Jennifer Marcum: Real Estate Grit, Growth & Getting It Done in Jacksonville

Hey, welcome back to real estate excellence podcast with your host. Tracy Hayes, best of the best is what I've promised to my listeners on every show. Today's guest is a young, motivated agent. She is showing the potential to be a top agent at round table Realty here in Northeast Florida, success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you're doing, you will be successful. That sounds like a posting said

Jennifer Marcum  1:33  
Albert Schweitzer, we're going to give him credit, but that's what Jennifer lives by. Jennifer Myrick here is with from Round Table royalty, Jen, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. Excellent. I appreciate you coming by today. I just want to take a few moments to say a few words about our sponsor. Stage to sell. Set up our nice studio here with this excellent, beautiful furniture stage to sell. Jacks.com

Tracy Hayes  1:56  
if you're looking to get top dollar less pushback on your home inspections and just give your buyers the confidence they're buying from the right sellers. Stage to sell, contact them today for a free consultation, and I'm sure, as Jennifer knows, staging a home is always the best thing to do, especially when it's vacant. Yes, yes. It gives the buyer. A good idea with furniture and spacing. No one ever believes that king size bed will fit in that guest room, right?

Tracy Hayes  2:26  
They always got bring the tape measure with you. Oh, yeah. So Jen, I want to start off today, as I do a lot of my shows, because I want everyone to learn a little bit about you, and I want to learn a little bit about you. Where did you go to high school? Let's go back to say you're 1415, years old. Where's Jen at this time? What's going on in your life? 

Jennifer Marcum  2:47  
I'm probably on a horse. Excellent. 15 years old, I grew up riding horses. My parents, we lived by the beaches, but we got into horses. My mom got into horses, and that was her dream, and my dad made it happen for her, all of us. So we moved to the north side by black haymark Island, off of bony road, if you know where that is, middle of nowhere.

Jennifer Marcum  3:09  
We lived there, me and my sister. We lived on six acres. We rode our horses, we went trail riding. It was mainly pleasure, but we did do some fun barrel racing poles, things like that. So, you know, I was still ride today. Unfortunately, no, my mom realized that it was a lot of work. Me, my mom, me, my sister moved out. She had to take care of them all by herself. Yeah, she didn't have anything anyone to help. My dad was like over it, so she it

Jennifer Marcum  3:41  
broke her heart, but she sold a few of them, and we kept the last one until he, you know, unfortunately, age took it, right? So, sure. So he forever lives on the property.

Jennifer Marcum  3:53  
So, yeah, no, I would love to get back on the saddle. It's, I don't know. It's hard to explain, but yeah, 

Tracy Hayes  3:59  
no, it's definitely an expensive sport. I mean, yeah, horses are not,

Tracy Hayes  4:05  
you know, boating or horses. I think horses are more expensive.

Jennifer Marcum  4:10  
I think my dad knew what he was doing when he got us into horses, yeah, you know, out of being boy crazy and everything, right? I mean, what? But that's, you know, you go through life, and you look back in the things that you know your parents left you, of course, you know, I know you have children and and what you're going to leave them, and those things, but they left you. It sounds like some good memories. Yes, my parents. I think that kind of goes into why I'm in the industry. I am to have that kid, that income, to give my kids, what my parents gave to me, you know, we had the horses.

Jennifer Marcum  4:45  
Not only did that teach me, not only was it fun, but it taught me a lot about work and sweat equity and a lot of, I believe, important things that kind of laid the groundwork of who I am today.

Tracy Hayes  4:57  
Right? Got to get up early, get out there. Feed them, make sure they have their water clean. So you're you start to graduate from high school. What are your aspirations? And at this time, what are you for seeing yourself doing?

Jennifer Marcum  5:10  
Oh, my God, it's, it's a blur. I know I'm, you know, only 26 years old, but thinking back to high school, you know my sister, she did the she graduated early, or she graduated with college credits. And that was kind of what my parents wanted me to do as well. I didn't. I just graduated, graduated with honors, all of that, and then college was I needed to go to college. That's what my parents have instilled in both of us. From day one, you need to go to college. You need to get a degree. So that didn't happen for

Tracy Hayes  5:44  
me, my sister. I saved yourself a lot of money, but go ahead.

Jennifer Marcum  5:47  
Well, my parents were smart, and they did the Florida Prepaid Luckily, my mom was able to cash that out, so that's good. But yeah, I took, I did two years. Had no idea what, what the hell I was doing. Didn't know what I really wanted to do at one point, I wanted to do teaching, and I interned one kindergarten class, and that was it. I said, Nope, this is not for me.

Tracy Hayes  6:13  
Don't feel so bad. I have, I have a bachelor's degree in education. Got out and immediately went into sales. I went back. I was in between jobs. So, you know, you know, I was in here in Florida. And of course, they hire teachers here in Florida without certifications. Because I went to school in South Carolina. I just need to take some courses to get certified in Florida. And give you so much time to get there. But trust me, I went back for one year, and I'm like, I'm old school. You know, if I'm the opposite of what kids think today. Kids think if you're in your face today, it's because you're trying to take them down to me, and when I grew up, if they're not in your faces, because they don't care about you. And so that's my I'm not with the PC culture of today. So I have, I have an education degree. Obviously, I'm doing mortgages.

Jennifer Marcum  7:01  
So, you know, I bounced back between, like, what my major was, this, that and the other. And at the end of it, I actually, you know, I grew up, born and raised in Jacksonville, and then I ended up going to California for a year and a half, got married. We, you know, we all have that first marriage, you can check your own

Tracy Hayes  7:21  
way. I guess you're passing for a California girl. I

Jennifer Marcum  7:25  
mean, it was, it was cool. It was definitely an experience to see how the other side of the world lives.

Tracy Hayes  7:30  
But nope. So you were, you just, you're just kind of going with the flow. Didn't know quite what you wanted to do. You were trying to find that.

Jennifer Marcum  7:39  
So he was in the military, and he got stationed over there, so obviously I went with and I was like, oh, I'll just take courses online. Well, what I found out about myself is I can't do courses online.

Tracy Hayes  7:51  
It's a very different Yeah, I have to be the

Jennifer Marcum  7:53  
person that is in front of the teacher, because some things don't click, and I need them to explain it to me. I can't just watch a video, which I guess is very unfortunate for me, because there's a lot of great online things out there right now, but basically just, you know, I stopped going to college and eventually made it back to Florida and decided to get rid of that husband and and to focus on a career. And I think the breakdown was, I was a waitress, you know, from 18 to at that point, 23 and you know, it's, it's, once you do it, it's just easy, it's natural

Tracy Hayes  8:37  
start to get into that lifestyle. Yeah, and

Jennifer Marcum  8:40  
then they asked me, well, we need managers. Do you want to be a manager? And I think I had a midlife crisis right there, because I was like, I do not like, not that anything's wrong with being a manager or being in the food industry. That's just not what I wanted. I knew that there was a cap on the income, and I knew the way I live, my mom raised a very expensive child, that I needed a career or a sugar diet. Now I'm just kidding. I did a career to do it myself, because at that point, yes, I was going through divorce. I learned very quickly not to depend on anyone. And my parents have taught me that they raised me, my sister to be very independent, which my fiance now, sometimes he just

Tracy Hayes  9:29  
brought it up. She just got engaged, like I saw the pictures on Instagram, Facebook, like a week and a half ago or so,

Jennifer Marcum  9:36  
yeah, about two weeks ago, yeah, yeah. Very exciting. Thank you. Thank you. I found him when I wasn't looking. And isn't that normally how it goes? I was like, No, I'm gonna focus on my career, on what I want. And him and I were basically in the same walk of life, going through the same thing, and, you know, just clicked. And it's the best thing ever. Found my soulmate so So and. He's actually been there since the beginning of my real estate career. So that's really exciting.

Tracy Hayes  10:05  
So you're in the you're you're kind of in this transition with the waitressing. You're the management. Now you start thinking, when do you? When do you you just kind of stumble into real estate, or this suck. How does it come to you?

Jennifer Marcum  10:16  
Yeah. So I was like, Well, I love looking at Zillow. I love looking at those houses. 24 I'm on this app. 24/7 I could sell a house. That's literally what I thought I was like, let me

Tracy Hayes  10:29  
kind of like dream shopping, like, when I get there, I want to buy this house. And now you're like, yeah,

Jennifer Marcum  10:35  
like, well, how, like, how do I make this happen? Where I was in life at that point, the income I had, or the, you know, right, the family, what was going on. I We couldn't, we couldn't get that, you know, paycheck to paycheck, you know, having to either be late on this bill or buy groceries. Like, I realized my parents did not raise me to be that way. So I was like, Ah, I need to do something with my life, I'm not going to be a manager. So literally, that night, after that shift, I was looking into real estate courses. So I was looking online, trying to figure out, talking to different people. And actually, the first brokerage I went to, it was a family friend, and she had suggested this course, and it was the Florida real estate Institute, and it was in person. It was a week of getting drilled. This is what you need to know for the state. This is what you need to know for the course. If anyone needs to get their license, I definitely recommend them, because I'm bad at taking tests. I'm, you know, it takes me a while. And also, I have to give credit to my dad, because he stayed up and did flashcards with me all of that. So yeah, as soon as I made my I'm that kind of person. As soon as I put my mind to it, I'm doing it right, so no one was going to stop me. And at that point, I think my parents realized that college was not going to be my route. And my dad is very into trades, like, you know, he went to trade school, you know, he's doing all my family is doing well, and so he was all for it. And he backed my parents. Both of them backed me up and helped me through it. So now I have my license. I got my license. I believed, right after my 24th birthday, went into my my family, friends, brokerage. I think it is a great place just to hang your license. But what I needed was a little more direction, more structure. Yeah, I hadn't what is the contract? What does this mean now that, I mean, I've been in it for two years, I still don't know like everything, and I know I'm right. There's some something each transaction, there's something different that's going to be on there. But I think I love where I'm at now. And I have, you know, moved a couple brokerages, and it's taught me what I needed. You know, there was one brokerage that laid the foundation for me, but it wasn't quite what I needed. You know, families really important for me. Wanted to have that time for them. And then I went to another brokerage where it was all from home, and I was like, Oh my gosh, you have to have really good motivation to stay on top of things. So,

Tracy Hayes  13:23  
yeah, so I found, you know, especially talking to other agents. I mean, there's definitely the one thing the real estate world offers you is, I mean, you can be that totally independent person. There's some people that can do that. Others need to come in to an office on a daily basis to it's kind of like game time getting ready to go into the or to the saddle up on the horse. It's like, okay, I'm on the horse now because I'm now at work, and I've got to focus on this now. And they need that, need that structure and then. But I think the important thing, especially someone you know two years into your career as a real estate agent to have that person who's been doing it 1520, years on speed dial, or they're in the office, that you could say hey and run over and say, hey, you know, this is what the client wants to do. Or, you know, what's the best way to structure this on this contract? Because I see that a lot with just fielding the contracts coming in as a loan officer. You know, we agents want to put certain like, no, no. Lender doesn't want to know that that's put that on something side over here, because we don't want to see, yeah, furniture or subject to repairs. No, just tell them you're giving them $1,000 in concessions. That's all we want to know. Why we don't care. Just that's what's happening. So having that mentor, especially that's, you know, done a few 100,000 contracts or whatever, and I know you've got great leadership over at round table. I hear a lot of the agents from there brag about it, so you kind of just. Morphed into the real estate industry. There wasn't a aunt or uncle or brother or sister doing doing it, just a friend was doing but you actually pursued them. They didn't pursue you, and you started working for them at the small brokerage.

Jennifer Marcum  15:14  
Yeah, I kind of saw it as a way. I don't think I really knew what I was getting into. I just knew, Okay, if I have one closing I'll pay my bills for the month, right? So I didn't realize, okay, well, I can have five closings, and then I'm

Tracy Hayes  15:32  
go take a week vacation. Wow.

Jennifer Marcum  15:35  
My savings account looks great. I never had one of these before, you know? So I think it was, I knew I needed a career. I knew I needed to do something, and I basically, like, I do everything. Jumped head first without really thinking too much about it. But yeah, you know, it kind of took off. I was lucky to have a cousin who got married, and then she was the whole wife's like, Okay, I need a new house. And I'm like, I'm your girl. I can sell your house and, you know, help you buy a new one. And I'm, you know, blessed to have great family that let me represent them through, you know, with them knowing I was brand new.

Tracy Hayes  16:13  
That was your first sale. Was the family member. So,

Jennifer Marcum  16:17  
yeah, he was my first listing, but he ended up buying new construction and beach walks. So, you know, we had to wait for that to be completed, which was, at that point, it was just a couple months I got a lead from the broker that was actually my first sale on Fernandina. Had no idea what I was doing. The agent on the other side, bless her heart. She was so sweet. She walked me through it, but it was definitely a learning experience.

Tracy Hayes  16:48  
You touched on something there that I'm hearing a lot in. Like I said, I tell my listeners, I've become a podcast junkie. I'm listening to different podcasts. There's a few that I try to get every show on. But others I just, I bounce around and just listen to their their clients, but almost a common denominator all of them is dive right in. Yeah, and I think a lot what you just said, like I didn't even know what I was doing. No one, every there's, I don't know a real estate agent unless they were already working for a realtor, already that had some sort of experience of how transactions worked for, you know, maybe been a transaction coordinator or something like that, and that Dunham's had a good idea what was going to happen, but the majority of agents fell forward. You know, in work through that, and you had to overcome a sense of fear, anxiety, which is awesome, and now today, you feel much better about them. Sure, yes, where a lot of people fear just taking that first step, right? Yeah, they're fearing that. Oh, my God. What if I get that first client and they asked me a question I don't know the answer to, well practice, how you're going to handle that. You know, have that resource. I don't. I'm 15 years I've been doing mortgages. I don't know all the answers. There's always one offs on loans. Like, yeah, her, I mean, I did something like that, like, 10 years ago, or I heard one of my teammates did want something like that. Let me, let me research that and get back, because we don't know everything. And then there are crazy situations that pop up and that we don't want we don't need to fill our front of our brain with because they don't happen a lot. But we know there's a resource, a good broker, or our YouTube video now, right? Everything. So what do you think is your biggest

Jennifer Marcum  18:37  
strength? Think my biggest strength is I have a servant's heart. So no matter what, if you're my client, I'm going to fight the fight to the death for you. I truly care about the person, and I want to make sure that they are getting the best deal if, if it's not the like, a lot of times, we'll get a buyer, and honestly, they're not ready, not in this market, and I would rather save them heartache and a lot of money just by saying, why don't we bookmark this, put a tab in it, and I'll touch back with you in a couple months, because I don't want to put you in a worse situation just to get a sale, Just to get money to force yourself into a home right before you're ready. So I think for me, I just have a lot of hearts, which also, for you know, I wear my emotions on my sleeve. So if I have a lot of heart, I feel every emotion before they feel it, you know. So I'm working on, you know, trying not to be so attached to it. But I think my biggest strength is I'm going to make it work for them. I am truly looking out for their best interest, and I'm they're not just like they're not. Just a paycheck, right? So, and I

Tracy Hayes  20:02  
do you find how much new construction have you done? Because obviously that's pretty much all left right now, but

Jennifer Marcum  20:08  
I like to I'm the self proclaimed new construction queen.

Tracy Hayes  20:13  
So here's my, my take on some of the situations, because obviously we work with a large national public builder here. So I see some of this stuff come across, and there's, there's a slight battle between site agents and agents. And that's a whole nother subject. I don't even want to get

Jennifer Marcum  20:30  
into that one right now. It's not open

Tracy Hayes  20:33  
that, yeah, the typical agent that I see, their perception that I'm given. And again, this is not all of you. Every those listening to you, they're working with me. Now, if this is not you, then it's not you, but they walk into a new construction site model, as if they're walking into a retail store, Saks Fifth Avenue, or whatever, and they just stand back and let the site agent take over, let the builder take over. And yeah, I understand the builder has a lot of control, majority of control of the situation. But there's certain things you know, that the agent needs to step up of, especially, you know, when you start, you know, going through the different walk through. So as the new construction, you know, to have a little bit of knowledge to point out the nail pops that you see in the wall, that maybe they don't, and the to go that little extra mile. What is your thought on that? And when you, when you're walking, going through that whole process with

Jennifer Marcum  21:29  
a, well, I love new construction. I think it is great for a new home buyer. First home buyer, just because there's a lot of warranties that the builder offers is there's a lot of protection to them, and I think it's very important for them to have their own representation, because at the end of the day, the site agent is looking out for the builders best interest, and my job is look out for the buyer's best interest, and Seeing how I have gone through many transactions with builders, I know there's some questions that, or there's some incentives that I can get for them, that the builder has, but they're not going to offer it, right? They're not going to say, oh, yeah, you want some blinds. Add some blinds to the purchase. Right? Now, this market's a little different. You know, back when I first started, they were giving more incentives than they are now, but I think it's important to to have the representation, because with the walk throughs, I went to one in April, and, you know, there's just things you pick up on, like it was, it was a crack in the molding, not the end of the world, but we're doing a week before closing, if They can get it fixed, yeah. And these people were perfectionists, so they wanted their house to be perfect, you know? And there's things like, I always tried, like little, little things that I picked up on. Anyone who does do new construction, you have that one year warranty most of the time for anything. So I tell them at month 10, go ahead and get an inspection. And, you know, I have a great inspector. Grace, shout out. You know, I have a great inspector. Go and get it inspected. Anything that pops up on the list, you give it to the builder, and you're still in the warranty, and they'll get it fixed. Because, you know, once you start living in house, you start seeing things, things settle. And you know, it's not the end of the world, but if you have that warranty, the

Tracy Hayes  23:24  
inspection, you know, when it comes down to the dollars, do you find some clients are devaluing that inspection, even on an existing home, though, just to kind of change it. I mean, because I think they look at, you know, as busy as the as the inspectors are, obviously, just like appraisals have probably gone up over the last. You know, appraisals gone up probably 75 bucks, easily on just a standard appraisal in the last few years. Of course, they were at one point for 10 years. So for them to go up, they've gone up in price. I'm sure Home Inspections go because they're under such demand, supply and demand. It's a simple thing. But when you get that buyer that starts looking at the dollars versus the inspector, maybe Austin, who you might recommend, they're looking at the dollar amounts, and they're going, Oh, and then they're not getting the inspection that they really need,

Jennifer Marcum  24:16  
right? So I guess it just really depends on the kind of buyer. If you have a veteran buyer, you know, I always give a couple recommendations. Check them out. Check all them out. See which one you think is a good fit. Some people may not see the value of being a one stop shop. I think that's the best thing ever. Some people may want a smaller inspector, because they're like, Well, you know, I don't need all the bells and whistles blah blah been through this. I know what to look for. Okay, yeah, you know, hands off right there. Like you, I gave you the recommendations. It's up to you to figure it out. I mean, I would hope, I would hope, no one devalues an inspector because at the end of the day, it's $600 or $600,000 yes.

Tracy Hayes  25:00  
So, or it could be a $6,000 repair you know that you didn't see, that maybe you could have gotten fixed before closing, or there was water damage or something that you didn't see. And also, when you sign that line at closing and they hand you the keys, there's no like right of rescission. There's no 30 day drive and bring it back to the lot thing, right? You own that home when you put the ink to the paper on closing

Jennifer Marcum  25:24  
day, yeah? And I think you actually brought up a good point. I think Austin offers that after you have, like, a warranty, kind of on your inspection, if something does pop up, I think you can go back to him.

Tracy Hayes  25:36  
I think, yeah, if there's something he missed or something, yeah, you can buy the insurances. That's a great conversation. I told him the other day, I'm going to have him back on maybe in August, because our show lasted an hour last time, so I'm halfway through it. So is there a realtor or a senior realtor or broker that you look up to right now as your go to

Jennifer Marcum  25:58  
person? Yes, my broker, Howard, he just put out a fire for me. Yesterday, I was back and forth talking to many different people for five hours. And I think I came from a place before, where, if your broker was involved, that was kind of bad, so he was able to help me through the situation. And then at the end of it, he called me, I think first things first, he he's a dad, for sure. And I had that dad conversation where he called me. He's like, I want you to know you can like. It is not my job is to help you. If there's any issue, call me. It is not seen as bad. Is not seen as you not knowing anything. We're not ever judge you. Great attitude. Yes, he's a great mentor, broker leader, whatever you want

Tracy Hayes  26:54  
to I'm not quite twice your age, but I will say this, a broker is a manager. Right? In any office, you'd have a manager. Broker, to me, is that manager. If that broker is not willing to step in to help you close a deal, redesign, you don't need to be in the business, go back to being an agent, because that broker, as any manager, needs to do, and you'd be able to step in, especially a young agent, two years in the business, you're running into a situation, and none of us have all the tools. None of us do. We gain tools over time. At 51 I have a lot of tools I don't necessarily need to make. But there are times where I wouldn't say daily, but at least once a week, I'm walking into my manager's office, and I'm saying, Hey, let me throw this at you. This is what's happening. This is how I want to handle it. What would you do? And in the end, to get that feedback, and, of course, strengthen your mental mindset, they're on your they're they've got your back, go, you know, go forward. Or, you know that, manager says, Do you want me to make the call? You want me to make the call for you? Yeah, you know that that makes you that's that is a true manager, in this case, broker that I can see why Howard is very popular with his with his team,

Jennifer Marcum  28:08  
yeah, absolutely.

Tracy Hayes  28:10  
So you go from the mom and pop, you go to a little bit larger brokerage we just talked about, you got, well, I guess that's where the management wasn't so willing to step in. What made your transition over to round table? What was your progress

Jennifer Marcum  28:27  
there? So, you know, nothing detrimental happened at my other larger scale brokerage. They, honestly, they treated me well. I think there was just a little bit of anxiety and fear I put behind myself and the workload. You know, I can handle the workload. It's just, I think I had a shift on what was more important in my life, and that was my kids, right? You know, my relationship like I was working seven days a week, which everyone does in this industry. But I'm talking like on showings, doing this, that and the other, not home, not spending time. And then had the fear that if I did take time off, it would be bad. So I think it was just my my switch. Priorities changed. I realized I wanted to spend more time with them. So I went to they had more of a super structure. They did. They had a they had a superstructure. I think it's it. You can call it a boot camp. You can call it a boot camp. It lays down the foundation. You learn a lot at a quick, a quick pace. You you learn it, you live it, you breathe it. That is your life.

Tracy Hayes  29:35  
And when you're not being paid by the hour, you kind of want it that way to a point, right? Because you want to learn quickly and then hopefully start making

Jennifer Marcum  29:41  
money. Yeah, and, you know, I had great success there. Definitely not going to knock that. Learned a lot. I wouldn't be where I'm at without that. I just kind of had a switch in what was most important to me. I mean, people get into real estate. Most women get into real estate because it is flexible. So you can go do. Whatever you want with your kids you know, go to the school events, make dinner this on the other go on showings, find someone you know, child your

Tracy Hayes  30:09  
schedule on a daily basis, and they call up and hey, I want to go see the house. I'll be available at 430 when you're someone's able to pick up the kids or something like that, right? That's, I mean, at this point, because you don't have total flexibility, because you still got to respond to your clients, yeah, you do have some control of managing around the life stuff.

Jennifer Marcum  30:28  
And to be honest, I, you know, I can find someone, find them to go somewhere really quick, like I am still very, very flexible. It's just I can now go to the beach without fear of losing my job, you know, or I can spend time and go on a getaway. That's very important, because you pick up wherever my computer's at. I can work and I have a hot spot on my phone so I don't ever do the driving my fiance does. So I can

Tracy Hayes  30:55  
do that. I seen her do it on Facebook. You guys gotta follow Jen on Facebook. You will, you will see her. Yes, she does her life.

Jennifer Marcum  31:01  
Shots, yeah, I think, I think actually it's funny that you mentioned that, because I was gonna bring that up. I think people now in the in the business, it is really important to let people in on your life, not like personal, but just let your let everyone in on a day to day basis.

Tracy Hayes  31:19  
Yeah, again, going back listening to personal development in the podcast. And so then I think, much as we Ryan Sirhan, I have the she already has the book, so I can't give it to her. She already has it. But to let people understand that, to put the stuff on there, you know, you went out the restaurant, or you're at the beach, or you're showing the Florida lifestyle, oh yeah, you know that I think, I think a lot of people miss out on that. We can expand on that on totally another hour, but they're saying on the podcast right now those agents out there or loan officers, or whatever you're in to show yourself as a real person. Hey, I just had a great dinner at XYZ restaurant, or, Hey, this is a great place to take your kids for recreation or have a birthday party or whatever, and that bonds you a little bit more, because we have become detached from people now, but they are able to go online and learn a little bit about you, listen to this podcast, for instance, and learn a little bit more about you. So you're obviously, you're just about two years into your career, if you were to go back from the day you finished that course today, just turn back time with your knowledge that you have what would be something you would have done a little differently.

Jennifer Marcum  32:35  
I probably would have gone to that big brokerage first, not waste, you know, a couple months, not that that was a bad brokerage that I was at initially. I just needed to learn, and I think I would have been able to hit the ground running even quicker, which I did, hit the ground running pretty quick. But, you know, with going through the divorce, living with my parents, I did also work at Chili's while I was started first, starting out just because, I mean, I had so, you know, my parents, they could only help out so much. So I, you know, I think I would have probably, you know, head first, pedal to the metal gone there.

Tracy Hayes  33:18  
Because so your recommendation to another young person like yourself getting started. Research that brokerage that's going to have the people around the resources at your fingertips, so to speak, so it can accelerate your learning.

Jennifer Marcum  33:35  
Yeah. I mean, essentially, you just want to be on a really good team, the team I'm on now, the Cotton Team, 904, we've all worked together at some point before we got onto the team together. So we all, you know, have that good training. And I think, actually, you know, I probably now that I do know what I know, I kind of jumped the gun on that one roundtable. Realty also does have teams that are set up to where they can help you. And that's, that's their whole, the whole structure, people before property, not just, you know, for your clients, but for the agents themselves. They have a whole they're always doing events. They're always having, you know, outside, you know, people coming in to educate us on, you know, inspections, this, that and the other.

Tracy Hayes  34:21  
Should I have Howard on the podcast? Yeah, call

Jennifer Marcum  34:24  
out. I'm calling right now, Howard,

Tracy Hayes  34:28  
I'm calling you out. I want to get you scheduled up. I know we've had Bailey on and now Jen we you know, everyone's talking about Howard. He's definitely a person of I was to know in Northeast Florida real estate, for sure, I think a lot of people know Howard, just like you know. They know some of the popular title companies and so forth. Howard is definitely a broker that when you mentioned his name, people know, at least know of him, and that we definitely want Howard. So I'm calling you out to come on the show, Howard. So you. That is, actually, I mean, that's great advice in that, Jenna, if someone was a new agent listening to this right now, you know, maybe just getting out of college or kind of in the situation that you were in, you know, trying to try to find what they wanted to do. Could they, would you reach out? Would you consult with them and chat with them and kind of tell them something about some of the pains that we've talked about here?

Jennifer Marcum  35:20  
Yeah, so I actually, since I am so transparent on, you know, social media, things like that, I have had many people reach out to me, and I think the biggest thing I tell them is to research your brokerage, you know, find out what's most important to you, such as lead generation, transaction coordinators, this, that and the other, find out what's most important to you. Yeah, you, you, you can't, I guess some people can. But starting out, you need, you need everyone and anyone who can help you, just to help you. Go up and quick, I can't talk. Go quickly.

Tracy Hayes  35:59  
What is your biggest challenges just on a day to day basis, just any, whatever it might even be daycare, because I know you have three kids, what is your biggest challenge as an as an agent, that you have to deal with every day, something you got to be thinking about,

Jennifer Marcum  36:16  
it is definitely just Making sure I stick to my time blocking schedule. Tom Ferry talks about it probably every video he has time blocking, making sure you set aside time for prospecting, because that is your bread and butter. So I think the hardest would be with three kids home for summer. Would be finding that time. But with me being on the team that I'm at, I do get a little escape three days a week to go into the office to really set, you know, my mind to it, to make my calls have any questions, talk shop, and I think that's also very important, having those people just listening to those conversations of what happened in their deal, because it could happen to you, happen to you. Totally agree you know how you would, know how to maneuver around it and find the solution quicker and without less, without the heartache that they went through. So I think it's very important, you know, to

Tracy Hayes  37:17  
have I think people underestimate, and this goes for loan officers too, because we've got some young loan officers here in covid. They got used to working at home, and I worked from I put three years in a call center, so high volume, lots of credit reports, three years in a call center, one of the largest, well, now the largest mortgage lender in the country is like 10 years in retail. And as far as the number of transactions you do and when you get away from the office, which I did about three years into it, I worked from home for my 15 year career, probably for elite almost like eight years. It's almost half, almost more than half of my career I've actually worked from home, and there comes a point where you lose those interactions that, if you want to call it water cooler talk, but they're important to hear issues that people are having on other loans or other transactions, and so you don't make the same mistake, or you know how to handle it, or who to go To if that arises in your situation, yeah, it's very important. So yeah, getting into the office is for let's talk about this. This is a good like, interview question, interview, like a job interview type question. Tell me about your most difficult because you've had to have one of those clients where you're like, oh my god, I'm glad that's over. We all do it happens. Okay, all salespeople have that client. You don't have to mention names or where it happened or what they bought, but what was that? What was the challenge the challenging client gave you, and what did you? What did you do to overcome it? Trying

Jennifer Marcum  38:58  
to think back. I think some of these transactions, you put them in a box, you don't think about them again. I think, Well, recently, it's more of getting those questions that you know is normal. That's just kind of normal, how it's processed. This is it has to be signed. It has to be written that way. It's more of, I think me overcoming. I just try to answer the question. I tried to get the other person, like the lender, so to say, to answer it on a three way so they can hear it, and just third party source, yeah, just kind of managing everyone's emotions. It is very mentally exhausting, both seller buyer in a transaction well,

Tracy Hayes  39:45  
because you get one set, one client doesn't say boo, they sign a contract, and next thing you know, you're at closing, and then nothing, and then you got another one. That's like calling you every day, yeah, not every hour.

Jennifer Marcum  39:57  
Yeah, I definitely don't mind that. Like my job is to. To, I think, really make sure emotionally they feel they're okay, and they're also being taken care of, and they feel that I am, you know, taking care of them. But, yeah, those, those hard ones, I think you just kind of go through it, and once you're done, you try not to think about it again.

Tracy Hayes  40:21  
All right, you're you invited. Ne far northeast Florida, Association of Realtors, they invite you over to speak to a bunch of new agents. What would you share with them?

Jennifer Marcum  40:33  
What would I share with them?

Tracy Hayes  40:34  
None of them have done a transaction. They just got out of the school, and they're in this you know, they have their class, intro class at ne far, they all became new members. What would you share with them?

Jennifer Marcum  40:46  
Well, I hope they have people experience. I guess I would share with them. Buckle up. Buckle up. Every transaction is different. Every person is different. Try to be a chameleon fit to their personality. Find what you you know, match with the most. You

Tracy Hayes  41:08  
fall back on your waitressing days on some of these situations, because it's those are kind of like mini transactions, obviously real estate. You're with them for 3045, 60 days or six months, if you're going new construction or something, we're obviously waiting in Table hopefully within an hour they're in and out. Yeah. But do you do you kind of fall back on some of that, on how you not only talk to them, but how you mentally stay centered, yeah.

Jennifer Marcum  41:32  
I think, honestly, I've been listening to your podcast, and everyone in my office, most of them, have had background in, you know, hospitality or food industry restaurant, and I think like it's a great skill. I think everyone at one point in their life, they should do it so they can learn how to multitask with everything, and also how to not necessarily manage people, but manage yourself as well, on how you're going to interact with those people.

Tracy Hayes  42:01  
I tell my wife and kids, they need to experience washing dishes in the restaurant. That's what they need to Oh, the dish, terrifying place. Who's had the most influence on your career, who has had the most

Jennifer Marcum  42:17  
influence on my career? Feel like it's not just a one single person. I think it's just been a collage of many people. There's a lot of great Realtors I know I look up to, I've worked beside. I don't think it's one single person I know right now. My two team leads, Caitlin and Josh, they definitely love how they structured their team and how they are truly there for us, and they just want us to succeed. And it's not just you need to close this house, you know, just close the house, and that's it. Now, they care about us, and they have they always want us to do personal development, so we always have all

Tracy Hayes  43:05  
that fun. So who does the hiring? Caitlin or Josh?

Jennifer Marcum  43:09  
Well, I don't want to say it on air, but I think I know who wears the pants

Tracy Hayes  43:13  
in that one. Well, I'm beginning to wonder, because I saw some team shots and like, if I was Josh, I would be, I mean, he, you know, he stands in the middle of all these very attractive ladies. Yeah. So I was wondering, is Josh hiring, or is Caitlin hiring?

Jennifer Marcum  43:31  
Oh, no. I think, honestly, every person they've hired they either worked beside or one of us has worked beside them. So it's all kind of just word of mouth, but I mean, we also all look good. All

Tracy Hayes  43:48  
right, so let's you know we talked a little bit out earlier, before the show, talk to that possible buyer client that's in front of you. Why should they call Jen to either handle their listing or they're they're selling, here's your your, you know, your elevator speech, so to speak, you know, just express you. You know, if, if that buyer is listening to him, why should they call you?

Jennifer Marcum  44:12  
I feel like they should call me. Because I, you know, I have had quite a big success in a short amount of time, and either people are going to burn out or they're going to keep going. I feel like I've always kept going. And I have a lot of experiences in have had a lot of transactions with off the wall things, and we've closed them. If I don't know the answer, I have a team of people who are going to help me. I have a broker who's been in the business close to almost as long as I've been alive. Now, not that long.

Tracy Hayes  44:47  
Howard's got to be his old Zion.

Jennifer Marcum  44:49  
He's been in the business, him and Keith. They are, you know, the perfect duo for their brokers. So if I don't know it, I'm not afraid to give him a call and he I'm. Gonna tell you, he's either gonna know it or he's gonna know who to ask, right? So, you know, I feel like I have the heart, the drive I almost get, you know, obsessed with finding them the home, can't sleep at night. I'm on the MLS. Like this one, this one the

Tracy Hayes  45:18  
most simplest thing. And for those listening out here or watching, it's amazing. And I think you're you're you and I are probably on the same page here. When the phone rings, hope I'm not causing my audio. Keep hitting my mic when the phone rings,

Jennifer Marcum  45:34  
pick. Oh yeah, you are

Tracy Hayes  45:37  
dealing with and I one of the things when you were talking earlier. I was thinking about when something another agent was talking about being a therapist, you know, not in a negative way. You got to realize you're dealing with, I mean, next to, next to giving birth to your child, you're buying a home is another it's just, it's an emotional decision. You're, you know, you're thinking, is this the right home? Is this the right place? Is it the right schools? Is the rest of my family going to be happy? Am I, you know, the other side? Am I going to impress my parents? Am I going to are they going to agree? You know, everyone wants that, that, you know, everyone to, you know, be behind them. You know, obviously you want to bring your your parents or your family over and they go, Oh, what a lovely house. This is such a great neighborhood, and how important those things are. So there's a lot of emotion involved. And, you know, I tell my clients, I mean, they I prefer later in the evening, you know, text me unless there's something like, oh my god, if it's I will, if there's a text, I will respond to it. I generally clear my emails and text before I go to bed. Anyway. So tomorrow I wake up in the morning, and hopefully there's only two or three. Somebody strange I got I got an email 240 in the morning, a closing disclosure last night, so last day of the month, so to answer the phone and how we impress clients, buyers, borrowers, is just picking up the phone and or and that includes, you know, text message or simply responding to their email to let let them know, Hey, you heard them. Maybe you have the answer, and it's just a real quick, oh, that's no problem. That'll be Tuesday or whatever, and now they can go to sleep, because it is a huge decision. We do it every day. You're doing every transaction. And I mean, when you get old, like me, you've done them enough times, and sometimes you get a little hard. From that standpoint, you got to remember they're only doing this a handful of times. If they do it once or twice in their entire life, and it's a big, emotional decision, especially if you got a newly married couple that's never done it before together, right? So they're both got they don't know how the other one's going to react. What's the other one's concerns and that sort of thing, because they just haven't been together long enough and bought that other homes together, right? So these are big decisions, but just simply pick up the phone or respond to their text message, even if it is 930 at night. Don't get this. I'm off of work stuff. We have paid good money now. Granted, there are times, there are times I've picked up the phone and say, Hey, I I'm not in my office right now. I'm at my son's basketball game. But let me when this is over, I should be home within about an hour or so. I'll log in and I'll get I'll get the answer for you and get it back. Just give them a peace of mind, and it just does wonders.

Jennifer Marcum  48:26  
Pick up the phone, absolutely, absolutely. If you're not picking up the phone, someone else is, yeah, that's

Tracy Hayes  48:31  
exactly what will happen. They don't they, because they don't have today's world. They don't have any patience. No, there's no, there's no call back. What are you doing? You see two years so you didn't experience, obviously, the 2008 I see you were probably, what, 13 years old, something like that. 1213, years old, 2008 Yeah, yeah. So you haven't really felt a like a true recession, or where people are falling out of the real estate industry. But obviously covid hit last year, and now we're in this super, hyper intensive market this last, say, 90 120 days roughly, of going, what are you doing differently today than, say, last year at this time, business standpoint,

Jennifer Marcum  49:15  
from business standpoint, I would say, I mean, I was following up. That's not even the real important, that I've been structuring my offers very creatively. You know, you right now people are selling their firstborn children to buy a house. So, you know, it's very important to have the knowledge of what's an escalatory it's insane to me that people don't know what an escalatory clause is, or they don't know that we should send money aside for the appraisal gap or, you know, buy or pay the sellers closing. Like, there's so many ways you can write a creative offer, and, you know, you just have to align yourself with the agent that has that knowledge. So I think that is what I'm doing differently. I'm making sure, like, if I like, I send it to. Josh and Caitlin, or even Howard. Like, how can I win this house for them? How creative can we be on this contract? So powerful? Yes, powerful. Just, just having a creative contract, and really just managing the, you know, the emotion, and also kind of setting the expectation, like, from the get go, like, listen, you're not going to get this house by asking for closing costs and 20,000 off the list price. This isn't last year or the year before, you know, this isn't when your mom or your dad bought a house. This is completely different. This is a different market. And I, you know, most of my career, not most of it, but the last six months of my career, you know, it's been, not even, I guess, the whole two years it's been ramping up to this, right? So, like, I did have experience where it was a little bit slower, where the houses were sitting for a couple months, and you were able to get closing and you were able to get off list price, but you know, it kind of slowly grad, you know, went up to where now, if you want this house, how serious are you? These are the expectations if you can't do that right now, not to discourage you, but we may have to either find a house that's been on the market a little bit longer, or maybe, you know, I don't want to

Tracy Hayes  51:14  
say there's, you know, listening to you there. You're spot on, because talking to other agents, and obviously you are getting great coaching that you look up to and accept the coaching, but you're right the escalatory clause that you know on the pricing listing agents don't some listing agents don't even know what that is or how to handle it. And in to have your 24 months roughly, into your career, and you're getting it because you've teamed up with other, with people who are, if we want to say they're more experienced, smarter than you in the business right now, because they've got 20 years, and you got two years, and it today, right now is a test For every agent. The answer to create. You know, creating, being creative on your offer, is 100 the answer 110% because that's exactly what you have to do, and then bracing your clients for you're gonna have to go over the appraisal may not come in. You know, I've got agents are negotiating like furniture pieces. For crying out loud, I had one telling me that the offer went in and the guy offered to pay for the mover, for the move, the sellers out. I mean, yeah, that one down. Yeah, that's the creative two men in a truck that's I'm gonna drop for my mover, mover. So I've got these Two Minute Warning questions. I officiate football, so I call them two minute warning. Here just some, just some off the wall questions. Do you feel it's more important who you know or what you know? I think I know the answer to this one from you.

Jennifer Marcum  52:51  
I think it is who you know, but it also a little bit in what you know, right? Who you know can give you that confidence, and then you'll know,

Tracy Hayes  52:59  
yeah. Well, yeah. I mean, well, in this case, you're, it's who you knew. You knew they had knowledge, and you've teamed up with them. They're in your circle, right? Let's say the five people around you should, you know, make you up and you shouldn't be, you know, if you're, you know, if you're talking about dollars, if you're the richest guy of the five, you're in the room. You need to find another group, right? Yeah. And in your case, the real estate knowledge, because you're new, and that's life, and you've teamed up yourself with people who got a lot of experience, very reputable in their industry, and are squeezing that knowledge at them. That's awesome. Do you like listing or buying side? What you prefer if you if nothing else you could do for the rest of your career, what would you list or buy?

Jennifer Marcum  53:38  
That one is hard. I know a lot of people say listing and listing is they're two different animals. I think I like listing because you are kind of more in the driver's seat. You're the you're not necessarily calling the shots, but you you know, you do all the work, you put on MLS, and then the other agent, you know, presents, gives us an offer, we accept all that, and then it's just kind of just going through. I think there's not as much legwork in listing. Well, that's not even true, because there's still a lot of legwork in that. But buying, I don't know. I like being a buyer's agent, just because you you meet so many people, you connect with them. They become your friends, your family. So I just, I love that connection, not that you can't have that with a listing, but you spend a lot of time with the buyers. And you sorry, phone never stops. You know, I feel like there's more time to have the relationship with the buyer because you're spending more time with them. But if you're trying to accelerate your career, you know you you spend more time

Tracy Hayes  54:45  
than I have a number of listings, yeah, traps out there that buyers come in and hopefully they're not represented. You're going out with your fiance, jumbo shrimp or the Jaguars.

Jennifer Marcum  54:59  
We are season ticket holders to the Jaguars. Oh, awesome. So we're going to the Jags. What's on

Tracy Hayes  55:08  
your travel bucket list,

Jennifer Marcum  55:09  
somewhere tropical and warm that's not in this country? Well,

Tracy Hayes  55:14  
I am putting out there. I am taking a cruise at Thanksgiving. It's eight days, leaves Miami, comes back to Port Canaveral. It's going all the way down to bone there, which is a great diving spot, bone air, and if I pronounce it right, carousel are sister islands of Aruba. So that that's actually my travel, immediate travel bucket list, and I'm actually looking forward. Thanks. We're doing a week of Thanksgiving. I'm not cooking the turkey. Those guys on the ship will cook the turkey. I ain't getting involved in that. We're shutting our phones off. That

Jennifer Marcum  55:40  
is exciting for sure. Yeah, my fiance, he's like, we're gonna go to Bora Bora on our honeymoon. I'm like, Okay,

Tracy Hayes  55:47  
well, I went to Tahiti for my honeymoon. We did not go out to Bora Bora. We regret that, so we have to go back. But the one thing I did do, and it's one thing we're gonna do in Bonaire and the cruise, is I went and got we got dive certified. They, you know, the you guys will check out the very fancy resort hotels out there, and they generally have a dive boat. You know, it's, it's total, or they call it,

Unknown Speaker  56:14  
is it chartered?

Tracy Hayes  56:15  
No, no resort diving. Resort diving like sandals you got the guys, they're gonna help you put it on, but you're not diving in. I mean, we, we did do one in sandals, where we did a full open water and got certified. We did a bunch of dyes, so 100 feet, but most of the dyes are behind coral reefs, 2030, feet, Max, very simple dyes, but the water out there is so crystal clear. So I highly recommend it just, even if you just, you know, when you just you know, when you just take trips, it's not like you need to go buy equipment or anything, because they got it all there, right, that type of thing. But, yeah, definitely, definitely been there. If you had a dream career, you're young. So, I mean, if there's anything else you could do in this world, what would it be?

Jennifer Marcum  56:57  
I have no idea anything I could be. Anything. I mean, I mean, I didn't even know I was going to be a real estate just kind of go with the flow here. I mean, I don't know, maybe a celebrity, no, that's not fulfilling. I need something that's going to fulfill me, and knowing that I'm helping other people out. So I have no idea. I haven't really thought of that. It's all or nothing here. As

Tracy Hayes  57:20  
a young person, you have a lot because, I mean, you, obviously, you do a lot on social media, and I see a lot of your, your life going on. You got the kids, and now, of course, recently got engaged, and you are, you're busy. You're a busy lady, yeah, how you have time to even envision some of the things you are able to envision late at night, while you're asleep, maybe if you get a few hours there. But all right, I know Daniel's put on the screen for the Facebook but for the audio listeners that are going to be listening on the podcast and within the next couple of weeks or so, how can someone reach out? What's the best way to reach Jen?

Jennifer Marcum  57:55  
You can either call me at 904-314-4339, or send me an Instagram message and my handle, I don't know if it's on the screen, but it's Jen sells the 904

Tracy Hayes  58:07  
Okay, Jen sells the 904 on Instagram. This will be in the show notes on the podcast on Apple podcast or Spotify. Please take some time to rate the podcast, preferably a five star. And if you want to say something nice, really appreciate that. Just like any of the social media where they want those hits, they want to know who you like to listen to, and I like to know, you know, give some feedback. You know, should I spend two hours with Jen today and asked her more questions? I don't know, whatever it may be, but I appreciate the feedback and some of the feedback we've had on the episodes. Jen, I appreciate you coming by today. Thank you for having