JQ_Episode001_Monica Vakili

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0:00:07.1 Jeff: Welcome to an episode of Just questions podcast, where we ask people with the experience and the know-how. We have Monica Vakili, owner of Vakili Inc, long time real estate agent. How's it going today?

0:00:27.0 Monica Vakili: I'm fine, thank you very much. Thank you, Jeff, for inviting me to your podcast, and I will be glad to talk to you, and Kamelia Sacks is here too, and we will talk about real estate and the settlement. Okay, let's go see, what is your questions?

0:00:52.6 Jeff: How long have you been in the industry?

0:00:54.8 Jeff: I have been a long time, I don't want to say the time of it, but a long time, imagine from 1982.

0:01:03.9 Jeff: Did you work in another industry before this?

0:01:06.2 MV: Yeah, before I come I was in the Persia, Iran, I was working in the Iranian oil company, I was the head of the information and the...

0:01:20.0 Kamelia Sacks: Statistics.

0:01:20.1 MV: Statistics and information. And then I came here and because my education was in the economy in the Georgetown. I started the real estate because I liked the real estate, I always like to have buy and sell the houses.

0:01:36.6 Jeff: I see, you bought a house and you fell in love with it.

0:01:39.1 MV: Yes, I love that. Here in Iran, I used to buy and sell houses and invest in anything but in United States, when I came and I started my first... I went to a friend of mine that she was a realtor, and I said, "I want to buy my first house." And she told me that... She started showing me around. And then I said, "Oh! I can... I love that." And she said "Why you don't be a realtor?" I said, What should I do? She said, "Come and have the license, you must pass the test". And of course, it's very difficult. But I passed it and I got my license. And the first day I got my license, I bought my first condo.

0:02:26.0 Jeff: You took a test. What other kinds of tests do you have to take?

0:02:29.4 MV: Okay, and this is a very difficult test that you must have for all the legal...

0:02:38.3 CS: State.

0:02:38.7 MV: State.

0:02:39.6 CS: And federal.

0:02:40.0 Jeff: And federal. And all the...

0:02:44.8 CS: Rules and regulation.

0:02:45.4 MV: Rules and regulation, lots of the rules and regulation and ethics, most of all is ethic. Ethic! Ethic! That is the all the realtor must be very careful about the ethic, that is the most important thing, because if you are not honest with your clients, you will get penalty and you lose your license.

0:03:06.7 Jeff: What other legal aspects do you have to do to accomplish, to become a real estate agent?

0:03:12.5 MV: Yes, when I got my license, I need to go and put my license with a broker, and the first broker that I was with them, was called a banker. And after that, I went to another one. And right now, I am with a K&M Commercial, Commercial LLC. I am realtor-ed that I am doing the residential and commercial and the land. I am a specialist in the residential and the land especially, and the builders specialist, because I went to the courses that it is, I can start with the working with the builders that I know how to change the zoning and change the land from the agriculture to the residential or commercial.

0:04:11.1 Jeff: As a business owner, how do you advertise your business?

0:04:14.0 MV: As a realtor, I have been in this business a long time, and I used to sell or do the settlement every year, between 30 to 35 settlement. And I have a lot of the clients that they are the best friends with me, and usually, they are the one that they send me referrals and usually now, I have the first generation, second generation and I'm working with their family. And for advertising, I go with the word of the mouth, after clients that I had and the friends and advertising, of course in the MLS and newspapers, magazine, flyers, Facebook nowadays, many social media.

0:05:10.1 Jeff: You said MLS, what is that?

0:05:12.2 MV: MLS, when you are a realtor. When we want to become a realtor, we pay our dues, and part of that dues that we pay, we get a special website that is called the MLS that we put all the information. If I have at listing that I want to sell a house. I put all the information about the house, all the detail of it on the MLS, so other agents they can see the information and they know I put the house for the sale and they can look at that. And they bring the buyer, or if I have a buyer, I go to the MLS and see what is the houses is available for sale. I show them, we have a lock box that we pay for that. We go and open the lock box and show the place, we call the agent and they say... We say that we are going to show your listing, and we are very careful about how we go there, how we show that because we are realtors and we must go with all their laws and the regulation. It is not like, if we do one thing wrong, we get a big penalty.

0:06:30.8 Jeff: I've heard of a broker party, what is that?

0:06:33.4 MV: Okay, when I have at listing usually, I invite all the realtors, usually Tuesday, every Tuesday, we get together in the main office and we see what is on the market nowadays, and then I have a good listing when a listing is prepared, ready... I invite other realtors to come and see the house, and if they have a buyers, they will bring the buyers to the house. Usually, this is the best way we see each other, we talk with the other realtors and help each other to do the business.

0:07:13.6 Jeff: Being a realtor isn't a solo business, what other industries do you have to work with to sell the home?

0:07:18.6 MV: Oh, okay. We usually, every realtor has a group that they work with them all the time. I have a an accountant, I have a lawyer, I have a handyman person, I have insurance guy, I have the survey guy, I have the termite guy. I have a lot of these people that I need, or then the loan officer, I have the settlement officer, and these are all we need to be a team. It is for the house sales, we need to do all of this or to buy the house. It is like a 22 company works. A house goes to the settlement, settlement means to go the day that the buyers buy and seller sells.

0:08:08.8 Jeff: What are the three main responsibilities as a business owner?

0:08:12.1 MV: In my longest experience that I have, a reputation is very important. I have been a long time in the real estate, and I have a very good reputation because I see that my clients that they come to, even second generation is coming to me, because a good reputation, being honest, being true and tell them exactly if the house is good, if it's your experience, think that it is your house that you are buying or it is your house that you are selling. Be honest with people and have patience with them because first-time buyer is really scared to buy the house, and help them to be homeowner. It's wonderful feeling that you... First time when you buy your house, you put your foot down and the figure down, and you say, "Oh my God, this is my own house." My grandson just recently bought first-time house, and he's so happy. I can't believe him, and he's young, but he was able to buy his house.

0:09:24.2 Jeff: Did you have any client that you had to turn down?

0:09:27.2 MV: Yes, in all my... This many years that I've been in the real estate, I had one client that I didn't like to work with him. He was nagging all the time. I tried my best to help him to buy his first... And I did everything I was able to do, but he was miser, he want to bargaining with me all the time. And some of them, it is legal fees that I have no control on bargaining. I tried to do my best, get the discount as much as I have, but he was still wanted to bargain, so I said, "I cannot do work with you." And I left him and after many years he come back again, and said, "I want to work with you. You're honest person, and I love to work with you."

0:10:17.7 Jeff: Did you have any interesting experiences showing homes?

0:10:20.9 MV: Oh yes, I have very, very, very interesting experience that I have. I remember one time I was with the buyer, I went to show the houses to him, and one of the houses that I stopped and I told the buyer, I opened the house with my lockbox and went inside, turned the lights on, let the buyer look around. I went upstairs to turn the lights on. I went to the first room, I saw this baby's room, and there was a cage and there was a big boa snake, there laying down, and I looked at that, and I looked at the baby's bed, the baby wasn't home. The parents they... Nobody was in the home because they knew that I'm coming, usually they leave the house. And I looked at the boa, it scared me to death. I closed the door and come down, and I said to the buyer, "Let's go, this is not the house for you." So I called the agent and I said, "Why didn't write it in the listing that there is a boa in the baby's room. It's huge." And he said, "No, this is a pet." I said, "What kind of pet it is? If this boa open his mouth, he can put... Swallow the baby." So from that time, I am very careful to show only the houses that there is no pet, especially the dog. The dog is the one that attack to the people if the owner is not in the house.

0:11:57.9 Jeff: Do you have any other interesting stories?

0:12:00.0 MV: Oh in my... There are so many interesting story that I will tell you next time.

0:12:05.0 Jeff: Okay, you've been in the business for a while. What unbelievable changes have you seen in the industry?

0:12:10.4 MV: Industry is changed a lot. And I remember when we started, I started in '82 the real estate. The contract was only four pages and we was working for the seller. Now, the contract, it is between 22 pages to 30 pages. It's a lot of paperwork, and there is a lot of the laws and regulation is changed, and I hope they reduce a little bit less, but there is a lot of suing that is every time they sue somebody, they put a new law and regulation.

0:12:54.2 Jeff: Do you have a business plan and do you follow it?

0:12:56.5 MV: Yeah, I have a business plan. Very important it is for me... It is when the year comes, New Year comes, I usually put a plan for every day, every week, every month, every year. I must plan what I'm going to do because in the January, February slow time for the real estate, but the March, April, May, June, July is very, very hot market. And then usually in the August it's slow, September start again, September, October, November, it's hot market, and then December, it's slow down again. So that is my long experience that I have, I know when to go to vacation, when you rest and when to be very active.

0:13:53.5 Jeff: This last year we had a pandemic called COVID-19. Has it made you rethink how you show homes?

0:14:00.8 MV: This COVID-19 helped a lot. The market was fantastic. Real estate was unbelievable, 10% to 20% increase in the house, there is not enough houses in on the market, and it was hot market. Now, when you write the contract there is 10, 12 other contract comes and it doesn't matter how much it appraise. A lot of the cash buyers, and it was hot market. A lot of the refinancing that we help the old clients to help them to do the refinancing, or they buy the... Mostly that refinancing and buying a new houses.

0:14:47.7 Jeff: What made you successful in this business?

0:14:49.9 MV: What makes me successful, it is a good reputation. Being honest, patient, and do your best. Think that it is you, that you are buying a house for yourself. Every time I go with the buyer or the seller, I think it is me. It's my house. What can I do the best? So they appreciate, they see that how much you are working, and if I have advice, they listen, because of my experience.

0:15:25.5 Jeff: If you had one piece of advice that you can give to a person starting out in real estate, what would that be?

0:15:31.4 MV: If I have one advice to give the other realtors it is be patient, think about your reputation and try to get more knowledgeable.

0:15:46.5 Jeff: Thank you very much.

0:15:47.8 MV: Thank you.

0:15:49.8 Jeff: This has been a Vorlago Audio production, produced by Kamelia Sacks and Jeffrey Bell. And music by Jeff Speed 68, "The Swinging Dutchman."

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