Sarah Wood is a fearless woman in real estate, serving clients in both Florida and Georgia. She is with us today to share her no-nonsense approach to chasing her dreams.
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Show Notes
Sarah Wood owns Crest Realty, a start-up real estate company serving southeast Georgia and Northern Florida. Though she anticipated a career in public service, she did not expect that it would involve helping her friends and clients buy and sell property and opening a real estate brokerage.
Join us as we discuss:
- Motivation in excitement
- CEOs come from all backgrounds
- Learning how to treat people from people through disappointing interactions
- Women in real estate
- Starting a company
- Responsibility of compassionate leadership
- Community service as a requirement for responsible stewardship
- Faith as a driver
- Hobbies for stress relief
- Reality television
- Are unicorns animals?
- Big reveal at the end!
For more with Sarah
Sarah and Crest Realty of Florida and Georgia are always welcoming new, highly motivated, community-minded Realtors to join them! For more information on your new career or to meet with a Realtor who will genuinely care for you, find Crest Realty on Facebook or connect with them through Instagram.
Show transcript:
Sally: Hi friends and welcome to Finding Finish Lines. I am your host Sally Bulavko. I am the owner and creator of findingfinishlines.com and this here podcast. I have a real treat for you today.
My cohost, Hayley, and I are bringing you the story of Sarah Wood, who is just an absolute force in real estate in Southeastern Georgia, kind of Northeastern Florida, above Jacksonville area.
About Sarah
She started about seven years ago as a part time sales associate and she worked her way up to become the broker, which is real estate term for the, “Boss of the office.” Just recently she decided to make the jump and she handpicked a few high performing agents and started her very own company and she called that company Crest Real Estate. She picked the name because they are considered the “New Wave in real estate” with their honest. hardworking approach and major focus on community education, engagement and improvement.
In addition to her incredible leadership bona fides, Sarah also takes excellent care of her clients and was recently nominated as a contender for Georgia Realtor of the Year. Today, she’s here to share a little bit more of her story and I’m so looking forward to hearing it and sharing it with you guys.
Let’s get started. Thank you so much for joining us today, Sarah.
Sarah: Well thank you for having me.
Sally: So right out of the gate I just have to ask, so what wakes you up in the morning? Like what motivates you to get up and do this every day?
Sarah: Well, I think in the real estate industry, you just never really know what you’re about to wake up to. So I think the fact that every day is different. It’s always fun and exciting is really the reason I wake up and do what I do.
Starting as a woman in Real Estate
Sally: So how did you get started? Like did you always know that you wanted to be in sales or did you have kind of a different plan for your life? How does it, how did it come to be?
Sarah: I definitely had a different plan. I’ve always kind of been in sales. I started off at 15 working at a like whole foods store. We sold organic vegetables and fruits and stuff before it was super cool. So as I grew up, I thought that I would go into psychology field and I decided to get a bachelor’s in psychology. I was going to work with children. I did that for a couple of years.
Sally: So how did you make the jump from working with children and working in the Red Cross to selling real estate? How does that… how did that translate?
Sarah: Well, it’s actually a funny story.
After I graduated from college and was working in what I thought was going to be what I was gonna do for the rest of my life. My husband and I heard about, um, some real estate that was super cheap in my old hometown. It was right when the real estate market crashed and we had a little bit of extra money. And so we decided to dabble in real estate.
Sally: That had to have been scary. Right? So right in the middle of a real estate crash, you decide “We’re going to make some investments.” How did you find the courage to do that?
Sarah: Well, I think I never take the easy route, that’s for sure. So if it sounds like an adventure I’m in.
So we ended up getting in touch with a real estate agent just by going online and picking somebody. And it turns out that somebody we picked was absolutely terrible. So as we went through and bought our first house, and then later we bought a second one with an equally as bad agent, I thought, “You know what? If they can do it, I definitely can do this.”
So I decided to go get my real estate license. I was a little chicken. I didn’t want to go do it by myself. So I made my sister go with me to take the class. Then it became a competition to see who can pass it and who could, who could basically sell something quicker. You know, I love a good competition. So I went ahead and did that. And then from then on, you know, I realized that that was more where my heart was. Then in the other jobs that I was doing. So that’s how I ended up here.
Sally: So I dabbled a little bit in real estate. There was a time where I thought, “Hey, I could do that!” You know, I had a similar story. I had a bad experience with a realtor and thought, “I can definitely serve people better than this.”
So I went through it and it did not take long for me to decide that it was a cutthroat industry with some big egos. And my experience was that it was pretty male dominated. And so my question for you is, how is being a woman in the industry different and do you think that serves you? Do you think it’s actually a benefit or how do you think it impacts the way that you interact with your clients?
Sarah: In our market here, it’s actually mostly women, uh, that are real estate agents.
I’m in a very military town and so a lot of Navy spouses, Marine spouses, coast guard spouses, um, have also decided to make this their career path because you basically, you know, people move constantly. And how a lot of them got into it is by either buying houses themselves or you know, having friends that are coming and going constantly.
We have a mostly female population as far as the board goes, but that doesn’t make it any less cut throat. Uh, you know, larger cities. I’ve definitely noticed have a lot more males in real estate, but it’s a competitive industry. And really in order to get out there and make it, you have to be the best. You have to know that that’s something that you want to do and you put all of your time. And energy into it.
Opening a Real Estate brokerage
Sally: Speaking of being the best, you recently made a big jump and started your very own company.
Sarah: I did.
Sally: So what did that take for you to be able to do that and also what makes your new company different from where you were before or maybe any other agency in your area?
Sarah: Well, I mean definitely the answer to what does it take is it takes guts. It’s definitely, it takes waking up one day and just saying, “That’s it. I’m doing it and not turning around and looking back, just doing it.”
I’ve always been the kind of person who, you know, I feel like just make a decision and do it and if it doesn’t work out, make another one and fix it.
I started this new business wanting to be different. The real estate market is changing. We all know it is. Most people will find the house they want to buy on the internet first. It’s really the agent’s job to to drag them over the finish line and teach them. It’s not, not necessarily handing them a real estate book and saying, here, flip through the pages. Pick what you like. It’s listening to them, sending them over listings of houses maybe that they haven’t thought about, or considered, really.
I mean the job as a realtor is you have access to the keys to let them in the house. You also have access to all the vendors, you know, inspectors and stuff like that, which really is what helps you and helps them feel more comfortable buying a house because it is one of the largest purchases they’ll ever make in their life.
Community involvement
Sally: I know that community involvement is very close to your heart. So how does that inform your business choices and how are you involved in your community now?
Sarah: It really is. It’s the center of our business.
Yes, we get out and we sell houses. That’s how we make money and that’s how we feed, you know, our families. But at the same time, I mean it’s all not worth it if you aren’t actually making a difference out there.
So we are very community focused. You’ll see us at pretty much every parade or festival that they have. Earlier this year. right after we opened, we did a big back to school bash and gave away a bunch of, you know, school supplies. That really is our focus the community… after selling houses.
Sally: And how are you personally involved?
Sarah: Well, the way that I look at it is if I’m going to do it, I’m probably going to run the thing. So that’s a very Sarah focused um, mindset. Currently I am the president of the Board of Realtors for uh, two counties here in Georgia. I am on the community service committee where last year we raised about $15,000 that we gave back to all sorts of different organizations in our area.
Compassion in leadership
Sally: So here’s a biggie. You are a woman leading a brand new office. Do you feel responsibility for the agents that have come with you and have put their trust in you and how do you handle that responsibility? Like how do you handle the weight of that?
Sarah: Absolutely. 100000% I feel completely responsible for their success. And really that’s the only option. They’re going to succeed.
My job as the broker, in addition to selling real estate here and there, is to be like the backbone for them. If they have questions. I’m always here and my phone’s always on. We do a lot of advertising. Our advertising budget is is pretty large. Some training, teaching them how to get out there in the community and talk to people and teach them that, you know, it’s just not that hard to buy a house. It’s not like it was before where you have to have 50% down and 27% interest and having great vendors and and people that you work closely with that you trust to give the people over to you so that you know that when they’re working with that person they’re getting sound solid information and training my agents, you know to go out there, you don’t necessarily have to use the same people that I use, but form a connection with those people. Build trust with with the lenders and then inspectors and all the people that you need to use on a daily basis. It makes for a great team.
Sally: It sounds like your industry is highly focused on relationships and I think that’s probably true with many industries. In order to handle the pressure, and still keep calm and make, make these relationships work so that you can best serve your clients. We’re going to talk about some personal ways that you handle that personally overcome in order to make this courageous leap into owning your own business and being responsible for success of people all around you. And how did you overcome that? How did you shrink that fear in order to be able to get up and do this every day?
Sarah: Well, I think everybody has that little voice in the back of their head that when you make a decision and you do something that’s scary and you have to be brave, that is telling you, “You’re never going to make it, you’re not going to do it. And I can’t believe this is a decision you made.”
So you just have to learn how to turn that voice off.
I mean that voice does not matter. In a small, which we are a small town, you know people talk and so a lot of times you know, you’ll hear stuff that that completely is not true, but at the same time it, it’s none of your business what other people think of you.
Sally: Hmm. Yes!
Sarah: So I feel like you just need to turn that voice off, put your head down and just go for it. You know when you reach those milestones, when you have a great team around you celebrate it. I mean, we have three o’clock dance parties every day because the day gets boring. Sometimes you got to celebrate.
Sally: It sounds like Crest likes to party.
Sarah: We do like this party. It’s not, I keep hearing we work hard and we play harder.
Faith in leadership
Sally: Would you say that faith plays a role in your life?
Sarah: Yeah, absolutely. I think that you know, the ability to turn that voice off sometimes you just need to ask for a little bit of help. Being brave has a lot to do with either being a Christian, having faith in karma, having faith in whatever it is that you have faith in. But it definitely plays a role in, in my life and you just have to figure out what it is that, that can help you in yours.
Sally: Tell me a little bit about, um, what kind of significance of found penny has in your life.
Sarah: Uh, pennies are my favorite. So we have a jar at my house that is the nanny fund and it’s basically anytime we see a penny or sometimes she gets rich and there’s a quarter on the ground and he’s, anytime we find money, you know, that’s my way of knowing that somebody is watching. Uh, in my personal opinion, it’s my grandmother or my grandfather who are no longer with us, but I know and I can feel, are still around. You know, it always seems to be at that second when you just really need someone to give you a little kick in the rump and tell you, pick up your head and keep on going.
Stress relief
Sally: Do you have any hobbies that help you release some of that stress or whatever pent up energy you might have in there? Or do you just go home and fall asleep and that’s it? Which way does the pressure act on your body?
Sarah: I, yes is the answer to that. It’s pretty much a little bit of everything. Um, I feel like sometimes my hobbies are picking up new hobbies, so I’m never really a master of many of them, but I sure do you like to try.
I mean, when I bought my house two years ago, my absolute nonnegotiable was to have a pool and living in Southeast Georgia, you can use a pool, um, most of the year. And so that is really where I go to escape a lot of times. The other thing that I love are I have two hammocks on my back porch and sometimes I’ll just sit out there, read a book or watch absolutely terrible TV.
Sally: (Laughing) We won’t get into what TV is terrible and what TV is valuable.
Hayley: Now I’m really curious, what do you consider to be absolutely terrible TV?
Sarah: Oh, I love some reality TV. There’s all sorts of different ones and uh, no shame in my game.
Sally: That’s right. No shame.
So do you have any non-work goals or has your entire life focused on work? You seem very intense.
Sarah: My work and career definitely intertwines in most of my life. But I did recently take up scuba diving and my next goal is to go somewhere really cool and see some stuff that I’ve never seen before. I have to figure out where I’m going and book it and go.
Sally: And it sounds like you would be the kind of person who would have no fear of that. Just book it and go.
Sarah: I definitely have no fear as far as that’s concerned. My ear drums on the other hand seem to limit how far I can go. But uh, but yeah, it’s, it’s definitely something that I think is really cool.
Advice for women taking a first step
Sally: What advice would you have for any woman who’s considering a career in real estate or a woman who’s considering starting her own company? Like if she’s listening to this and thinking, “Oh man, I want to do this, I want to make this big jump.” How would you, how would you encourage her to jump?
Sarah: Just do it. Absolutely. 100%. Close your eyes, push the button and do it. It, you know what, it might not work out but it just might.
Final Questions
Hayley: So would you consider just do it to be your mantra or your favorite quote?
Sarah: Yes, I mean typically I would think I would say screw it. Let’s do it. But um…
Sally: Yeah, let’s do it with Sarah Wood. Episode title.
All right Sarah. Well we are going to ask you some of our final wrap up questions.
Hayley: This is my favorite part. Um, so first question, if you could be any animal in the animal kingdom, what would you be and why?
Sarah: Let’s go with the unicorn.
Sally: That’s not in the animal kingdom!
Sarah: It is the mascot of Scotland though.
Sally: Well then I’ll, I’ll allow it!
Hayley: There are, why would you be unicorn?
Sarah: Because I feel like everywhere they go it just leaves glitter and sparkle.
Hayley: And what are you grateful for in your life right now?
Sarah: Well for my family and my friends and all of the amazing people that I am surrounded by every day them I could not be where I am and I love every single one of them.
Surprise! Sarah is our sister!
Sally: And on that note, it’s time for us to tell you that Sarah Wood is our sister and we are so proud of her. There was no question that in a podcast for brave women, that anybody else would be our first interview. Sarah has always been the hardest worker in our family. That is without dispute. (Haley don’t look at me that way) and we are very, very proud of her and I’m really excited that were able to bring her story to you and we hope that you find inspiration in it in the same way that we do every day.
And Sarah, it has been a pleasure. Thank you for sharing your time with us today.
Sarah: Thank you for joining us today.
Sally: If you have been considering starting your own business, I pray that you leave today feeling ever so slightly more empowered. And if you would like more on our conversations about being brave, about endurance sports, or family, or travel, or any of the other things that bring us joy, please join us at findingfinishlines.com which is our blog, or on Facebook or Instagram or Pinterest, or you know, all the places.
Until next time my friends carry on women of Valor.
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