OCT NIBJ: From breaking into real estate to breaking through

Getting into real estate is not for the faint of heart. The entry into the world may be simple enough, but successfully making a name for yourself requires an incredible amount of hard work, some odd hours and a certain amount of stick-to-itiveness.

“You'll put 60, 70 hours in working consistently and not necessarily earn anything.” Jenn Smock, the co-owner of Windermere/Coeur d’Alene Realty, said. “That was kind of the case in the beginning for me, as it is for most realtors. It looked like a lot of lean months and years until I got it up and running.”

Smock started her real estate career 22 years ago as a single mom. Christine Matheny, who started her real estate career in Aug. 2020 during the COVID pandemic, was a single mom transitioning careers.

“I really recommend that people have at least a year to a year and a half of money put aside to start the business,” Matheny, a real estate agent with Century 21, said. “Real estate as a new realtor does not have any work life balance.”

Much like how it’s difficult to start to write an English essay, getting your first sales is the hardest part.

“Most agents would be lucky to close one or two in their first year,” Matheny said. “Some get zero, zilch. They get none sold their first year.”

Once the inertia starts to take hold, sales are easier to come by. Matheny was able to sell ten homes from her start in Aug. to the end of 2020. Her proclivity for selling manufactured homes earned her the complimentary nickname “the Trailer Park Queen” and launched her career into selling traditional homes. 

After the rough early years of getting established, working in real estate offers women the chance to not have a financial ceiling placed on them. You earn as much money as you can sell. 

“I love this industry for women because we are only held back by our own ability to believe that we can do it,” Smock said. "I just feel so strongly that as women in individual entrepreneurship, this is a wonderful industry. It really does give you the ability to create the lifestyle that you want for yourself that you probably can't get working for somebody else and helping them build their business.”

Even with some early mornings and late nights working, there is still flexibility within these hours to pay attention to family.

“It also gives you time in the day to go to your kid's school or watch the soccer game, whatever it might be,” Smock said.

The real estate market in North Idaho has changed quite a bit over time. Pat Krug, a Designated Broker at Windermere/Coeur d’Alene Realty, has seen it all from interest rates as high as 16%, the housing market crash in 2008 and the advent of new technologies adding positive and negative wrinkles to the business during her 41 years in the business

In real estate you’re only as good as your reputation with clients. In Krug’s opinion, that relationship shouldn’t be purely transactional. It should be a link where any questions involving your house even years later can be answered. Finding a new roofer or need to remodel your kitchen? Your realtor should be able to give a referral.

“They need to know that you're that resource, that you're that connector for them,” Krug said. “They're going to respect you. They're going to respect your time. They're going to refer their friends and family to you, and you'll be helping people.”

North Idaho, as everywhere else, has seen its fair share of change in recent years with people moving in.

“I would say that 20 years ago, people were moving here primarily to retire,” Krug said. “Twenty years later, we also get people that are wanting to come back, raise their families and we have a lot more job opportunities than we did back then.”

But what does the future hold for real estate in North Idaho?

“I think North Idaho will remain to be desirable and have continued growth in the real estate market,” Matheny said. “People are moving here for political and tax reasons. Idaho is very much a property rights state, and I can appreciate that being in real estate where the property owner makes decisions about their property.”

As far as advice for the next generation trying to make a career in real estate, Matheny, Smock and Krug all shared similar advice: You have to be truly, fully committed and to find mentors such as themselves to help set you up for success.

“Look at people who are successful and figure out what makes them tick,” Krug said. “If they are a truly genuine, successful person, they will want to share. If they don't want to make time for you, then you probably don't want to learn from them anyway.”

    Century 21 real estate agent Christine Matheny
  

    Windermere/Coeur d'Alene Realty co-owner Jenn Smock