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

Jenn, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with a fun one – what’s something you believe that most people in your industry (or in general) disagree with?

Homeownership isn’t for everyone. Every real estate agent and mortgage broker likes to say that everyone should aspire to homeownership, but there’s a lot of sacrifice that comes along with homeownership. Especially with today’s home prices it just isn’t feasible or worth it for everyone. I always say, “homeownership is the key to generational wealth.” Well, a lot of young people today are not having kids and not wanting kids. They would rather spend their money on traveling and experiencing life in a different way and that is perfectly acceptable.

Jenn, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I grew up in the real estate industry. My mom was an agent and I spent many summers working for her as a teen, then I assisted her part-time in my early twenties. It took me a while to decide to get licensed. I passed my exam 2 months before I turned 25.

Since then I have expanded my offerings to my clients past just selling real estate. I am a certified credit counselor, notary, and have a BS in Business Management. Many of my clients were having issues with their credit and managing their money. My generation really wasn’t taught much about finance. I wanted to find a way to help them, whether they wanted to buy a house or not, so I have always offered my credit counseling services for free.

At Stepping Stones, we want our clients to feel like family. We put them and their needs first. That’s why credit counseling is free and we don’t pressure people to buy or sell homes. People need financial education regardless of their homeownership goals.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Yes! While I was in business school at Pepperdine, I read several books that impacted my management style and thinking; among them were “The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People” by Stephen R. Covey, “Great by Choice” by Jim Collins, and “The Innovator’s DNA” by Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen, and Clayton M. Christensen. But my favorite and the most influential of them all had to be “How to Win Friends & Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. In real estate, as in life in general, people make a lot of decisions based on their emotions and how they feel about a person. Dale Carnegie’s book really helped me understand that and understand how people like being spoken to/with. Now, I gift it to all my mentees and anyone around me who expresses any kind of interest in business.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

One of my favorite sales was to a young couple buying their first house; let’s call them the Robinsons to keep their privacy. The Robinsons had a small, maximum budget of about $55o,000, if my memory serves correct, for a townhouse in the Long Beach area during the COVID market where prices were insane, buyers were facing tons of competition, and houses didn’t stay on the market for more than a week. The very first townhouse I showed them, on the very first day of showings, they absolutely fell in love with. It was priced at $539,000, so my buyers were thinking they’d have plenty of room to negotiate up in this crazy market. Once I ran comps (comps are similar properties in the area that sold in the last 6 months), it showed that the property’s value was actually at about $575,000, well above their budget. Now, their budget was at a maximum of $550,000 because Mrs. Robinson had several student loans and they only had a certain amount to put as a down payment without touching either of their 401Ks. I made several phone calls to the agent on the property and discussed it extensively with the Robinsons. They really had no choice but to go up to the $575,000 that the property was worth because the property already had several offers on the table. We discussed their option of pulling a bit of money out of their 401Ks but they really didn’t want to do that because that was “their future” as they described it. As a person in their age group, with the same fears and concerns about the economy but a strong knowledge of the real estate market, I gently explained how their home was also their future because it builds generational wealth, home prices mostly increase on average, and they still have many years of working ahead of them to replenish their 401Ks and could even refinance to get that money back out in the future if they needed to. I let them take some time to think it over, they ended up agreeing that was the best option, and 30 days later we closed on their dream house for $575,000. They both have thanked me and agreed that it was a good choice and are both very happy in their new home now. When it comes to pricing, I am very confident in my knowledge and I never like encouraging a buyer to increase their budget unless I really think it’s in their best interest. With interest rates as low as they were at the time, their payment didn’t increase substantially by offering more for the property so, I really felt like helped them acheive a goal and I felt super accomplished because as anyone in real estate knows, it is incredibly difficult and very unheard of for a buyer to get the first property they fell in love with. with no counter offers and no negotiating.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://steppingstonesre.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mommyrealestate/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mommyrealestate
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mommyrealestate/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/stepping-stones-real-estate-services-san-fernando-valley

Image Credits
Kim Alexis Photography