Stunning

Tonja Masina is a real estate agent and owner of Paradise Real Estate who truly loves her job. She started in real estate 20 years ago, somewhat by accident when she and her husband decided they wanted investment properties. Tonja obtained her license to help herself, but ended up helping everyone else, and realizing that she had found the best career she could hope for.

Tonja’s goal is to educate her clients as much as possible so that they can choose what’s best for their situations. “My job is not a paycheck,” she says, “it’s helping them make whatever their best decision is.” One client, she recalls, was struggling to sell her home after her husband moved out of state. Tonja knew that they wouldn’t be able to sell without a lot of repairs, and ended up taking zero commission on the house, but it was a fulfilling experience because she was able to help the family get where they needed to be.

TJ Heidenreich is a loan officer at Cross Country Mortgage and considers himself a holistic mortgage planner. He believes that communication is key and that sharing information is as important as listening to your client when exploring their best options.

TJ was introduced to the real estate agent very young, by his cousin who was also a loan officer. After graduating high school, TJ began pre-licensing to be a loan officer, and despite only being 23 has already been in the industry for years.

TJ wishes that people weren’t so scared to start the process of homeownership. For him, he doesn’t care if clients are planning on buying tomorrow or five years from now--just start the process. A huge misconception is that when you plan to meet with a loan officer, you have to have everything ready then and there, which can be scary--but isn’t strictly true.

Neely Zimmermann is a Loan Officer with Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation. Before she was in mortgage lending, she went to trade school for auto body repair. After paying off 163,000 dollars of consumer debt, Neely found her passion in helping others navigate their finances and teaching them how to use mortgages and real estate as a tool to build wealth and achieve financial freedom.

Neely was able to pay off $163,000 in debt in only 2 years of what she describes as “extreme sacrifice.” She and her husband took some advice from professionals like Dave Ramsey, but in the end, the achievement came down to discipline and sacrifice. They sold the things they didn’t need, stayed home on weekends, and saved every bit of cash they could.

Neely describes the importance of mindset when it comes to paying off debt. Many people in her industry believe that debt is a part of life, but it is possible to be debt-free. This mentality has helped Neely not only in her personal life but in her professional one, as she’s able to share strategies with clients that she knows work.

When you go into a home, you want it to look good, smell good, and feel good.” When you walk into a house and you can tell there’s a funny smell, or something that’s out of place, it’s a turn-off. Getting buyers to come to your house, you need to remove any filters that could potentially lose a sale. “Whether it’s smells, dirty towels, leaving dirty laundry, any of these visual incongruencies will make your home unappealing, even if it’s a minor issue.

Rachel Allen didn’t have the best start in real estate and was looking around for a great agency, which she found with Realty One Group. With her new group, she can access tools which help her build her agency and gives her the ability to service her clients better. She considers herself a listing agent and enjoys selling homes for her Utah real estate clients.

Mark Allison is a Realtor with Utah Key Real Estate who started his real estate journey as a For Sale By Owner. Mark calls himself the worst spokesman for agents because he believes anyone can sell a property if they have a bit of time and energy to put into it. At the same time, for those who prefer to leave it to the professionals, Mark is enthusiastic about helping his clients find and buy real estate.

For Sale By Owner Beginnings

When buying his first property, Mark had gone the traditional route and started with a realtor. Throughout the process, however, he felt like all he was paying the realtor to do was open doors. Not finding a lot of value in the experience, Mark and his wife decided to start perusing the market on their own. After two months of looking and learning on their own, they made a great deal with a For Sale By Owner.

Cassandra Murray believes in preparing her clients for their home buying before they are looking to purchase their home, so they understand the home-buying process, especially first-time home buyers in Utah.

Why Cassandra Chose Real Estate

As a child of a single-parent household, her dad often moved from house to house with her and her brother. One day, she and her dad went to check out a local home and surprised his kids with a home of their own!

She was so excited to be at the house that she and her family slept on the living room floor the first night they stayed in their new home. This is the primary reason Cassandra decided to get into the real estate industry as an agent. “That emotion that you feel when you help people close on a home, I want to help other people feel that emotion.”

We’re talking with Adam Griffee and Ryan Briggs, Principal and Associate Broker of Time Real Estate, founded in 1998. At Time Real Estate, Adam and Ryan believe that time equals money, and as agents, they value saving their clients time.

Should Clients Worry About the Real Estate Market?

Adam and Ryan believe that the primary reason why people get nervous about the real estate market is from a lack of good information. One thing that people forget is that when you’re in the real estate market, regardless of whether it’s a buyers’ or sellers’ market, you’re often being both.

The market is going to fluctuate, they say. It always does. Listeners have likely heard the term, “When’s the best time to buy? Five years ago.” The second best time is as soon as possible. Even if potential buyers or sellers are nervous, they recommend finding the right team and getting started.

Lauren Haven started her short-term rental company, Home Havens Management, at 23-years-old. Within three years, it became the largest short-term rental company in northern Utah. Over the course of growing her business, Lauren became pregnant with both her children, now ages 1 and 2, who are just as much a part of the company as she is.

Lauren shares that her first experience with owning property was less-than-glamorous. The duplex she and her husband were planning on remodeling was dirty and lackluster, so much that they showered at the gym for two months while remodeling. At the end of the experience, Lauren and her husband agreed that their idea may not have been executed well. But, with all the equity they had from their first project, they were excited to try again.

You probably have seen Michael Boswell on your Instagram feed. His reels educate first-time buyers. Michael is a young agent with EXP Realty who loves what he does: it’s as rewarding as it is stressful. Michael was born and raised in Utah, graduated from the University of Utah, and pursued his career in real estate.

Michael uses social media, mainly Instagram, to do his own marketing. He enjoys having fun and also building trust with potential clients, especially as a young person, and social media has been a great avenue for him to educate and connect.

Spencer Barlow is a numbers guy and has quite a resume with ten years in corporate finance, six years in Commercial Real Estate, and the past two years with Residential. He is an agent at EXP and is passionate about helping his clients achieve their long-term real estate goals.

Spencer graduated with a degree in finance, and after working in consulting and the banking industry, found himself working with the Quiksilver finance team in his home of Orange County. With Quiksilver, he grew from a strategy role to working in the retail center, overseeing finance, planning, and strategy for the company’s North American retail stores.

Through this, he learned all about commercial real estate and how to analyze numbers and economics to determine what real estate properties were going to be the best investment. He made the leap to real estate when he realized how much he enjoyed helping real people meet their goals and creating a plan to reach their goals through real estate.