Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Irina BOBRENKOVA. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Irina, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think it takes to be successful?

For success you need honesty, love and consistency.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

Having my own space was always my biggest desire. Growing up in 600 sq.ft with 3 generations, sleeping the first 18 years on a coach in the living room definitely gave me the right motivation. As soon as I was able to afford it I went and bought my own place where I could do what I want, like having many dogs. I am constantly rescuing dogs and I have 4 of my own which is a challenge when you rent, most places hardly allow more than 2.

In 2020 I got a chance to pick a new career, I decided to follow my dream of helping people find their dream home just like I did, so I became a Realtor.

I started in the industry when DFW had more realtors than houses for sale. I decided that my main focus would be to show people that owning a house is much easier than you may think. You don’t need to have a lot of money saved or years of work history. And I wanted to be 100% honest with my clients no matter what questions they asked me, because 7 years ago when I bought my first property in the US I didn’t know anything about the process and knowing what I know now I see how my Realtor was good but left out so many things that were important that could have saved me money. For my clients I want to be the person who can answers all of their questions. As soon as I got my license my boyfriend and I bought our first house together, it was a great way to gain experience. It was not just a house it was full of fixer-upper! Fast forward to today, it was an experience of a lifetime but I do not want to repeat it again. I learned so much since we had an issue with almost everything in the house, from foundation to termite infestation to plumbing. My boyfriend laughs about it, looking back he says it was like paying for a college education. I learned a lot about houses since everything that could go wrong went wrong. This taught me what to pay attention to when you are touring the house and who to call to get issues resolved.

This house was our second home renovation project where we created a beautiful space that was also animal friendly. Many landlords don’t allow animals or charge a lot for renters to have pets; they rent places allowing the bare minimum, I want to change that!

My boyfriend and I buy houses and renovate them before renting it out. Our main goal is to create an upscale and pet friendly environment so our renters and their four-legged family members can be comfortable without compromising the rent price. We have 2 families already that are living in our rentals, and we are currently working on our 3rd.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

My effort to find every client exactly what they are looking for and win the contract for them. I had clients who came to me after searching with other realtor for over a year with no success and I was able to get them perfect house with in 5 weeks since our first meeting. I think my clients see that nothing would stop me from getting them the best deal I can as I always tell them “I see the target, I don’t see any obstacles”. They are not just clients to me, with each one of them we have a story and an emotional connection that we share during the process and to me their wins are my wins. They also see me not only as realtor, but also a person who is genuinely wants to help. I think world can be hard as it is, and I want to make it a little better by connecting people and help them find work, friends and trusted businesses that I had experience with. They can call me needing almost anything and I will do everything in my power to help them. This has helped me to build community where I promote help and support to each other. I am grateful for the trust people put in me and I will always work hard to make sure I never fail anyone.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

Right before Christmas a client reached out to me looking for a house after several agents turned them down due to their loan and financial paperwork. I got them in touch with the lender I work with who was able to get him pre-approved, then they asked me to wait 2 weeks before getting under contract so they could get a few things done like paying off their credit card. We started looking at houses anyway and on the 3rd day found an absolute gem. I knew it was a little early to write the contract but this house was everything they wanted and I already had a pre approval letter so I decided we just needed a little miracle and since it was Christmas Eve, it was the best time to ask for it. Despite that house having multiple offers we were only able to offer a couple thousand dollars over asking price (in a market where people were offering tens of thousands over asking price we knew this was a long shot) but we wrote a letter to the seller sharing how much they would love to buy this house for their family. It was nothing less than a miracle when I got a call the next day and found out that our contract was selected. They chose it not because we offered the most money, but because the seller really wanted a good family to live there. This is what I love about my job, making people’s dreams come true!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.irinasellsdfw.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/irinasellsdfw/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/irinasellsdfw/

Image Credits
Main picture was done by Dima Barulin 2nd one done by Natali Maroney