We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Michelle Mumoli a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Michelle thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you recount a time when the advice you provided to a client was really spot on?

The best advice I always give clients, willing to listen, is to buy property. Real estate appreciates in value and the longer you hold it for, the more money you’ll get on it when you sell in the future. Real estate is not an overnight fix/flip, unless you are an investor, that’s a different category of buyer. Also, when you do decide to sell your property, price it at market value. Over pricing your property will keep it on the market WAY TOO LONG, making it look stale and you will have to reduce the price.

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 back background and context?

My name is Michelle Mumoli, I’m a broker-salesperson with Compass and team principal of The Mumoli Collective in New Jersey servicing Hudson, Bergen, Essex, Morris, Union and parts of Northern Monmouth Counties in New Jersey. I have nearly 10 years of experience in the business and in 2021 decided to obtain my brokers license in order to help my clients on a higher fiduciary level. I work with builders, developers, investors, buyers and sellers in their real estate journeys by providing a unique, luxury-concierge real estate experience, with the most current AI tools available.

I have very humble beginnings, growing up in Newark NJ, my parents were immigrants who were able to see their American Dream come true, by purchasing multi-family buildings and I was always involved in the upkeep, management and maintenance of our properties because we lived in them as well. So, i’m no stranger to hard work and dedication. I studied Media Communications at New Jersey City University and was a filmmaker, artist, event planner and art curator in NY & NJ. It’s my creative brain, that wants to consistently looks to new  ways of marketing in order to get my clients the very best exposure for their properties.

I have recently been focusing on finding talent to expand my real estate team, at the forefront is the idea of providing, exceptional service to our clientele. My business is 99% referral from past clients and friends, I want to expand on that further, because there are far too many real estate licensees out there, not understanding what the client-fiduciary relationship entails and clients are unhappy or traumatized from bad transactions.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Great question! My first sale was an off-market mixed-use building which took me 6 months to close, because commercial always takes longer to close, but I did not know that at the time, I just continued the conversation throughout the transaction with my clients until we got to the closing table. It was through that experience, although I was working at a strictly residential brokerage at the time, I decided that I could not pigeonhole myself into working in one specific sector or in one very specific geographical area either. Pivoting as how I am able to weather dips in the market, because as real estate agent, we get paid commission only. So learning on a daily basis: about land value, zoning laws, multi-family investments, new construction laws, new construction design elements, building codes, condo-conversions, anything and everything that has to do with understanding the product that I am delivering, I have learned  to expand my knowledge because it’s a very interesting field but also because the more I know, the more questions I have and can relay the information to my clients, whether they are buyers of sellers. I always have an exhaustive list of questions for my sellers that I ask and when I’m representing buyers, I walk through the properties with their home inspectors to learn as much as I can. We are not just door openers, we are fiduciaries. I knowledgeable enough to be able to pivot.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

In real estate, your name is your reputation. The best source of new clients for me, has always been word of mouth referrals from past clients, it makes up 99% of my business. I’ve had agents that are strictly cold calling agents who get a ton of listings approach me and ask me how do I get repeat business. It shocks me because I see they have 20-30 listings at a time and yet they tell me things like, ‘we may have those listings, but once they close, the deal is done’. BLOWS MY MIND! I take great care in ensuring every single one of my clients has a personalized experience, it’s the founding principle of my business and I know that when that deal closes, based on their experience with me, they will mention my name to their friends and family. That referral to me is the most amazing gift I can receive. Clients are my business.

Contact Info:

• Website: themumolicollective.com
• Instagram: @MichelleMumoliRealtor
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NJRealtorMichelleMumoli/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellemumoli/
• Twitter: @MichelleMumoli
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/mumolicollective
• Other: TikTok: @mumolirealtor

Image Credits
Fulgens Photo