I never planned on becoming a real estate agent. Most kids have ideas about what they want to be when they grow up… fireman, policeman, doctor. Not me. I never felt a draw to any particular vocation as a child. As a teenager, I was always that guy who was a good listener. Someone who was there to support a friend, whether in need or striving toward a goal. I never liked being the center of attention. But I always found it fulfilling to be an empathetic friend and give people practical advice. Because of that, I thought maybe I’d become a therapist or a counselor of some sort.

But growing up in Northern Virginia, I (naturally) started working for the federal government right after I graduated from James Madison University (JMU). A few years into my analyst position in the Department of Defense, I realized that sitting behind a computer screen analyzing data all day and writing reports wasn’t as fulfilling as I had hoped. As a recent college graduate, I was making a good salary with unbeatable benefits, but I didn’t feel like I was in the right place long-term.

I believe there’s a vocational sweet spot at the intersection of what a person is good at, what the world needs, and what a person finds fulfilling. I yearned to impact people's lives in a tangible way, but I never really knew how.

In my free time a few years into my government job, I picked up a book on real estate investing. It sounded amazing!! Find motivated sellers, buy apartment complexes at a discount, renovate them, refinance them, and earn a great return. Simple… well, not quite. I soon discovered that “mom-and-pop” apartment complexes in Northern Virginia don’t really exist, so that real estate strategy wouldn’t work for me.

So I did what every reasonable person would do, I started Googling. I stumbled across real estate wholesaling content online and proceeded down the rabbit hole. The business model is to essentially find sellers who need to sell quickly and are willing to sell at a discount and then sell the contract to another buyer and earn a margin.

I made the decision that this was going to be my winning strategy. I found a real estate coach and hired him to teach and train me on how to succeed with the wholesaling strategy. After printing letters, hand-addressing, stamping, and licking thousands of envelopes, I ended up with a few dozen seller phone calls. Ultimately, I didn’t find any sellers who I could actually help. In retrospect, I believe there was a massive misalignment between who I am as a person and that business model. Is there a place for this business model? Sure. But did it really fulfill my desire to impact people's lives in a tangible way? Survey says… No!

A few months after my first failed foray into real estate, I had a conversation with a good friend of mine from church who had successfully launched his real estate career a year prior. He encouraged me to get my real estate license. It was a different approach than I had originally thought, but I decided to pursue it.

I had no idea what was involved in being a real estate agent until I actually started. I was part-time at first, which was nearly impossible for me at the time. I couldn’t bring my phone into my office because of security reasons, so I was limited to working after business hours and making occasional phone calls during my half hour of lunch.

During the six months that I was a part-time real estate agent, I was able to help two groups of tenants rent out a property. I enjoyed the process of helping people decide where to live and through a series of providential signs and conversations decided to go all in, despite the fact that I hadn’t yet helped anyone buy or sell real estate yet. I pulled the plug on my government job and jumped into real estate full-time with ZERO “backup” plan. I had extremely high confidence that this was the right move.

Just under 9 years later, I can say with absolute certainty that becoming a real estate agent has been one of the best decisions of my life. Not only have I gotten to work with hundreds of people buying and selling real estate, but I get to see the real impact of my work on people's lives.

Someone recently mentioned that I must “like houses” because I’m a real estate agent. As I reflected on that comment, I would actually disagree. I don’t “like houses”; I like people. And as an agent, I get to help people make wise decisions about where they live and guide them through choppy waters. I get to be both a skilled negotiator/tactician and a therapist at times!

As a follower of Jesus, I get a chance to live out my faith through my work by praying for, and sometimes with, my clients. And with the skills I’ve acquired in this industry, I get to be a blessing to people who are making important decisions about their family and financial lives. I’m privileged to serve Northern Virginians through my Wise Move-Up Method for upsizing families, helping first-time homebuyers, or helping homeowners relocate.