Latest / Chatting with The Experts with Paula Okonneh / Empowering Women in Real Estate

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Empowering Women in Real Estate · Chatting with The Experts with Paula Okonneh

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Hello, everyone.
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And welcome to another episode of Chatting with the Experts TV show with me, Paula
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Okonneh, where I speak with women, mainly from Africa, the Caribbean and
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the diaspora, wherever else they may be.
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And typically these women are professionals or business owners who
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have something to share with my audience, my listening audience, my viewing
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audience, and which at the end, the takeaway would be women or men, because
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we have had some men join us, would be inspired by what they heard, empowered,
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motivated, but best of all would go away different from when they joined the show.
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Today's episode is called a Chat With Your Builder, Best Friend, Joy Farley.
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And we ask that you join us as we delve into the empower, I can't speak today,
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empowering realm of women in real estate.
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And we've talked also about the transformative power of collaboration.
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We'll also explore how women are shaping the future of the end of
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industry by fostering innovation and by driving positive change.
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I'll tell you a little bit about Joy, Joy Farley.
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She's a real estate broker in Charlotte, North Carolina, and she specializes
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in new home constructions and sales.
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She's passionate for building both communities and people,
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and is affectionately known as the Friend Collector.
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But you know, I can only tell you so much about her.
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Why don't I do this?
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Why don't I welcome her to Chatting with the Experts so she can talk to you?
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More about what she does and why she's here on the show.
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So welcome Joy to chatting with the experts.
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Thank you Paula.
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I'm so excited to be here.
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Absolutely.
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I'm sure you heard some of what I said about you, but of course, I'll
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pay you later for the kind words.
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Kind but true words.
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I only hope.
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What did I leave out?
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Because you, I mean I've known you for so many years.
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And I've watched you grow and I've watched you become this
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beautiful, Christ filled young lady.
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And there's so much more to you than what I said.
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So continue the description, continue talking about you.
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I love it.
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Well, first of all, it's amazing how you can take relationships that you
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built or fostered years and years ago.
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I think when we were chatting before we started recording was,
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Oh my gosh, are you like 23 now?
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I'm like, Oh my gosh, I'll be 35 in October.
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So it's amazing how time really does fly by when you're loving
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what you do and who you do it for.
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And a little backstory, I guess, a little about me originally
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from Charlotte, North Carolina.
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So East coast USA.
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I have 6 siblings, which is insane.
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So 1 of 7, never a dull moment at our house.
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We're all involved in so many different things.
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My parents always said as long as legal will support you 150
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percent and they sure have.
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I have been in real estate here in Charlotte for almost 13 years right after
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college is what I kind of jumped into.
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And it's really amazing how the right things always find you.
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I majored in psychology at the University of North Carolina,
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Wilmington, you know, always thought that I was going to be Dr Farley 1 day.
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That was my passion, clinical psychology.
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And I got to my senior year, and I was like, this is
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really not what I want to do.
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I was crunching statistical analysis in the lab one day.
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It was a research assistant for 1 of my professors.
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And I was like, you know, like, I think I'm too fun for this.
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That was my original thought.
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Like, here I am crunching statistics in a lab coat.
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And I've always just loved people, you know, like, I always was that friend
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that he wanted to come to and tell all of their life stories and looking for
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advice and all those different things.
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And I was having like, this crisis of like, oh, my gosh, like, I thought that
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I was going to graduate, you know, get my PhD grad school, 10 more years of school.
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And I'm finding myself like having questions of like, I don't know if this
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is really what I want to do long term.
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Well, I went in a different direction, thought the job that I had lined
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up, you know, three weeks before I graduated was going to be like, you
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know, a hit and it falls through.
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Literally three weeks before I graduated from college, given
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I put myself through school.
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I just paid my student loans off recently, so I'm feeling free as a bird.
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Yay.
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And I knew in my heart of hearts that like something was going to
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work out for me and that it wasn't my job to like, push the door in.
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Well, I get a text message from a great family friend of ours.
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His name is Dan Horner.
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He was 1 of the owners of 1 of the biggest builders here in Charlotte
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called Through Homes and he texted me seemingly out of the blue.
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Right?
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I don't believe in accidents.
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I don't believe in just serendipity or coincidence, but
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I didn't even have Dan's number.
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So I get this text message on my phone that didn't even have, like, the Internet.
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You know, this is long before IPhones and online.
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Wow.
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And he said, hey, Joy, I picked your graduation party invitation off
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the kitchen counter and it dawned on me that our company is hiring.
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And I think there's a sales position.
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I think you'd be a great fit for my call me.
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And I kind of sat back and I was like, that my parents have never owned a home.
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I knew nothing about real estate.
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I knew nothing about construction.
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I knew nothing about sales.
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I'd never sold like a big pin to anybody, you know, so.
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And here you have the owner of this company reaching out to me saying,
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Hey I've been watching you for years and you put your personality with any
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product or service and it's just going to turn into something like magical.
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And it also reminds me sometimes, like, when people see things
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in you that you don't see in yourself to trust it the 1st time.
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And so I picked up the phone and I was like, Hey Dan, like,
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what's, you know, catch me up.
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All the things that I know that I'm totally unqualified for.
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That don't fit any of the descriptions of probably what you're looking for.
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And he's like, no, no, no, you have whatever that thing is called,
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it, that you cannot teach anybody.
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And You have it so I was naive graduating from college thinking
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that, hey, I graduated with honors and thought I'm so smart.
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And told him that I really didn't want just to be handed a job.
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And I wanted to go through the whole interview process, just like
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everybody else and looking back.
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I'm like, I wish I could have been like, well, who do I know?
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Not what do I know?
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The thing is, you learn over time, right?
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It's like, who do I know that I could.
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And I look back at that moment in my life and said, Hey, like, I'm
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so grateful, you know, in some senses that I stuck to my guns.
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I'd never been handed anything.
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I wanted to earn it and I wanted to be a great member of the team, but I
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also didn't want it to be just handed a job because I knew one of the owners.
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Right.
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And I sure did.
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I was like, okay, like.
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I've been one to take leaps of faith really my whole life.
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And I think looking back, I'm like, I can't believe I ever said yes, because
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I really was the most unqualified and didn't have any experience.
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But sometimes in those moments, like, you can learn anything.
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You can be taught anything.
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If you have an open mind to learn, then really the sky is the limit.
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And so that was really the start of how I got into real estate.
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It really was just my steps being ordered.
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And I feel like that has been the same favor that has chased
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me down my entire career.
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I've worked for other builders here in Charlotte.
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I'm on a new adventure now, kind of going off on my own in a new direction with a
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partner of mine to be able to serve people at a high level, but include everybody.
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Really new homes is my passion and maybe it's like the new
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car smell, the new house smell.
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I really just love the process more than anything.
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It's like, 1 day you're standing in dirt, you know, some huge neighborhood that
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just looks like a vast wasteland of mud.
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And then every conversation one day at a time, like you're starting to like
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meet new people and those empty home sites that were just dirt in your eyes
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or someone else driving by his eyes.
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I'm like, this is going to be the most precious place on earth to anybody.
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You know, they get to come here and make memories and, you
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know, start their families here and celebrate big events here.
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And there's nothing more special than home.
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And so being able to have done that over these years, I could drive through
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neighborhoods in Charlotte, and I'm like, oh, my gosh, there's a 1000.
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There's a 1000.
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Oh, my gosh, you're going to college.
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Like, how did that happen?
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So fast?
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And it really is just loving people, knowing your stuff and
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serving people at a high level.
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And that's really all real estate is.
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It's connecting great people with great things that they have told you that they
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and it has been a wild ride and there's so much goodness, I think, waiting for us up
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ahead to, so don't look for the big thing.
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I think the biggest thing for me has, it's not about the grand gestures and, oh, my
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gosh, I worked so hard to land an amazing career because I've had an amazing career.
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But it was a text message that changed the complete trajectory of my life.
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So for those that are like, Hey, you never know what might pop up.
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And sometimes it's not our job to kick the door in.
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It's for the right things to find you.
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But to show up as like your full self and to be who you are, that
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people take note of those things.
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And then you're like, Oh, maybe there's an opportunity or something that they see in
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you that maybe you didn't see in yourself.
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And it might just be the very thing that you need to really change your life.
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I love it, Joy.
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I love that because you are showing, you said something that's really significant.
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You said it showed me that text message and where you are today showed you that
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your steps are ordered by the Lord, because I know you're a Christian.
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So that's why I'm saying that your steps are indeed ordered by Him.
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And so now you, I mean, your plan was, as you said, to be Dr.
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Joy Farley,
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Dr.
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Farley,
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Dr.
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Farley.
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And here you are now, you're a very successful real estate broker in
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Charlotte, North Carolina, which is one of the fastest growing cities in the US.
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So, and I have watched you grow.
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But tell me, I mean, you talked about being 13 years in the business.
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What have you learned from those 13 years in the business, apart from,
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as you said the joy, and I'm playing on your word, intention, your name,
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intentionality, the joy of seeing like a dirt field become homes where lives
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are changed, lives are started, and you see them, as you said, seeing some
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of these kids going off into college, and you knew when they were toddlers or
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they weren't even born yet, and their parents bought that plot of land and
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built that home that you were a part of.
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So tell me what you've learned in the past 13 years.
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It's like when you put things into perspective of how fast time goes.
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You don't even sometimes realize it until you zoom out and you say, Oh my goodness,
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I can't believe how much I have changed.
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You know, I think you run into the right people and you have a lot of great
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experiences and you have some wins, you know, but you also look at how much you
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have grown and how much you have changed.
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If you would have asked me even a year ago, if I would be doing, you know, what
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I'm doing now, I would have laughed in your face, maybe even six months ago.
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You know, so much has changed in so many amazing ways, but I feel like.
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The biggest thing for me is the personal growth, the confidence that has come
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from managing multi, multi, multi million dollars of business in a year's time.
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If you could zoom out and say, oh, my goodness whether you own a business or
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you're in a business, maybe you're selling something for someone else's business.
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And you look at those big numbers.
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And you wonder how in the world did you do that?
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And I remember when I first got in this business, people were like, how's
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the market and how are things going?
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And I always was kind of like downplaying the fact like, oh, things
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are good when I was crushing it, you know, I've always kind of felt
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like one, I'm not a small person.
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I'm six one flat footed and I always usually have heels on.
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So, I really spent most of my life just kind of like, making
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everybody feel comfortable around me, you know, oh, you're so tall.
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Do you play basketball?
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Do you do this?
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Do you do that?
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I'm like, I just want to be myself.
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You know, I want to fully show up in that way, but I remember playing the small
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game of, oh, no, things are really good.
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Like, just like, can I keep it moving?
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Kind of like brush over the fact that, no, I was, you know, doing very well.
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And I was selling a ton of homes and I was serving a lot of people.
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I think I look at sales as service and it's never been a transactional like cool.
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Well, you just close off to the next thing.
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And, you know, I feel like in my experience, it's been not just sales,
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but it's been more project management.
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It's been able to handle a whole lot of things at the same time.
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So maybe I sold a home today, or maybe I sold two homes today.
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Well, that gets added to my backlog of people that I've already sold into
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managing, you know, the process from start to finish until you get your keys.
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It's like, Hey, you walk in my door.
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It's like, hi, my name is to, you know, it could be six to eight months.
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Or I mean, during the pandemic, it was even more than that
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dealing with, you know, one build.
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And then you multiply that by however many sales you might have.
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And so you're managing a lot of people.
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You're managing a lot of expectations and you're managing a lot of money.
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And when you realize that buying a home is everyone's biggest investment, I
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don't care if you're buying a house.
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That's 150, 000 dollars or 1.5 million dollars.
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It's still the most precious thing to you, because it's your
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largest purchase you'll ever make.
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And so I used to feel like 1, maybe I was too young, you know, that
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always came up because I got in this business that I think 2022 and so I
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was working with doctors and lawyers and, you know, C suite executives.
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They never asked me how old I was because they just trusted that like, I knew my
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stuff and I took care of them at a high level, you know, so maybe you're thinking,
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oh, my gosh, I'm too young or I'm too much or I'm not enough or whatever.
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But the right people always find...
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have always found me.
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The confidence that grows with experience and then being able to
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manage people's money expectations and using your expertise to do so.
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So I think my background in psychology has paid me well.
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I'll say that.
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Yes.
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Relating to people and dealing with you know, not just things that come
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up with your real estate transaction, but, you know, my clients over the
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years have really just become friends.
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People told me, "My entire career, Joy, you never were our salesperson.
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You just became our family friend".
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And that means something to me.
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We're very much so in a referral based business, where if you had a great
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experience and you're like, oh, my gosh, I would love to work with her.
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We had a great time and you know, it was never transactional.
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It's like, Hey, like, let me know when I can come to your baby shower
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or your housewarming or the cookout or whatever you got going on.
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We're just now friends.
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I just don't happen to have sold you your home.
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But it is amazing how personal growth and development really
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does change your career.
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Because not only have I been able to solve a lot of problems, you know, you
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realize that there's so many things that can and do go wrong in construction.
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That's just the name of the game.
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Whether things that are outside of control municipalities and permanent,
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you just could name a million things that could possibly go wrong and how you
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are not shaken by any of it because the confidence that you have is saying, hey,
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you might not build a home every day.
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Follow up, but what I do know is that I do, and I see this process play out time
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and time again, and it's going to be okay.
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Being able to assure and reassure people that not if things go wrong,
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but when they go wrong, that you will be the steady hand for them.
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And I used to give people an analogy, like, when we were putting their contracts
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together of, it's kind of like, going on a trip and flying in turbulence, you
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know, the pilot is not like bothered by the fact that you just hit a couple
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bumps, like this is normal part of flying.
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And so I think the reassurance that we hear when we are on flights that feel a
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little bit more shaky and unsettling is that the pilot comes over the intercom
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and it's like, hello, passengers.
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Hope you're having a lovely day.
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We're experiencing a little turbulence, so we're going to reduce our flying
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altitude to whatever, like, thanks for flying American or Delta or whoever
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your favorite airline is, right?
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And it gives you some reassurance that, like, I'm not going to die.
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This is normal part of flying and the reassurance that we're going to
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land safely at our final destination.
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And so being able to just, I've kind of grown up, like, I went from
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college straight into having like a very high pressure, high stakes,
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kind of career where a lot of my friends in their twenties pride,
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a whole bunch of things and, you know, decide they didn't like that.
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So they're going to pick up something new and decide they didn't like that.
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So they were going to go back to school or whatever.
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And I feel like I've had the same you know, trajectory of growth in the same
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industry, but the biggest thing for me is I've just loved people the entire time.
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And I think, again, when you know your stuff and you serve people
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at a high level, you'll never worry about being successful.
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And so I've kind of taken my hands off the wheel in a lot of instances recently.
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Of simply saying, you know, what, like, I'm confident in knowing
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that who I am and what I bring to the table is already enough.
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I have the credentials.
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I have the knowledge and expertise of this business that I just love serving
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people in the biggest transaction of their life and being able to
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walk with people where they are.
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And I realized time and time again, over these years that not everybody buys a
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home or sells a home for happy reasons.
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You know, I think we assume, Oh, I'm moving.
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Yay.
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I've had clients over the years who have lost spouses unexpectedly or
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are downsizing because they're now empty nesters and just like really
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touchy moments where you're like, maybe moving isn't always a happy
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joyous occasion for everybody.
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But to be able to walk through those moments in those seasons like hand
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in hand with people who realize that or who have told me oh my
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gosh Do I cannot believe that one?
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This is my life.
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I never expected for you know, my husband to pass unexpectedly and here I am having
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to sell and buy a new home by myself or the happy moments too of, Oh my gosh,
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like we're expecting, don't tell anybody.
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Like we haven't even told our parents, like you're telling
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me first, like what the heck?
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So it's been just kind of this ebb and flow of being able to just like walk
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it out with people as I've grown in you know, being able to handle conflict and,
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you know, controversy and you know, the highs and the lows of just this human
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existence that we find ourselves in.
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And so sometimes I'm, yeah, I can help you buy a house, but at the same time,
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it's like, I can also be your confidant and I can also be a friend and before,
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you know, it I don't really say strangers.
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Stay a stranger for and with many people.
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That's why everyone calls me the friend collector.
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I think I get it from my mom.
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And that's, you could probably attest to that 'cause you know, my mom.
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Yes, I do.
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You don't really say stranger.
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Very, I'm pretty sure my mom has sounded like her best friends in
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life, like standing in the line at the grocery store, like, you know,
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in the bathroom or wherever, you know, you might find for Linda.
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But it's being able to just stay curious and ask questions and get
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to know people on a genuine level.
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And, oh, by the way, like, you know, let's buy a house and have a time of fun.
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But talking about that, you know, buying a house, ask questions, and so on.
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A quick question I know everyone is probably wondering,
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so what's the trend now?
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Because, you know, we keep hearing about high interest rates, you know, to buy a
20:48
home, it's hard for first time buyers.
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Yeah, let's talk about that.
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Because the crazy thing sometimes is we have seen, at least in Charlotte, because
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like you said earlier, Charlotte is the fastest growing market in the country.
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There was a huge study.
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I think last year that Zillow did on, you know, the most desirable
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places to live in the country and Charlotte was like, number one.
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I think COVID changed the landscape of why and where people move based on not being
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tied to a specific location or a desk with remote work which has been awesome.
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You know, if you could keep your California or New York, Maryland kind of
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salary and move to Charlotte and have a whole lot more life and flexibility, you
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know, in terms of your cost of living.
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But I feel like 1, of course, we are in an election year.
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So a lot of things feel very like, we'll see what happens after November.
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But we've seen interest rates consistently drop.
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And I think some people have been on the fence of saying, okay, we're going to
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wait for interest rates to drop and then we're going to, you know, make a move.
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But the thing that most people don't realize is that your
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rate is variable, right?
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You could be in a rate now and then interest rates drop
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and you can always reside.
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You never get to pick your sales price.
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And I think most people don't realize that.
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Okay, cool.
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I can have a sales price here and an interest rate here.
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And okay, well, interest rates dropped, and that's going
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to drop my monthly payment.
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But if I stay in this house, or if I wait to buy for 6 more months or
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another year, the price has gone up regardless of what the interest rate was.
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So, I've seen time and time again, I mean, this time last year.
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Some of my investor clients, their interest rates were like pushing 9%.
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And people were freaking out because when I first got in this
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business, you know, interest rates were like 3 percent or below.
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And that's what people just got used to.
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And that's what everybody was buying around.
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And then, you know, we saw during COVID how it started to kind of creep up
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and then, oh my gosh, for first time home buyers who have been purchasing
23:05
homes over the past year or two to see.
23:07
Interest rates in the fives and the sixes in the sevens for a
23:11
primary home has been mind blowing.
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But then you talk to people who bought a home in the eighties or nineties
23:17
and you're like, Oh, like, y'all are crying about, you know, five, 6
23:20
percent interest rates when I bought my first home, you know, interest
23:23
rates were like 17 percent or whatever.
23:26
But I can't stress enough that.
23:28
There are so many programs, there's money out there for 1st time home buyers,
23:33
whether it's down payment assistance, you can get a gift, you can get gift funds.
23:37
There's so many ways that you can put things together to make magic happen.
23:42
And sometimes it's having someone who's like, hey, maybe I did things differently
23:48
in this transaction that I did with this transaction or, hey, in the past, I've
23:51
used this resource or that resource, or maybe you're working with a lender
23:55
who has different programs or access to money that you can really utilize, or
24:00
maybe you're selling a home and you've got more money to put down on something
24:05
that completely changes the game.
24:07
So I'm seeing that interest rates are coming down, which is giving buyers in the
24:11
market, more confidence to move forward.
24:14
Whereas real estate is a game of risk.
24:17
We all know that, you know, just like the stock market, you could be like, cool.
24:20
I bought stock in Apple or whatever Tesla stock or fill in the blank
24:26
and made a ton of money because they were willing to like take the risk.
24:29
And they also got the biggest rewards.
24:31
Real estate, there's nothing different to be like, Hey, like, I got in a great
24:35
neighborhood on the beginning and the equity that I was able to build by
24:39
doing nothing other than like, riding the wave of the market, or maybe bought
24:43
a new community where the builder is raising the price incrementally and
24:48
you're like, okay, well, now my house is worth more than what I paid for it.
24:51
And I didn't have to do anything other than hey, my monthly
24:53
mortgage, get the equity.
24:56
So there's a lot of ways you can play that, but I think right now the trend
25:02
is, I think more and more people are jumping into the market because
25:06
they know that if they wait, it will cost them more later to wait and
25:11
if interest rates are coming down.
25:13
And people are feeling more confident about, you know, where the world is going
25:18
and there's new neighborhoods popping up around Charlotte every single day.
25:22
So, maybe you're looking, you're targeting a specific location, or, you
25:25
know, you want a specific type of home.
25:27
We saw really since the pandemic, because the cost of land and
25:31
development is so high in Charlotte that you're seeing more and more
25:36
suburban townhomes coming into play.
25:39
Where you used to see, you know, single family homes everywhere.
25:43
Or that was kind of like, your only option and now you're seeing townhomes
25:48
like, what are they calling it now?
25:50
It's technically a duplex, but I think they've rebranded it and
25:53
called it something else a duet.
25:56
I think that's what they're calling it a duet.
25:58
You know, it's like a luxury duplex, you know, you talk about, like,
26:03
multifamily where it's like, hey, like, you might have one side, you
26:07
know, the one home and, but they're connected kind of like, the town home.
26:12
There's only two, you see them all in South park but they're calling them duets.
26:16
And so maybe you're like, Hey, maybe I want to spend more, but I want a luxury
26:19
situation that's not a single family home.
26:22
You know?
26:22
So I think the buyer right now who are buying homes are millennials,
26:27
Gen Z, you know, everyone's kind of getting to the place.
26:29
They're like, Hey, I'm in my late twenties, thirties, whatever.
26:32
They want to buy something, but maybe they don't want the upkeep and maintenance of
26:36
a single family home, you know, they want you to upkeep salon and, you know, have
26:41
the HOA cover everything on the exterior.
26:43
So they can just come home and live life versus maintaining some big
26:47
house, they don't need, you know, space wise, but they also don't
26:50
want to be upkeep and maintenance.
26:51
So, it really just depends on what are your preferences?
26:54
How do you want your lifestyle to look?
26:56
Maybe you love doing lawn work and landscaping and gardening.
27:00
Maybe that's your jam, but maybe you're like, have a high pressure job
27:03
and don't have time to be spending all of your time on the weekend to,
27:07
you know, dedicating do those things.
27:10
And so it really just depends on, Hey, what speaks to you?
27:14
What are the things that you want?
27:15
What are the things you don't want?
27:16
What are your non negotiables?
27:18
And then having a professional who can say, hey, based on X, Y, Z, and
27:22
Q, and where you are financially where you want to be location wise.
27:27
And the whole financing, you know, piece of the puzzle and
27:30
bringing those things together.
27:32
Also gives people the confidence to say, hey, I've been here.
27:34
I've seen this.
27:35
And if anything that we've learned from the pandemic that there's been nothing
27:39
but interest rates and pricing going in the wrong direction at the same time.
27:44
So now that we're kind of seeing.
27:47
You know, a little bit of little cool off when it comes to the interest rate,
27:51
then I think he's like, okay, well, if the interest rate comes down, my
27:54
buying power goes up and I'm able to buy more home, you know, for grace.
28:02
So that brings it to a question, because can you believe it?
28:05
We've been talking for over almost 30 minutes.
28:08
Stop it.
28:09
When we're having fun.
28:10
So, if there were like two resources that you could share with my listeners,
28:14
let's say you're a first time buyer or you're a first time seller, just give
28:21
us a resource for a first time buyer that you can help because you said
28:24
there are many options that we can use.
28:26
'Cause I was one of those who was the first time by
28:29
after my husband passed away.
28:30
The first time I was like, wow, I got to buy a house by myself.
28:33
What do I do?
28:36
That's it.
28:37
Yeah.
28:37
So first time buyer and the first time seller too, because then it was also,
28:41
and I have to sell a house by myself.
28:43
Right.
28:46
Resources.
28:47
I always say like, there's a quote out.
28:49
I think it might've come from, it might be Tony Robbins, but he says our
28:53
greatest resource is resourcefulness.
28:56
And I think part of that is using who's already in your circle,
29:01
you know, to lean on the trusted people that you have in your life.
29:05
You're like, oh, my gosh, like, I had a great experience with so.
29:08
And you know, I could definitely give you a warm introduction or a handoff or
29:13
a message or a group text or something saying, hey, like, my friends looking
29:18
to buy or sell and you're my go to person because I've had experience with
29:22
you and I know what I'm going to get.
29:24
Right?
29:24
So I think some people are just trying to reinvent the wheel by like, oh,
29:27
my gosh, I don't know where to start.
29:29
It's like, well, who do you know when you're in your circle or maybe
29:32
in your neighborhood or a friend of a friend that's in this business who
29:37
you can lean on and say, Hey I've got a friend looking for X, Y, and Z.
29:40
Like, who do you know?
29:42
That's been the greatest resource for me on the other side of when my son
29:47
rings and someone's like, Hey, I got your number from, you know, so and so.
29:51
And You know, they said they had a great experience and would love
29:55
to set up an appointment where we can, you know, talk more.
29:58
I think buyers in this day and age have so many more resources
30:03
available to you by simply having things like, Oh, the internet,
30:09
you've got, you know, the realtor.
30:11
com.
30:12
You could literally Google anything.
30:14
You could put keywords into Google and say, Hey, I'm looking for a new home
30:18
in this area, maybe this zip code.
30:20
And bam, you've got like the world at your fingertips.
30:25
I think people don't realize the power of social media.
30:28
I know, like I'm a millennial and everyone's kind of like, Oh, social media.
30:31
Like people aren't, people aren't finding good resources online.
30:35
It's amazing either the things that you can learn, the things that can
30:39
inspire you, the things that can help you grow and also friends, business
30:44
connections, life hacks, you name it.
30:47
You can find on Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn.
30:50
It's just incredible.
30:52
The resources that most buyers and sellers now have in the market and simply, I think
30:58
more than anything, it is finding that person that can kind of guide you through
31:02
the process and then be like, okay, well, maybe I can do some research on my own.
31:06
And it's almost like, when I used to work with buyers who would come to my office.
31:12
I would already have assumed that they have looked at our website that
31:16
they have looked at certain floor plans that they had already done
31:20
their research, because that's just how the world's working right now.
31:23
And by the time you walk in my door, we're just confirming that, you know, what you
31:28
saw online is what feels right in person.
31:32
Just like, if you're going to go buy a car or any kind of big purchase,
31:35
okay, I'm going to go do my research.
31:36
I'm going to look at the dealership.
31:37
I'm going to, you know, see if they have the style, the color, the right leather.
31:42
Do you have the, you know, these type of wheels?
31:45
And then if I actually show up at the dealership and want to go test
31:47
drive it, then it's an easy yes.
31:50
Right?
31:50
Because I've already taken some of the ownership on me.
31:54
That here's what I want.
31:55
Here's I want to pay.
31:56
Here's kind of where I want to stay at around comfortably.
32:00
And then by the time I walk into your office, it probably
32:02
is just confirming those things.
32:05
Well, when buying a home, I don't really assume anything other than
32:09
that these days, because buyers and someone have so many resources at their
32:14
fingertips where, you know, back in the day, it was like, I had to have an
32:19
agent to kind of tell you everything because you didn't have the access.
32:24
It was like, well, if you weren't a part of the multiple listing service,
32:26
you didn't know what was on the market versus doing a little clickety
32:30
clackety on your own and feeling empowered as the buyer, you know,
32:36
specifically I will work with buyers.
32:38
That's kind of my jam, but I just assume that your buyers know what they want.
32:42
They know where they need to be affordability wise...
32:44
I would put my hand up and say that there are people who I know who are
32:49
afraid to do all these things that you're talking about because they're older,
32:54
they're afraid of technology, and the word social media is like a bad word.
32:59
Yeah.
33:01
So what would you say to people who are like that?
33:04
I feel like it's never too late to start something new.
33:07
I talk to my mom sometimes, she's like, I'm not retired, I'm re-fired.
33:12
Where...
33:13
Say that again?
33:14
She said, I'm tired.
33:15
I'm re-fired.
33:17
Oh ok.
33:17
I'm about learning something new.
33:19
Put me in situations where maybe I do something different than I used to do.
33:24
And I feel like, yes, it could be overwhelming to some, but I
33:29
feel like if you have an open mind to learn something new.
33:33
I hope to be a lifelong learner.
33:36
I hope that I never know it all or I'm the smartest person in the room.
33:40
Like there's so many ways to know and to grow in any area.
33:44
You can pick anything, but maybe you're interested in.
33:48
You know, gardening or you're interested in learning a new skill,
33:53
like the vastness of social media can teach you those things for free.
34:00
When you used to have to like go to a conference and pay a bunch of money
34:04
to learn something and you know, have to pay an expert how to, you
34:09
know, go from A to Z in something new, you can watch YouTube for free.
34:15
You can, you know, lean into any new experience at the click of a button.
34:21
And I would say if you're that person who's like, Oh my gosh,
34:24
social media is really overwhelming.
34:25
I don't, you know, where to start.
34:26
I would say, lean on your resources of who's in your circle.
34:29
And maybe it's just finding the right person who would say, Hey, Paula, don't
34:33
even worry about any of that stuff.
34:35
That if that's going to be overwhelming to you, let me handle that.
34:38
'Cause that is where I thrive, you know, so leaning on the
34:41
people that are the expert that know what they're talking about.
34:44
They know the areas they know those kinds of things to say, hey, like,
34:48
if that's not your area of expertise, then that's what I do every single day.
34:54
Lean on me or lean on someone, you know, someone that you trust, obviously
34:59
it's a big purchase and it's a big commitment, but it's like lean on your
35:03
resources to know what you're looking for, can listen intently and show you
35:09
the things that fit your criteria.
35:12
I feel like that's one of the biggest frustrations for some buyers
35:15
and sellers is that like my agent didn't like give me my whole scope
35:21
of what I could do and or didn't show me the things that I asked for.
35:26
So, if you're like, hey, I want to have a bedroom downstairs or I
35:29
want to have a patio or I want...
35:31
you know, you're not going to get obviously everything, you know, buying a
35:34
home sometimes is a series of trade offs.
35:36
Unless you're building something and then it's like, okay, you might
35:38
have a little bit more flexibility, but to have someone who can listen.
35:43
And say, okay, based on the things that you shared with me, I vote,
35:46
we look at this, this and this, and then make it a fun experience,
35:50
you know, with any big purchase.
35:53
You're like, I want to have an experience.
35:54
I don't want to buy something.
35:56
I want to like you know, really be shown things that I asked for that are going
35:59
to be something that I could purchase and then having someone who can guide you.
36:04
You know, along the way to make it a really smooth transition.
36:07
I love that.
36:08
So to summarize,
36:11
whatever you are in that journey, if you're well...
36:14
let me backtrack, if you're not comfortable with the online resources,
36:21
look into your own circle of influence, look for someone who you feel you can
36:27
rely on, and maybe they can help guide you to the person that will help you.
36:32
Because buying a home, as you said at the beginning, is a very big responsibility.
36:37
Yeah.
36:37
Big investment.
36:39
And, if nothing else, after listening to this program, falln Joy, because
36:45
as she said, she's a friend collector.
36:47
She's more than a real estate broker.
36:50
She can help walk you and through this very, very important
36:54
process and guide you, right?
36:58
Sounds like a plan to me.
37:00
Where can people find you online?
37:02
I mean, I've told them that they, after listening to this, they
37:05
could get in touch with you.
37:06
How would they get in touch with you, Joy?
37:07
I'm actually really easy to find online.
37:09
I'm sure on all of the social handles, it's Jump for Pure Joy.
37:15
On Instagram and TikTok, you can find me on LinkedIn.
37:19
So I love good professional connections and sometimes it's the professional
37:23
connections that you have to say, hey, you know, maybe you have a high power
37:29
job and you don't have the time to go be doing a whole bunch of running around
37:32
and research and, you know, whatever.
37:34
To find someone who's like, hey, who's in your city, who's in your area, who
37:39
you're like, hey, I feel like we're kind of, in similar spaces in life.
37:44
Like, let me reach out to somebody who might have the time component where
37:49
you might be busy doing other things that someone else can be doing all
37:52
of the behind the scenes research.
37:54
And so when you do have a moment in time where you're like,
37:57
cool, let's go look at it.
37:58
And all the research and behind the scenes have already been handled, which takes
38:02
off of your plate which is fantastic.
38:04
You're on my plate off my plate.
38:06
I learned that in my 1st job out of college.
38:08
We had an ethos of like, Hey, on my plate off my plate.
38:12
How can I get the things that are on my plate off my plate the fastest
38:15
and the most efficiently with the highest level of excellence.
38:19
It helps you keep your mental real clear too.
38:22
Like if it's on my plate, what do I need to do to get it off?
38:25
Love it.
38:25
And then I would say secondarily to that you also have so LinkedIn, Instagram,
38:32
those are both Oh, LinkedIn is just Joy Farley and then Instagram, TikTok our
38:39
Jump for Pure Joy and also on Facebook.
38:42
So, however, wherever, wherever you like to hang out, I probably spend the
38:46
most time on Instagram have the biggest kind of community there, but I feel like
38:52
that's just how you can make friends these days to by simply being open.
38:56
And I think, you know, you can collect friends, however you want.
38:59
I'm not the original friend collector, that's for sure.
39:02
But sometimes if you're out and about and you just connect with people
39:05
and you're like, Hey, like what's your Instagram or are you on TikTok?
39:07
Are you on, you know, Facebook, Instagram right now is kind of the place where
39:12
most people are hanging out, but depending on where you enjoy hanging
39:15
out, maybe you're more of a Facebook kind of person or LinkedIn but you
39:18
can find me on all of the different platforms and always looking to connect.
39:23
Lovely, lovely, lovely.
39:25
And for those of you, first and foremost, who didn't enjoy this?
39:29
This was so educational.
39:32
Wow.
39:33
And so, to my listeners and viewers, if you would love to watch another
39:38
program or to connect with me to be a guest on the show, please reach
39:42
out to me on either on my website, which is chattingwiththeexperts.com.
39:48
You can find me on LinkedIn.
39:50
I hang out a lot on LinkedIn.
39:52
Just look for Paula Okonneh there.
39:54
I'm also on Instagram.
39:56
My handle there is at chat_experts_podcast.
40:01
I also have a personal Instagram, which is just at Paula Okonneh,
40:06
or you can reach me on Facebook.
40:08
Again, Paula Okonneh there.
40:11
Joy, thank you so much for everything.
40:16
I have taken some notes.
40:17
I'm not planning on buying a new house now, but I know lots of our audience,
40:22
lots of our guests, lots of our viewers would have learned so much that
40:27
they're going to be hitting you up.
40:28
So, Facebook, LinkedIn, and I think, oh
40:32
TikTok, Instagram, it's just Jump For Pure Joy, or you can just type in Joy
40:37
Farley and it'll pop up one of the way, one of one way or the other, easy to find.
40:43
I love it.
40:43
Thank you again for being a guest on Chatting With The Experts.
40:47
Thanks for having me on.
40:48
Thank you.