Melissa Tolson has been an agent with Exit Real Estate Gallery since July 2010. She was with Keller Williams for two years before that. She’s married to a Navy pilot.
Into the business
Her interest was first peaked through a friend who was a real estate appraiser due to the flexibility of the job, but appraising wasn’t for her. She decided to get into real estate investment, and eventually became an agent.
Previous experience
“I’ve been in customer service, banking and insurance. I think it was all there to help me to build my real estate business. I speak the language of banks and insurance and a lot of time, especially in Florida, those can be huge hurdles to getting a property to closing. It also gives my buyers and sellers confidence because I can get on the phone with their insurance company and I know exactly what they are talking about. I know how to work the system with the banks. Having someone from the inside on their side every time helps them a lot. I’m not afraid to ask hard questions to help the customers.”
Specialty
Tolson mainly works with buyers. “First-time home buyers are my favorites.” She has also teamed up with Andrew Fletcher from Exit Real Estate Gallery on a new training, coaching and recruiting project. “I always end up in a training position because that is what I like to do. We coordinate events for Exit and put on training programs.”
Her home turf
“We are back up to 11 months of inventory. It happens every year at the end of the summer. It’s just part of the cycle of real estate. It’s going to especially hard because of the first-time homebuyers tax credit expiring. You may show buyers the perfect house two houses in, but because there is so much on the market, they want to see all the other homes, too. A lot of times you will write two or three offers with one buyer before they get a realistic price. Homes in this market are still selling for 95 or 97 percent of list price. So, you can’t steal a house. The price you are buying it at is the steal. It’s a new process of showing them that they can’t offer 25 percent off the list price and expect to get accepted.”
What she likes
“I like that every transaction is different and the people, whether it’s the other agents, clients or site agents. I love meeting all the different people and pulling those pieces together.”
Belonging
Northeast Florida Association of Realtors and its Southwest Council.
Best advice
“Follow your gut and do what you love.”
What she tells newbies
“Get yourself connected to someone who is doing what you want to do. I’m a huge believer in teams. I will never sell real estate by myself again. There is no other industry where they expect one person to do all parts of it. It makes sense to work in a team. Always challenge yourself. Being on a team and surrounded by people that are doing what you want to do and are where you want to go is the most important thing for a new agent.”
- by Michele Gillis