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

Hi Tami, thanks for joining us today. What’s the best or worst investment you’ve made (either in terms of time or money)? (Note, these responses are only intended as entertainment and shouldn’t be construed as investment advice)

The best investment I have made is buying a single family home that allows for me to rent out the basement. The home is set up like a duplex, but is a single family home with 2 garages. I was able to add a wall in the basement so that the entire rental is separate from my space on the main level. I have been renting the furnished rental for 13 years and the rent more than pays my mortgage payment each month. This allowed me to refinance to a 10 year loan at 2% and save a lot of money on the interest and future payoff!

This has more than helped me with my financial goal of always living within my means, having money in savings, and contributing to my retirement accounts. Plus, spoil my 27 nieces and nephews!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I just received my 20 year pin for being a Realtor in SE MN. I was an elementary teacher and volleyball coach for 5 years out of college and I realized from both of these experiences that I loved to learn and teach others and loved home improvement projects. Real estate allows me to teach a variety of topics every day to my buyers and sellers. I specialize in helping first time buyers navigate the competitive and challenging market and showing sellers how to best prepare their home for multiple offers for the very strong market due to lack of inventory in my area. I go above and beyond and enjoy helping others buy and sell properties. You will appreciate my attention to detail and my thoroughness to protect you throughout the buying and selling process.

I am a local resource for a variety of information and work closely with a number of business owners in my networking group and contractors in my area. Networking and taking care of others personally and professionally has increased my business every year. I enjoy volunteering and giving back to my community. Together we make a big difference.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Most of my business comes from past clients, referrals, and my networking group. I am very good as tracking and knowing where my business comes from.

“When you take care of others, they take care of you” has always been a strong motto of mine. I am genuine and work very hard with my clients when buying and selling homes. I jump right in and get to work to make the process as least stressful as possible by preparing my clients for the market and being proactive vs reactive with my business. I teach my clients what I have learned over the last 20 years and set them up to succeed in real estate.

I am a member of a networking group, I farm 2 neighborhoods in my community and sponsor local events such as garage sales and National Night Out, I manage several websites on Facebook for neighborhoods and groups, and keep people informed of local events.

I keep in contact with past clients as I want to be their local contact for questions, and suggestions. I absolutely love when they invite me over to see their improvements and to ask for ideas on increasing their equity in the future. I have a very detailed eye and I know what buyers like and don’t like and am always thinking about resale factors.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

The real estate market sure has changed over the last 20 years. I remember when the housing market crashed in 2008. I started in 2006, so I’d have to say that the market was just tough for many years. As inventory was high, It was a strong buyer’s market with the average days on the market over 100 days. I remember times when sellers were upside down on their loan and had to bring thousands of dollars to the closings to sell their homes. I remember buyers being able to take their time and see a home 2-3 times before making a decision. I remember it turning into a seller’s market with homes receiving 40 offers and $60k above list and only being allowed 15-20 minutes to show a home and telling my clients they needed to decide immediately if they wanted to put in an offer with several other offers.. Every couple of years, the market is changing and it almost feels like a new adventure and new career for me.

I have learned to be patient, to save my money as I would sometimes go months without a paycheck. Other months, I would receive $30k in a month for home sales. I needed to remain a saver and not spend money as it came in. I needed to be strategic. Real estate has its ups and downs, yet as a real estate agent, I have to stay smart, educate myself, learn, grow, teach others what I’ve learned about the changing market. I had to add more to social media and show others how much I love my job and my clients. I have to pay attention to patterns and current trends, and most importantly, stay strong and resilient!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.pbofmn.com/realtor/greenslade-tami/
• Facebook: https://www.pbofmn.com/realtor/greenslade-tami/
• Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/in/tamigreenslade

Image Credits

Bekka Berge, Forever You Studios