dream. I was worried about what other people would think, wasn’t sure I could cut it, wasn’t sure if real estate was really a credible career, etc. and ultimately started my career in accounting leaving a real estate behind. I progressed in my accounting career, managed to buy a few rental properties and dreamed of a career in real estate but just never went for it. Fast forward to the end of 2014. I was getting ready to have my second child. I had decided I wasn’t going to go back to my accounting job after he was born. And I decided to go ahead and take the real estate test (after all, I had taken all the courses and just needed one or two more that had been added as newer requirements). I passed the exam in January 2015, had my second child in February 2015. Got through the newborn phase and started thinking about what I wanted to do in terms of my career. Did I want to stay home? Did I want to go back to accounting after all? Did I want to jump in and try real estate? I met with a few friends that were realtors. They were all very encouraging to go for it. I met with several brokerages and ultimately decided to join a boutique agency located in W. Richardson near where I lived. I joined them in October 2015.
My goal was just to figure out what I was doing for the rest of 2015 and for 2016, I wanted to sell six houses. I remember several agents telling me that it was going to be really hard to sell any real estate with two young kids. One even told me that she just didn’t see me setting the real estate world on fire. LOL. But, I ignored the chatter and I got my first listing about two weeks after starting and ultimately sold 24 houses ($7M) my first year. I loved it! It was definitely a balancing act with a one-year-old and four-years-old but I knew it was the right profession – I loved houses, loved helping people and my work ethic was rewarded. That first year I even started staging all my listings as a way to win more business and help my sellers make more money. I had always loved decorating and had a knack for it, so it just made sense. This has ultimately become a huge part of my value proposition, makes my listings sell much more quickly and my clients make more money! Then on to my second year in real estate – 2017 – I sold 25 houses ($9M) that year but started hitting a wall in terms of what I could handle on my own – marketing, bringing in new business, taking excellent care of my current clients, staging my listings, etc.
At the same time, the boutique brokerage I joined was acquired by another real estate brokerage. The boutique brokerage underwent a huge change and I explored other brokerages. I met with Theresa Flood at Keller Williams Dallas Preston Road who “got” my situation – building a business and really trying to make a difference but also balancing home life with two young children. She challenged me to start growing a team, bring on a real estate assistant as my first employee and double my business in 2018. I was like, seriously? But I jumped on board with Keller Williams, attended a three-day seminar my first week about hiring and starting a team and got to work on my 2018 goal of selling 48 houses and $16M in real estate. I hired my first employee, in November 2017. This allowed me to delegate some of the smaller details so I could say yes to more clients and give them an even higher level of service. We were so busy in Spring 2018 that we brought on an additional team member in May 2018. Fast forward to Q4 2018 and we have sold 53 homes ($19M in real estate) and should close the year around 65 sales or $24M in real estate by the end of the year. And we are very much still growing. We brought on another licensed agent in August of this year and she is jumping in and learning how we do things differently and how we offer a completely different level of service. We hope to bring on a few more agents in 2019 and help even more families with their real estate goals!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not always been a smooth road. There have been a LOT of nights working from 8 pm (after kids go to bed) until the wee morning hours especially before I started my team when I was working as an individual agent. It was so important for me to do an excellent job for my clients and sometimes there was just too much work to get done during the daytime hours. I was also juggling being a good mom to my two young kids and growing a business which are two things that kind of take over your life lol. It’s been a lot of hard work but so worth it. I know I am helping people every day and my two kids see me working hard on a career I love. Sometimes I see my calendar and schedule and don’t know how it is all going to happen and get done but it always works out. I also feel like I had overcome a lot of doubt from other people, especially other agents, who didn’t think it was possible to be successful in real estate with a young family. It isn’t easy but I am just that more efficient with my time. And luckily I have a very supportive husband too.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Ellen Davis Real Estate Group – what should we know?
Our company is known for excellent service to our clients including our complimentary staging that completely transforms the way our seller’s house looks to potential buyers. We have a staging team of over ten ladies that jump into action when we have a listing. Usually, two of our lead stagers will go to a house, evaluate things minor projects that homeowners could do to add value and plan what we will bring from our three storage units to enhance their home – curtains, lamps, canvases, accent furniture, etc. We will even stage empty houses as needed. This service is unheard of in the real estate world.
Most agents require their sellers to pay a staging company directly upwards of $2K to have their house staged. We have an awesome in-house staging team that takes care of it all completely FREE to our sellers. Our before and after pictures speak for themselves and I can confidently say that this has been the reason many many of our sellers have gotten multiple offers and sold their house the first weekend, even in this changing real estate market. I love that we literally take care of every detail and worry for our customers. We hold their hand through the entire buying and selling process, make sure they know what is coming next, try to provide information before they ever have a question and give them top-notch service.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I think caring about our customers and their family is the most important ingredient to our success. Our staging service started because I wanted a friend/client to get the most money she could for her house and I knew if I helped her decorate it, it would sell so much more quickly — and that turned out to be right! That was on my third listing ever and we have staged every house we have sold since. I know that by staging each customer’s house, they will walk away with more money at closing which will allow them more flexibility and security on their next step in life. I think our customers can feel how much we care about them.
Even when we have a client buying a house, we encourage them to do as many inspections and tests as possible because we know for a small cost now; it will save them thousands later. This practice has “killed” many real estate deals for my buyers but has saved them so much headache and money that would have happened later on if they had purchased the house without the test. Something similar happened to me in a home purchase before I was a realtor. My realtor at the time did not recommend a test she should have. It ended up costing my family $12K and a lot of stress just a few months after buying the home. I don’t want families to have to go through that.
Pricing:
- Our staging services are FREE!!! And they are included in all listings.
Contact Info:
- Address: 18383 Preston Road
#150 Dallas, TX 75252 - Website: www.ellendavisre.com
- Phone: 214-789-5058
- Email: ellen@ellendavisre.com
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