We recently connected with Charles Eddington and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Charles thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. The first dollar your firm earns is always special. We’d love to hear about how you got your first client that wasn’t a friend or family.

I remember being extremely nervous when I got a call from someone saying, “Hey, I referred you to someone on my job. They mentioned needing to sell their dad’s house.” This was a personal referral to someone I’ve never met. Without hesitation, I asked them to share my contact information. A few days later I got a call from my new client. We talked about their situation and needing to sell their home. I could only tell them about my experience as a real estate investor, my experience working with people, and listening to understand the needs of others.

I ended up getting the listing. I got it under contract within 15 days and closed in less than 30 days. It took me about 45 days to get my real commission check. It felt so good to make that money. The biggest joy I felt when getting that check was knowing that I just helped someone. I helped several family members in the process—the father who was the owner, the son who was the father’s caregiver, and the daughter-in-law. The family was so thankful that I helped them get over a hurdle.

For this family, it was more than selling a house. The father was recently diagnosed with stage four cancer and had to be moved into hospice care. The son was in the process of rehabilitation and could not easily take off from work to handle paperwork and other things. The daughter-in-law was able to assist the father some days and help clear items from the house for about an hour after work once a week. The son and daughter-in-law lived over an hour away, so that commute did not help, and their life with children was extremely busy. My focus was to make the transaction as easy as possible. I got them resources to get items out of the house. Since the daughter-in-law worked close to the property I made special trips to take or receive documents they could not upload online themselves.

I didn’t realize it was the small things that helped so much. I was coming from a position of service. I would think, “How can I make life better for this person?” The daughter-in-law called me once to express how thankful she was for all my help and then she started crying. She told me that these small things gave her time to tend to her children, get home a decent time to prepare dinner, and spend more time with her ill father-in-law.

I also found out that the seller had another son, and he was not on speaking terms with the son who was handling the dad’s affairs. I thought, one day it would be best for me to meet with that son as well. While picking up documents, I met him and I told him about the process that his brother was going through. He felt bad about everything and told me he was glad I was there to help and he called his brother for the first time in over a year. I would have never thought by just being a helpful realtor that I would reunite family. Since I am a very family-oriented person this was an awesome feeling. It felt like so much happened within those 45 days. I had no idea how much of an impact I was making.

Needless to say, on the day of closing the son signed all his documents and could not thank me enough for the assistance. That check I received felt so much bigger, there was meaning and substance behind it. I felt like helping to sell the house was just a small part of the journey. The feelings of joy and gratitude these experiences motivate me to continue to help home buyers with the same drive, integrity, and leadership that I continue with today.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I was introduced to real estate by a friend while in college back in 2002, but I did not take it seriously until a few years later. I started to learn about investing in real estate for a profit. I quickly became interested and bought my own home in 2005. I planned to live there, rent out a room from time to time, and then purchase my next home while renting out my first home. God willing, that worked out but it has not always been a smooth ride. I was just able to ride the waves.

My biggest offer to first-time buyers is that I am familiar with the process and all the feelings and emotions tied to it. I reflect on when my wife and I purchased our first home together, my experience buying my very first home, and now as a buyer of investment properties. Being able to relate to my client’s feelings and sense what they are thinking and feeling is important. Real estate plays a huge role in a person’s life because the stakes are high. Empathy goes a long way and helps make connections. Clients have to feel like they can trust you.

I started to build a brand and establish a following on social media by displaying my process of buying houses and investing. People who were interested in buying a home for themselves started to contact me. During this time, I started to work with community organizations that help low-income families with funding for housing. As I posted content about the work I was doing, more people became interested in becoming homeowners. Even other realtors became interested in working with me. I was amazed! Having other realtors want to work with me was my proudest moment.

I always want clients to know that no matter what your buying or selling circumstances are I have been there or worked with a client who has been there. I have the experience, knowledge, and resources to help everyone.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

The thing that helped me the most in building my reputation was being transparent, honest, and dependable. Once clients see that you will get the job done as you said you would, they will spread the word. As big as the real estate world is, once other agents hear that you will work hard and follow through on your word, other agents will also want to work with you. I think being honest and my authentic self is the biggest thing to help my reputation in this market.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @the_realtorcharles
• Facebook: Charles Eddington
• Linkedin: Charles Eddington
• Youtube: @charleseddington-realtor8285