We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Allie Vasquez. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Allie below.

Hi Allie, thanks for joining us today. What’s the best or worst investment you’ve made (either in terms of time or money)? (Note, these responses are only intended as entertainment and shouldn’t be construed as investment advice)

I purchased my first home in February of 2008. I was 22 years old and I bought a 2-bedroom condo. After 6 months, I checked on the value of the home, and almost lost my mind because turns out it was the worst time to buy. My home had lost a third of its value and I was devastated. 5 years later, when my family outgrew the condo, I still couldn’t sell it because I was still underwater on the mortgage. I had to become a very unwilling landlord. Over the course of the next 5 years, I rented it out to 4 different tenants with varying degrees of success. I had one tenant who would call every time an appliance made a weird noise. I had another tenant whose cats ripped my carpets to shreds, and another one who couldn’t pay and begged after 6 months to get out of her lease. All of these just to break even and not have to go to foreclosure. My dad and I were doing the property management but I have a full time job and my dad is old and an unwilling property manager. Finally after 10 years, the market conditions came around so I was able to sell, pay back my down payment assistance and make a very small profit. I vowed that I would never be a landlord again. 2 years later, I decided to sell my primary residence and be a landlord on my terms. I picked the right property, negotiated a very good deal with sales price to maximize my profit margin and was able to pay for property management. I have been a real estate agent for almost 8 years but we are about to shift into a new phase in my life: where my passive income from being a landlord can support my daily expenses and my regular full-time job is just icing on the cake.

Allie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Allie is a life-long Marylander and lives in Potomac, but loves to travel and has visited over 10 countries. Along with her love of travel is a love of video marketing, which she has spoken about at various national and international real estate conferences. Allie’s larger than life personality and boisterous energy serve her well, both in marketing and advocating for her clients. Creative and analytical thinking help her solve unique problems in this market and the ones before it. Her extensive background in teaching helps her communicate with, and educate her clients in the real estate process. Allie is still a teacher, but now she’s teaching clients how to reach their dreams!

Allie’s dynamic personality, passion for real estate and exceptional negotiation skills allow her to provide a high level of service and build solid relationships with her clients. Whether you are looking to sell your home, buy a new home or both, Allie will deliver results!

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Video marketing and social media! The best way to stay top of mind and really SHOW people how things are done is by filming videos and posting them to social.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

– we send birthday gifts – we send house anniversary gifts
– we send pop by gifts
– we send holiday gifts
– we send flowers or gifts (for any life events we see on social media like new jobs, new baby, condolences etc)
– we send regular email newsletters
– we call them atleast twice in a year
– we send them CMA’s
– we setup a yearly client appreciation party for them (we invite them)
– we send them documents they will need for their taxes

Contact Info:

• Website: http://allievrealty.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allie.vasquez.team/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AllieVRealty
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allievrealty/
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/allievrealty
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtwvlUcmiIYUQj6fmaFb-qA