We were lucky to catch up with Sharon Hamilton recently and have shared our conversation below.

Sharon, appreciate you joining us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard.

At Healthy Real Estate & Associates we guarantee our buyers and sellers will never have to work with a new and inexperienced agent, leaving them to handle things on their own.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Sharon Hamilton, and I own and operate a boutique, real estate consultancy firm in Wilmington, DE. I was born and raised in the “Small Wonder” also known as Wilmington, DE, where I grew up fantasizing about what different homes looked like on the inside, how they were laid out, furnished, marketed and advertised. I used to imagine myself selling homes to people, what I would say to them as their agent, and how I would answer the questions from their excited little children who were also imaginative, as they pick out their “new room.” While still a kid myself, I imagined myself being a realtor. Being the youngest of 5, and the only one that didn’t pursue a college level of education (by choice), I began to envision what I wanted to pursue in life – a career in real estate. Today, I look back at my younger self and just chuckle. I had NO idea of the journey that would lead me to the point of actually becoming a realtor, nor did I have a clue about what the life of a realtor actually entailed. Growing up in a close knit family of 7, my mother invested time, resources, and every and anything she had to know and learn her children individually. She knew us better than we knew ourselves, and she made sure that we would pursue that what was destined for us by choice or by default. So I recall her asking me what I wanted to be when I grew up in middle school and again in high school. My answer varied from a realtor to an architect, until she enrolled me for the pathway to architecture in high school and I hated it. Entering into the work field early, while maintaining employment since the 8th grade, I learned the quality of having a good work ethic and customer service. I also learned that I valued money a little too much. I remember getting to the point where college was discussed and my mom made it clear that if I didn’t go to college that I better be able to present a clear plan to her of what I was going to do in life and how I had planned to become stable, and succeed on my own for my future. My dreams became jaded by the amount of money I was making as a young, assistant F&I Manager at a local car dealership at the time. I remember having to divulge my plan to my mom that I wanted to work my way up into the role of the lead F&I Manager based on the amount of money I could make, and pursue real estate on the side. A disabling vehicular accident put me in a state in which I could no longer work, leading me to finally chase my dream and obtaining my real estate license. From then on, I have been so determined. I became a licensed real estate agent in 2005. In 2007, I had a vision to open my own brokerage, but struggled with the responsibility of being the broker of my own firm. I didn’t want it. The idea/vision of opening my own firm came from a place that was not my own. As the vision came to light, I realized that it was bigger than me and that “little ole me” didn’t have what it takes to be in that position. What I learned in 7 years as an independent agent were hard life and business lessons that would reshape the rest of my life and the rest of my career. In 2012 I lost the most important person to me (my mother) unexpectedly, and it ROCKED MY WORLD to its core. This season in my life taught me how backwards and out-of-tune this industry really is. I built a successful career as an independent agent with the help of the most knowledgeable, caring, and supportive real estate attorney I know. This partnership molded me and taught me everything I needed to know regarding how to manage myself under high-pressure scenario’s, my ability to understand and articulate the Agreement of Sale, and how to mitigate risks. I became good, very good, as a realtor who could negotiate, advocate, educate, consult, care, listen, and serve. The problem with that is, I never felt like I fit into the industry mold/standard. I never joined or formed a team. Feeling out of place, I worked alone, upholding the values that were instilled in me from a young girl to a maturing professional woman. My network narrowed to like-minded professionals across the country that upheld the same standard as I did, both in life and in our profession. The problem is, when I faced the hardest time of my life, I realized that the system was broken. I realized that as an independent contractor (even having a broker), when life happens to you, the responsibility of a transaction still rests on you the agent and not the broker. In most situations, even if a broker does step in to help an agent when life happens to them, it’s not a seamless transition for the consumer or the agent because most likely the broker is so far removed from the transaction. While I thought the trip to the hospital on May 12th, 2012 was just that, a trip, reality soon set in and I realized that life as I once knew it was crumbling. While, in the hospital struggling with the fear of losing my mom, praying for the best outcome, I’m being contacted left in right by potential clients, active clients, sellers, inspectors, other agents wanting to move showings, final walk-throughs, inspections, and contracts forward as normal. While they weren’t wrong, I couldn’t help but to think, “WHERE WAS MY HELP!?” In these situations, clients have every right to expect things to move forward, since they were in legally binding contracts. It’s our job in our industry to ensure that the real estate consumer is protected at all costs. Yes, life happens, but if contracts aren’t fulfilled as a result of the agent’s inability (death, child birth, life altering news, health reasons, accidents, etc.), then something is broken. I was broken. As an independent agent, I had to try to get an agent friend onboard and catch him up on what he could help with, and try to get my broker to help where they could. But time was limited. I’ll never forget having to perform a final walkthrough for a client on May 13th 2012 (mother’s day) and literally breaking down in a fetal position on the floor in front of my clients and the salesperson because my mom was dying and I was fulfilling my duty as an independent agent. That was the exact moment I thought “no one should ever have to go through this – EVER.” I also thought “my clients contractual need to get through closing without any issues, and my personal circumstances shouldn’t get in the way or make them feel like I couldn’t do my job as their agent.” It was a bad experience on both sides, my client felt terrible that I was grieving while having to fulfill their contractual terms, and I felt like I had my priorities completely out of order. This storm gave me the spark I needed to think seriously about starting a brokerage firm that is what I call, “Healthy from the inside out.” A firm that always puts the clients interest, experience, and success as the firm’s first priority, while agents never individually sacrifice what it means to be human. A firm that gives our clients full confidence in their real estate decisions and their team of professionals, and one that equips agents in that team of professionals with the skills, knowledge, and expertise that also instills confidence within themselves. A firm where we grow solid, real relationships with our clients and with our partners. This is what it means to be Healthy Real Estate and Associates.

I am most proud of developing and implementing my very own training curriculum and certification program.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn the world’s standards of what is valuable. I held money as a high priority in my life at an early age. There were too many times when I was uncomfortable due to lack of money, leaving me in very vulnerable situations that I never desired to be in again. In my recent years, life has taught me that money is earned but time and people are two things you cannot get back. I have become very intentional in how I spend my time, who I spend my time with, and I highly respect the time and company of others. How I relate this to my business is by creating a culture code that people feel like they are a part of a team and recognize their worth and value. I also learned that the part of my job that I love most is connecting with people, building relationships. Now understanding the importance of time and people, I help teach agents how to fit their careers into their lifestyle.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

Through prayer, I felt a led to step away from the role of an active agent in 2021, and focus on building and implementing my training curriculum, certification program and mentorship. I was so caught up in the role defining who I was, and not knowing how to adjust to growth, I stayed in the role that I was most comfortable and familiar with. As a result of my prayer and fasting in 2021 I was led to not take on any new clients in 2022 and write the curriculum and certification program. Instead, I continued to chase money and clients and failed miserably in 2022, which is unusual to me. Connecting with people is very natural for me, but I was fully depleted, overwhelmed, and lacked motivation. I began to experience health challenges that couldn’t be diagnosed, and I was stressed beyond what I could handle. I ended up suffering a freak accident in the beginning of 2023 that left me bedridden for over 1 month in a dark room as a result of a concussion. I recall entering the new year not knowing how my business was going to make it out of the week, let alone the month. I prayed to God, and gave him my full surrender. At this point, there was nothing else that I could do, and I told God “if it be your will that my season in this field is over, then let it be so; however, if I am in your will, make it clear.” In my recovery, I typed up a letter to my clients announcing my transition in roles and growth in my business. During this time, I also could no longer afford to pay my assistant, and had to have the scary conversation of truth advising her of that. In the end, she joined HREA as my first full-time agent and first training client; however, everything turned around after I submitted that letter.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hreassociates.com
• Instagram: @hreassociates
• Facebook: Healthy Real Estate & Associates
• Linkedin: Healthy Real Estate & Associates

Image Credits
some photo credits shakirahunt.creativestudio others are stocked.studio