Earlier this year, KJ Murphy and Leslie Gosnell teamed up to join Allie Beth Allman and Associates. While this may be their first business venture together, their history goes back to the 1980s when they first arrived in Dallas as aspiring models with the Kim Dawson Agency.
“She said that she was from Alabama, and I was from Tennessee,” Murphy recalled. “We said we were going to be best friends. Forty years later, here we are.”
Fast forward to last year during the height of the pandemic. Murphy had been working as the head of public relations for Stanley Korshak but was looking for something else to do after five years. Gosnell had contracted the virus and was quarantined for two weeks.
“I couldn’t escape KJ and her ideas,” Gosnell mused.
Those ideas involved getting their real estate licenses and embarking on a new career. Gosnell, whose husband is a broker, had actually been licensed for years but never utilized it. Murphy took online classes and passed her exam in June.
The two planned to meet with several brokerages, but after their first meeting at Allie Beth Allman & Associates, they knew they had found their home. They even found a mentor in Anne Oliver.
“She must have either been bored and needed comic relief or she needed a challenge, so here we are,” Murphy joked.
It’s been off to the races ever since.
The duo closed seven high-end deals in their first four months. Gosnell says the key to their success has been the connections they’ve made through their social lives, careers, and even their children. As longtime residents of the Park Cities, they are well-versed in that area and surrounding neighborhoods. It’s almost as if they had been planning this move for ages.
Even their experience in modeling has proven to be helpful. In that industry, you are required to be different things to different people. Every situation is different and requires constant adjustments. It also provides plenty of chances to network and meet people from various backgrounds.
“Really we’ve been working on this for 40 years, and now we’ve just added the real estate part to it,” Gosnell says.
Murphy says their work is often like “The Dating Game.” When they hear about a home hitting the market, they immediately begin brainstorming on who in their network might like the property. She readily admits that they are not the “go for the jugular” type of agents. Instead, they work on treating people how they would want to be treated. They also won’t hesitate to give their honest opinion on a potential deal, even if that might cost them a sale.
Both admit that they probably approach the business from a different perspective than most. They work hard to deliver for their clients but don’t sweat the small stuff. Their biggest reward is when they get to tell clients that they’ve finally gotten what they wanted.
“We’ve really just had a ton of fun,” Murphy says. “Sometimes we just laugh and say, ‘we get paid for this?’”
