By Rick Mauch
Candy’s Dirt Contributor
Like any mother, Susie Albertson will do whatever it takes to provide for her children — even if it means staying up all night working in a fast food restaurant.
“The idea to get into real estate was definitely not my own,” said Albertson, who made a major switch into the real estate business about a year ago. “I was a home-schooling mom for about 10-plus years and I absolutely loved every minute teaching and being with my children, until it wasn’t enough.
“Finances got really tight and I had to look for work outside the home, but I still wanted to teach my kids, so I took a night job in fast food. I would never recommend a night job in fast food. Sometimes working overnight when employees were sick or didn’t show up, it’s just a circus.”
For three years she sacrificed and muddled through as a very tired mom with four kids whom she said, “needed more than what they were getting at the moment.”
Something had to change.
“Earlier this year I went to see my pastor and had a conversation about fast food just not being a practical solution to our needs, and he asked if I had ever thought of selling houses,” she recalled. “I probably laughed, I can’t even remember. But, now here I am selling houses and diving head-first into real estate.”
Albertson is a Realtor in the Lynch Legacy Group, brokered by eXp. She lives in Brock and serves mostly Parker, Hood, Wise, and Tarrant Counties.
“I love to discover new cities that I have never really stopped to enjoy, and real estate is a great excuse to get to know the people in the area,” she said. “I’m enjoying all the different avenues this business provides.”
Joining the real estate business was a completely new venture for her. No one in her family had ever gone down that path before.
“This was such a huge leap outside of anything I had known before. There is something to be said for stepping out of your comfort zone,” she said.
“The thing I honestly enjoy most about real estate is the business side of it. I get to serve people and that is what I do in my life but, the possibility of business, making deals, and getting to the closing table; that’s what lights my fire!”
Albertson said she believes the biggest challenge in real estate today is educating the buyers and sellers. For example, educating the buyers that 6 percent is still a really good interest rate, historically speaking, she noted, adding also, “Where we are at now, the market is trying to correct itself.
“This was such an anomaly what’s been happening the last few years and really not good for our economy, and now it’s balancing itself out and home prices have started to go down. It’s still a really good time to buy a home, it’s still a good investment, and property values keep going up anywhere between 10 to 15 percent a year.”
Then, there’s also educating the sellers, such as “How the increase in values have gone up so much that now we’re are looking at having to take reductions to make a correction because it had escalated so much.”
Albertson is also a fan of the plethora of technology that exists to help people find and purchase a home.
“Oh, I absolutely love my apps! Any piece of technology that I can get my hands on to make the little things easier and to give extra information to my clients, I’ll use it,” she said.
“I came on the scene when the market was correcting itself and it’s slowed down quite a bit, but it’s really been picking back up. I’m gearing up for what promises to be an exciting year!”
