We were lucky to catch up with Catherine Baran recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Catherine , thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I’ve always been somewhat of a risk taker, but when it comes to my career, and the high-level of competition and pressure that it entails, most of the time my approach to listing appointments was to impress the seller as best I could from a professional standpoint.

I got a call one day regarding a property in a very high end neighborhood. The property itself was well over $5 million. The seller has been speaking with several other agents, most of which have been in the industry for over a decade and specialized in luxury real estate. Thus far in my career, the highest listing I have had was around $2 million. I thought to myself, ‘just go in there and do your best, and be yourself!’ I walked into that listing appointment thinking there was no way they were going to hire me. But I kept my head up and I just followed my own advice. I was 100% myself. I was honest about what I felt the property was worth, and I didn’t hold back or try to be fake or “salesy”.

In the end, the seller ended up loving my honesty and normalcy. He told me he appreciated me treating him like a person and not like a means to a paycheck, and ended up hiring me on the spot!

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.

I had been a full-time mom of three kids for the better part of a decade. Once my kids started to get someone older, I sat down with my husband and he showed me an ad he came across for a real estate class down the street from our house. I was hesitant at first, the class was somewhat expensive and I wasn’t sure it was something I would be good at. I had gone to school for business, but ended up being a mom somewhat young which became my full-time career.

After much encouragement from my husband, I decided to take the leap, and I’m so glad I did. I truly discovered I have a passion for this industry . I love that I have the opportunity to help people in so many walks of life. They are so appreciative of the work that I do and I take so much pride in it. It’s not an easy job, but it’s always different, and I am constantly meeting all kinds of new people. No day is exactly the same as the last , and there is never a dull moment!

I am so thankful to all the people around me who encouraged me to go for it. I truly feel that I discovered my calling and I can’t wait to see where my career takes me in the years to come.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

I would say about 90% of my clients come from word of mouth from friends, family and past clients. I never pay for Leads. I am a firm believer that my work speaks for itself. When I have happy clients, they tell their friends and family about me thus creating new clients. And it goes on and on from there.

Relationships are so, so important in any business. But real estate is so personal to people, they really need to know that who they are working with cares and is 100% on their side. I feel that I do that well and it shows when I receive referrals.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

A few years back, I had a listing that was in a probate and was in a very difficult reverse mortgage situation. We were on the market about a year. My clients went through so much heartache that year, and all I wanted to do was get this closed for them so they can move on. There were many times that we felt we couldn’t get it done, so many hurdles that we had to surpass. The septic didn’t pass, the house is falling apart, the clients owed more on the house than it was worth, at one point the retaining wall completely collapsed into the driveway… It was a tough one to say the least. But in the end, we finally did it. My clients were so grateful, they were so many times that they thought we should just take it off the market , but we persevered and got it done.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.catherineyourrealtor.com
• Instagram: @catherineyourrealtor
• Facebook: www.Facebook.com/catherineyourrealtor
• Linkedin: Catherine Baran
• Youtube: @catherineyourrealtor

Image Credits
Bryan Stearns photography