We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Melissa Azabache. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Melissa below.

Melissa, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with talking about how you serve the underserved, because in our view this is one of the most important things the small business community does for society – by serving those who the giant corporations ignore, small business helps create a more inclusive and just world for all of us.

In my business, agents are looking for the big fish and that makes sense, but I believe clients that are looking for homes in lower-income brackets or with programs like section 8 renters are just as deserving of their agent’s time, attention and respect.

While I do work with luxury listings and high-income clients, I have not turned away college students, section 8 renters, or lower-income clients and I give them the same time, attention, and respect as I would anyone else. They are just as deserving of a home and I am here to help make that happen for them. I have made some life-long friends out of clients that have found themselves in these situations.

You never know where we will find ourselves tomorrow and any of us could be in the same position one day.

Melissa, 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 have been in the Real Estate business as a Realtor for six years now and I have loved it every step of the way. I have been with Exit Realty Mizner the entire time I’ve had my license and I highly recommend the Brokerage to any agents just starting out or who may not be totally happy with where they are. The office feels like a family and the free training classes in the office are incredibly valuable. Our office is unique in that we are investor-owned, and the investors put a lot of time, effort, and money into ensuring we have the best technology at our fingertips and access to programs and apps for free that other offices don’t offer.

In my career, I work with sellers, buyers, landlords, tenants and have done commercial real estate as well. I love to learn new aspects of real estate and I am regularly taking training courses and classes to learn more every day. I want to be informed and experienced for my clients.

One thing I have come to really love about my work is getting to know the clients. More often than not the people I work for end up being friends. It means so much to me to know that my clients have had a positive experience working with me and that when the deal closes they are satisfied.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

One time I was working with a client that needed to not only sell their home but wanted to buy a home in the same neighborhood. The neighborhood is highly desirable and it isn’t often that homes are up for sale. We worked together to get their home ready to list by having the roof power washed, the home painted inside and out, pavers leveled, landscaping brushed up, and the home staged. Everything was going great and I knew it would sell quickly without issue.

Then the rains came, as they do in South Florida, they ended up with a leak in the roof over the dining room the weekend we had showings back to back. This was during a buyer’s market, so I knew that potential buyers weren’t going to be ok with the promise of us getting it fixed. However, in spite of the roof leak we ended up under contract and we got a roofer in immediately to get things corrected. Everything was going great!

I ended up finding exactly the home the sellers were hoping for in their neighborhood and we went under contract, contingent on the sale of their home both set to close on the same day. I was feeling so good about it all and so was my client. We made it through the inspection/right-to-cancel period and the loan approval. The appraisal came in at the right price. What could go wrong?

The buyer’s agent calls me right after my sellers got thru the right-to-cancel/inspection period and loan approval on the home they were buying to let me know their client had lost their job and no longer were approved for their loan and they needed to cancel the contract. We were pretty close to closing day at that point and I was in an absolute panic. Without the sale of their home going thru they wouldn’t be able to close on the home they were buying. Everything was falling apart, and quickly.

I started making phone calls to every agent that showed the home while it was on the market to see if any of their clients were still interested in the home. No luck at all. The sellers were completely confident in my ability to somehow pull it off and while I was grateful for that it sent me even further into a panic. What was I going to do? I believe it was a Wednesday that we put the home back on the market and set up an open house for that weekend and I get a call back from one of the agents I had called. Their client was set to close in a couple of days on a house and found out the person selling the home was mid-divorce and was trying to get away with selling their home without their partner, who had to be on the paperwork. The partner found out and they had to cancel the sale. They were almost to the end of the loan process and were able to switch things over to the new property and close on the closing day that we needed. A miracle! We pulled it off!!

Then it came to closing day and we did the final walk-thru for the home my client was selling. All was well and the buyer was on the way to sign for the property. Sellers had already pre-signed everything so that deal was good to go. Excited with everything working out the sellers and I walk over to the home they were buying for the final walk thru. We open the door to the home and every single light fixture in the home had been removed including the light fixture in the entryway that was worth thousands of dollars. I don’t mean the lightbulbs were missing, I mean wires were hanging from the ceilings all throughout the home. Apparently, the sellers were in a contentious divorce and the mother of one of the spouses was a big factor in their split. She was overly involved and problematic, so we heard from the listing agent. She wasn’t happy that she had originally bought all the light fixtures for the home and she felt she should have them due to the divorce. The problem is, that light fixtures are included in the contract. Not to mention there were still dishes in the dishwasher and items in the cupboards and the house was a mess.

I had never experienced anything like this yet and wasn’t sure what to do. I called the rockstar of a Title company to see what the attorney suggested we do and she drafted up an addendum saying that we would hold $10,000 in escrow at close from the sellers and the exact light fixtures that were in the listing photos needed to be re-installed by a licensed and insured professional within 7 days or the $10,000 would be released to my buyers. Lots of negotiating back and forth went on with the listing agent and their client back to me and I was getting seriously worried. The Mother-in-law was digging in with both heels even though she wasn’t even a party to the contract. Finally, we got them to sign the addendum and at the end of the day, my sellers closed on both homes in the neighborhood just as they wanted.

I learned many things during that transaction and I am grateful for that, I am thankful everything worked out, and I was thankful my clients had faith in me to get it done and I didn’t let them down.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

Something that I do that I haven’t seen other agents do is my seasonal free family event calendars. During summer and the holidays, I publish monthly calendars of free family-friendly events going on in the area. This has become something that my friends, family, and clients look forward to. It’s a way for me to stay in touch professionally that isn’t intrusive or unwanted and instead is helpful.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.azabacheproperties.com
• Instagram: myrealtormeli