We were lucky to catch up with Lacey Wiley recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lacey, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Was there an experience or lesson you learned at a previous job that’s benefited your career afterwards?

I was working in the accounting department of a locally owned manufacturing business. I was driven through my direct boss, the CFO, to handle and process the accounts payable on a weekly basis. This was entering, reconciling and then getting them approved by the owner. Outside of the direct responsibilities came other tasks, that pushed me completely outside of my comfort zone. Things I hadn’t done before, or didn’t quite know how to complete, or so I thought. At the time frustrated thinking new tasks were not inside my job scope I put up extreme resistance hating every second of the assigned task.

Now where I am at in life, looking back, understanding that this is where I really could shine! I was making the task much more complicated thinking I couldn’t do it, instead of just doing it. Insisting on the new tasks really pushed me outside of my normal to do new things, I never would have thought or attempted to do.

In real estate there is so much of this every single day! You have to get uncomfortable to grow and expand to the next level! It’s honestly never ending in order to build the next level you desire!

Lacey, 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?

From a young age I was always intrigued by real estate, but went on to college in a different direction. After, starting a family at a young age never felt it was attainable or possible to get into the crazy hours being hours away from family that could help with young toddlers! After many years of going down a path that just didn’t seem right, and a husband who fully supported the crazy idea, I quit my job. I was fully committed to real estate school and got my license in 2015.

I built my brand all through social media and my loved ones. It’s all about your clients and the way you make them feel. Homeownership is an incredible way to build your wealth and taking down the process into understandable pieces while walking them through every step to the closing table. Communication is key and no one person is the same, understanding that to mirror the needs of your clients takes time and patience. There are so many deadlines and risks throughout the process having an agent on their side holding their best interest at heart, is key!

My husband has now joined me in our real estate venture insuring our clients experience through the process is top notch! We have built systems and processes that will make our clients feel at ease. We will divide on conquer in different areas of our business to excel and build our brand even more in the future.

Whether buying or selling a home, we know the roller coaster of emotions that can ensue. We completely understand that a home is where you build memories and cherish the years spent in that phase of life and are here to guide you through that. As a buyer, trust me it can be just as emotional, you are putting everything on the line for one of the largest purchases in your lifetime! We will help get it all in order and point you in the right directions, even if you have not ever bought a home! While buying up and selling at the same time, many more emotions or stress can creep in, but know that our experience will help show you the way.

We have built our business, from never giving in, never giving up, always learning, and pushing ourselves for our clients! We believe this puts us in the best position to represent our clients to the best of our ability and forever growing our skills!

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

After loosing my Mom and my Nana in 2020, my husband began getting sick late 2020. He had been diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver, and needed a transplant. He was still working his own business at this time, that had been hit hard when the pandemic took over the world. Loosing much of his business throughout the year and then loosing insurance hit us hard. He was on the transplant list and when we lost our health benefits, he was taken off. Then finding insurance in a time like this with preexisting conditions was no easy feat! I literally went office to office trying to find help in obtaining health insurance to save his life and finally found it. I will tell you working to get someone on the transplant is not the easiest of tasks, but we did it! To only be told that we were taken off again, due to needing to complete one more requirement that was not initially needed. Now after making connections and calls we were able to complete this last requirement to finalize getting back on the list.

All while his health was declining at a very fast rate, while trying to maintain my real estate business, getting my oldest off to college and my youngest too and from activities and school. He was unable to care for himself because he was in such a confused state when he wasn’t sleeping from exhaustion. So, we had to make sure when we were gone he had someone to watch him and care for him. Numerous weekly appointments for his paracentesis until we got the liver offer! And then it finally came and I can tell you in that moment the grateful overwhelm was so hopeful!

During this time maintaining the clients I was helping in the moment was all I could handle, so the real estate business took a hit. If you aren’t working in the business to build and grow, it stops. I had to give myself grace to get through this moment, which is harder than you could ever imagine. Once we got him home and in a place he didn’t need my constant care. I went into full on business building again and have gotten back to the momentum needed in the business. Now we are working as a team with him licensed as well, to build our real estate business better than ever! We have built systems and processes that will help us run day to day and to provide a stellar experience for our clients!

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

One of my hardest deals thus far in the business, was with a first time homebuyer. Looking for a home in a very competitive market, when multiple offers were at the highest and loosing multiple times before landing the one for the client, patience was an absolute must. Going through with a lender that was not local to our market, became our next difficult task with underwriter requirements coming left and right, and jumping through every hoop. We thought we had made it, only to find out we still needed more documents from employment and when this wasn’t possible looking at other solutions to get it to the closing table.

Loosing trust, reaching out and formulating a backup plan was a must to get this client into her dream home. We got this all together and kept it in our back pocket. We couldn’t afford another extension unless we absolutely couldn’t get it done with the initial lender. We literally were at final walkthrough, the very last step before going to closing and have another hiccup. I mean you couldn’t even make this story up. After tears were shed we were able to overcome the last hiccup and actually made it to closing in just a few short hours! Literally, after blood, sweat and tears!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.icokc.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laceyanderic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LaceyandEricWiley
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE41XrfqXxUJjboEGRcrn8Q
• Other: https://www.google.com/search?q=i+Co.+KC-eXp+Realty&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAA_-NgU1I1qLAwTzY0MjQys0w1sDRJMk2yMqgwMzGwtDCysDC3NDFJSUtMXsQqnKngnK-n4O2smxpRoBCUmphTUgkACP0hrj8AAAA&hl=en&mat=CfkMLybLGQh3ElYBNqvzOtYTGqO1WNSXMrZPgPSM3k_gvC0VZXHR4OD8gpjY3JALXFIWjouYOdb07Y2DkyCMwm4AYYjYGONl8130mWcphufJXB0regB4F9N_4tfMk1Y5zg&authuser=0

Image Credits
Alex Meyer