Episode 15: Your Home Is Healing: Feast-or-Famine Income, Caregiving, and ROI That Actually Pays

Episode Transcript
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Barbara L Parker (00:00):
Welcome to Powerfully Broken Podcast, where
we break unhealthyrelationships that are
negatively impacting your mentalhealth.
Today I have with us DeannaCurtis, who is the president of
the Akron Realtist and the queenof creativity.
She can make anythingbeautiful.
She can spin anything.
She is amazing.
And I'm glad that we have herwith us today because we're

(00:22):
going to talk about yourrelationship with your
environment.

Intro/Outro (00:39):
Barbara, bring the light.
What we're going to do.

Thank you for coming on with us today.
Thank you for having me.

Diahnna Curtis (00:53):
I'm excited.
I'll be you're doing amazingstuff.
So this is an honor to be here.
So thank you for that.

No problem.
So tell me a little bit aboutwhat initially started you to
want to become a realtor and arealtor.

Oh my gosh.
I was interested in propertymanagement and real estate for
years.
So even though I worked otherjobs in the back of my mind,
that was something that I alwayswanted to do.
I did when I was married, oncewe had a rental property or two.
So it allowed me theopportunity to stick my feet in

(01:33):
a little bit.
But being an entrepreneur orhaving that spirit, that was one
thing I that would allow me tobe my own boss and manage my own
business and do my own thing,you know.
So you're not controlled bywhat someone wants to pay me per

(01:55):
hour.
And that's how I saw it, orsalary.
And so this allowed me todetermine my value and what I
wanted to earn.

So when you're selling real estate or any um
kind of fee for service job, youhave those seasons of plenty
and the seasons where it's alittle barren.
Yes.
So how do you manage betweenthe two?
Because a lot of people can't.
They live in paycheck topaycheck.

There's a feast or famine.
Um, real estate can be tough.
It's not an easy uh thing todo, and a lot of people do it on
a part-time basis while theywork a full-time job.
I um try that for a shortperiod of time and then I just
kind of dove in feet first intofull-time.
Um, so you have to prepare forthe for the famine part of it,

(02:50):
right?
So when there's a feast, youyou put aside and you prepare,
and then you do the work so thatyou come out of it.
So the first couple of yearsfor most people going into real
estate is their toughest,they're building their business,
and a lot of people don'tsurvive it.
So um, we having done it foralmost eight years now.

(03:14):
I have survived my two years.

Yes, yes, you have.

So I'm here to stay.

So yeah.
So your journey of becomingnot, you know, a newbie realtor
to becoming a leader in yourfield, how did you do that?
Like that was not an easy path.

Uh work, getting involved.
Um I often tell new agentsalso, you you can't drum up
business sitting in an office orsitting at home all day.
You have to get out and getexposure, meet people.
Um, how you treat people is abig thing.
So you want to be thatcourteous, conscientious, um,

(04:01):
diligent agent in order tocontinue to create more and more
uh clients.
So um I'd say for me it wasgetting out and the exposure,
which is not an easy thing forme because I'm an introvert by
heart.
So trying to be an extrovert oroperate as an extrovert.

(04:25):
Oh, I crash and burn orsometimes, or I just go home and
I'd rather just sit in my ownspace for a minute.
But yeah, it forces you to bean extrovert for sure.

Yeah, um, I know I was one of those one to
two year people that didn't makeit out.
Um, because I got my license,and then I just kind of decided
like this was not gonna be forme because the more senior uh um
realtors had me doing all oftheir open houses and saying,
hey, this is gonna be um a wayto catch clients, but it wasn't.

(05:02):
It was really just your licky,your looky loo neighbors trying
to see what your house lookedlike.

And it was it's it's a lot of that.
It is it is almost that umyou're playing the numbers game.
Yeah.
So, and you do have to becreative in how you solicit
business or find business.
I have had some success withopen houses, um, but like you
said, a lot of them, you standin there by yourself, or there

(05:32):
are just the neighbors that arelooking loser, people who
already have clients, whoalready have an agent.
So it's playing the numbers,and how many of them do you do,
and how many are your results.
I know when I first started,um, I was told the door knockers
were the thing.
And I passed out thousands ofthem.

(05:53):
I sent them through the mail, Idrove around in the car with
canvas and neighborhoods, thingslike that.
And when I looked at thestatistics, the time vested
wasn't the wisest thing for meto do at the time.
So I had to shift from that.
So it was a learning processthat first year for sure.

So, as the magnificent realtor that you
are, you helped me find myhouse.
And I am not an easy person toshop for.
I'm very picky.
We looked at a lot of hell.
We did in a in a short, short,short period of time.
I think we had looked atprobably like 40 houses.

(06:36):
Yeah.

And like, but you knew pretty quickly when we
went through some of the houses.
Um so this was it, this was notit.
We didn't spend, so that wasgood.
Yeah, so um, and and we had alot of drives for you because I
didn't have a particular areaout in those country road areas,

(06:59):
so we had an adventure, but umI I think you you know your
house when you see it for mostpeople.
And I just had a client thatwas that was similar to that,
and it's also been able to reacha client.
So um we actually went undercontract for a house and then

(07:20):
started running into some repairsnag issues that became a
concern after the inspection.
So we went there to look oversome of those things, and I can
tell his facial expression hadchanged.
It was different.
So we left the house because atfirst he was excited, he liked
the house, and I saw his facialexpression change, right?

(07:43):
So I called him, I said, Howare you feeling about this?
Because and he said, I don'tknow.
I I I thought this was the one,but this is not the house.
And I said, I could tell byyour facial expression it was
not.
So we recently just closed onhis house and he has been

(08:04):
excited that entire time.
But I'm under the belief I'mnot gonna try to encourage you
to buy something that I can tellis not your house because I
want you to be happy with that'sa major purchase for you.
Yeah, that's where you're gonnalive.
And I think about you, and Ithink I hope she's still happy
in her house.
Oh yes, man, we love yourkitchen, right?

Right?
Oh, we're gonna do the book.
Uh we're gonna do a photo shootfor the book in the kitchen.
So yeah.

Oh, yes.
So I think about that, and yourgreat room is huge and it's
just beautiful.
So we I think about that, eventhough we saw that many houses,
it weren't that bad.
But I got all the fireplaces.
Oh my gosh.
That's what I said.

That was the house.
It had Deanna's backyard, ithad all my fireplaces.
Camping in that backyard.

I'm waiting for the trails to get put in, right?
Yeah, yeah, too.
So but it's an amazing house,and I still hope that the family
is growing well in it becauseit's important for a family,
right?
Yeah.
To have a comfortable spacethat you're happy in.
Um, so homes do more than justincrease in revenue or value,

(09:25):
um, monetary value.
It also can increase um justfamily growth, the spirit of the
family, to know you're ahomeowner, to uh have pride in
your space, your kids see youaccomplish these things.
It's it's more than just thehouse, right?

Yeah, especially for me, because, and
I know y'all don't like when Isay this, but this is my death
house.
This is the house I'm going todie in.
I'm not moving ever again.
And a lot of that comes fromthe fact that I moved every year
as a kid because my motheralways had that upward mobility,
wanting to do better for usbecause something wasn't right

(10:07):
with wherever we was.
But it caused me to be uprootedall the time.
And so when I became an adultand I'm like, okay, I bought the
first house, that was cool.
It was the best I could do forwhere I was.
You know where I was.
And um this house was gonna bethat death house.

(10:28):
And the reason I decided Iwanted that house to be the
house I was gonna live in anddie in, but not only transition
me from my youth, but into myolder age, was because I had
seen members of my family havemobility issues.
So a lot of times I ruled outhouses because the master
bedroom was not on the firstfloor.

(10:49):
I was gonna say that.
Yeah, bathroom, baby, the cleanquarters.
Look, yes, yes, the house iseverything.
I'm talking to you.

Almost bad at one point.
Um, the bathroom is amazing.
So that was a big factor foryou is being able to have that
owner's suite on the same floor.
Yeah, on the main floor.
Oh my gosh, yeah.

I was picky.
Oh my gosh, you did good.
You ain't showing nofrustration.

You was hoping the car on to the next one.
We don't find it.
I was confident we would findsomething.
Yeah.
So then I think we would findsomething like four fireplaces
with it.
Oh my gosh.
I love this.

I know.
I was so excited about thefireplaces.
I think the first couple ofparties we had all four
fireplaces uh burn at the sametime.
Yeah, I go through a lot ofwood.

I know.
I saw a lot of trees back thatyou got something to cut down.

Yeah, yeah.

At least all of that is your hard work,
everything that you do.
So it was an honor to help youfind that, to watch you
accomplish those things.
It was amazing.
And you had just come out of awedding.
So it's inspiration to the restof your girlfriends, right?
So we all are other women thatum you just do the work and

(12:16):
diligently, those things willpay off eventually.
So you accomplish yourself.
Good job.

Yeah, and the interesting part of like me
buying a house was when we wereset to close, my aunt died.
And I was like, fuck thathouse.
I don't I don't need no house.
I don't care about nothing.
It's done.
And I know the the loan officerwas like, I just need this

(12:45):
piece of paper.
I just I I felt so bad.

I know, but that but you had a great group of
people, you know, that everybodywent running behind you.
What do you need me to get?
Because we knew you werehitting that wall.
Yeah.
But you had a lot going on.
And we said, she's she's goingthrough a lot.
So what do you need?
Because it was even with withdoing the deposit of the wire,
and somebody else was running tobe like, well, we gotta help

(13:11):
her get some of this stuff.
So that was great, and a lot oftimes that's important too, to
be able to have people aroundyou that are supportive.

AD (13:22):
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Parker.
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are, reclaiming your place, andrising stronger than ever.
Because you're not justsurviving, you're becoming.
And that's powerful.
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(13:45):
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That that whole time was rough because
right after that, I had thebariatric surgery.
And then we couldn't liftnothing.
We moved in like a couple ofdays after we got back from
Mexico.
And y'all had to put the wholehouse together.
I ain't know what nothing was,but I couldn't eat, so it didn't

(14:16):
really matter.
Right.

I didn't know how you did all that.
I didn't.
I was like, oh my gosh, thatwas a lot to do at one time.

Yeah, yeah.
Y'all are amazing.
I'm always standing off justhow y'all have always had my
back.

Your aunt was amazing.
I miss her too.
She was a lot of fun.
Well, she was so yes.
She was, she was, she was lovedyour house too.
Yeah.
We know that.

And she was when she was in the hospital and
we was, I was showing her andtalking to her about it.
She was like, Yeah, I want youto have that.
She was excited about it.
And that was also part thatwent into my decision because
before she went in the umhospital, my goal was to have
enough room for her to be onthat first floor.

(15:05):
So she would be right there.
I had forgot about that.

Girl.
Sometimes people don't knowwhat you deal with behind the
scenes.
Right.
Everything else looks pictureperfect.
They have no idea what you'redealing with, what you're
smiling through every single dayand keep pushing forward.
Yeah.
And so if I can help someoneget to those things and
accomplish their end goal, I'mthere for it.

Because we talk all the time about, you
know, you have to keep goingbecause life is going to happen.
It's not going to stop justbecause you had this thing
happen.
So how do you get to the otherside where you already saw
yourself accomplishing andmaking progress on your goal?
You can't give up on it justbecause it died.
So figuring out how to build inthose supports, um, figuring

(15:58):
out who you can offloadsomething to.
Um, yeah.

But doesn't it make it that much sweeter when
you get to the other side andyou realize what you pushed
through?
That I didn't let these things,these hurdles, I jumped over
them instead of running dead,smack into them, or I went
around them, um, and I figuredit out.
So it just makes it that muchmore rewarding that I that I
still accomplished.

(16:23):
It may not always look like youpictured it, yeah, but just
accomplishing it and continuingon.
And you may have to maneuver alittle bit, but we do it.
And we keep persevering, right?
It just feels so much better.
I did it with all this stuff,and I know we've all had it with
a whole lot going on behind thescenes that nobody knows about,

(16:47):
right?
And you just steady pushingforward anyway.
So I get it.
Them sleepless nights.
Up all nights, um, notsleeping, staying up late night,
working, pushing through.
Okay.

Yeah.
And as within your journey, thething you haven't mentioned is
being a primary caregiver.
And that in and of itself is ahuge weight.
Because you have to putsomebody else's needs according
to you, like, oh, I have these17 things to do, but now I have

(17:24):
to take care of this otherperson, and now that list has to
be prioritized to I can getthese three done.
So how do you pick what thatday is gonna look like?
What things are gonna get thepriority of the day?

Um, sometimes I don't get to pick it, it picks
itself, right?
And I know that you you're toldyou have to manage your day,
but sometimes when you are acaregiver, you have no control
over what's gonna happen in thatsituation.
But um you manage it.

(17:56):
That was the nice thing aboutum being an entrepreneur, an
entrepreneur myself, because Icould adjust my schedule to
accommodate that.
So um dealing with a parent whois um struggling with memory
loss, right?

(18:16):
Yeah, um, sometimes you go overthere and then you find
yourself having to stay longerthan you anticipated, or doing
more than you anticipated havingto do, or getting into
conversations that you didn'tanticipate, or the stress level.
But no, most people do not wantto hear you whine complain all

(18:39):
the time.
And in business, you can't goin with a lot of excuses.
You still have a job to do.
So many times you you'reputting on that face and still
going to do the job, but theyjust don't know that right
before you got there, you weredealing with something that was
stressful, or you have to pushback an appointment or ask

(19:03):
someone else to take theappointment for you, and then um
apologize for it later.
So just try as much as I couldto not have to do that and work
through it.
But there were some days that Ijust I just didn't have a
choice.
Yeah.
And so there was a time,especially last year, I had to

(19:26):
take a little step back from mybusiness because she needed me
several days a week.
So I was there more than I washome.

Yeah.

But a lot of people don't know that.
They don't know the squirrelsmoved into my garage because I
wasn't there.
So I then had to get back andlet them know I'm back home.
Y'all gotta leave.
We can't live here togethernow.
So um, but you just you justpush through it.

(19:59):
And so now that she's in aposition where she's uh I have
more help with her than um itallowed me to get back to my
business.
And that's great because youhave to throw yourself a
lifeline too.
And I needed a lifeline becauseum it was a lot, it was a lot
to do to watch a parent who wasan educator, a nurse, and now

(20:22):
all of a sudden she is um don'tdoesn't even recognize me
sometimes or know who I am.
So um it was it's spent a lot.

Yeah.
So the other thing that Iwanted to talk to you a little
bit about is our relationshipwith our environment.
Now, as I said, part of megoing into buying my house was I
wanted my backyard to look likeDeanna's backyard.
It still does not.
It does not because I have notput that level of energy into

(20:59):
it.
However, you go into some ofthese houses and they are not in
the best condition.
Um, maybe the people are goingthrough stuff, there's clutter
when you're trying to helpsomebody sell their house or be
in a position to um maybe get abigger profit margin on their

(21:22):
house because sometimes thestate that it's currently in
devalues the actual property.
So, how do you have thatconversation with them?
And what are some things andtips you can give people that
help them with selling theirhouse and getting the best for
it?

One of the big things is a professional needs
to lay eyes on it, right?
A real estate agent, a salesagent.
Um, because sometimes theamount of money you're gonna put
in it may not get you um thereturn.
So sometimes you're better offreducing the price than selling

(22:00):
the house as is doing certainwork to just um try to make the
house a little more appealing.
So it is just a house, a perhouse decision.
Um so so basically you do apunch list, is what happens when
going and I look at things thatneed to be taken care of and

(22:22):
then uh figure out how muchthat's gonna cost.
And if this house is in bettercondition, what does other
houses in the same conditionlook like in that market in that
area?
And will that pay off?
If you put 10,000 in it, willyou get 20,000 out?

(22:42):
If you put 10,000, will youonly get $5,000 more?
So, and a lot of times umpeople do a lot of cosmetic work
or or upgrades to a house thatthe neighborhood just doesn't
carry.
So you can't put golden toiletsin.

(23:07):
And then you're in a hundredthousand dollar neighborhood and
think you're gonna get threehundred thousand dollars for
your house.
It just doesn't work that way.
And sometimes you have toexplain that to people.
It's great you have a hot tuband you know, out back in a
jacuzzi tub, and and you put in,you know, the most expensive

(23:27):
flooring and granitecountertops, but the
neighborhood doesn't pull thatand still be on the market for a
long time.
So sometimes people want toinsist and they have you have to
let them find out.
Yeah.
That's all you can do.
So yeah, so it just is a it's acase-by-case thing.
Just have to look at it andkind of go through and then sit

(23:48):
down and have that conversationwith people.

Yeah, that's a rough one because sometimes the
value that they put on thehouse is more emotional than
realizing it's like when you goto the supermarket.
Am I gonna buy the Walmartbrand or am I gonna buy
Kellogg's brand?
Yes.
So it's pretty much, yeah.

And for you, for instance, your neighborhood,
you could do some stuff to yourbackyard and you're gonna pull
it because of just your zip codethat you're in.
So, yeah, so you you wouldn'thave an issue with that.
Um, again, you can't put theTaja Hall in your backyard,
though.

I don't think the deer would let me.

I think.
But you have plenty of space todo a lot of stuff in the back
there.
Yeah, yeah.
So I think you have like two,three patios already.
Talk about mine.
I I do have two patios.
You have two patios because Iremember thinking I would be
having breakfast on this one,and then I spent my evening back

(24:49):
here.

I live in front of the fireplace.
I don't like I no longer needthe outdoors as a fireplace.

Because at the O driveway, depending on
everybody, you know, people comein.
So that's that was even reallynice because when y'all
descended on you, it was just wehave plenty of things.
Right.
I was playing the parkingattendant for reparking
everybody's cars.
Yeah.
So in your instance, you wouldhave more room so um for
upgrades and do some things thatwould affect the price.

(25:20):
If and when you decide to toupgrade, because it may not be
your final only house, but younever know.
It's a death house.

It's already been marked.
That's what it is.
This is where I'm die.
Um, but I want to thank you forsharing all your wisdom about
being a primary caregiver, thebeginning tips of becoming an
agent, some of the things thatyou can learn and do differently
to be successful, have somelongevity in the market.

(25:52):
Thank you for coming andsharing your wisdom.

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Center, where healing isn't justpossible, it's powerful.
BF Empowerment Center helpsindividuals break barriers,
build healthier relationships,and unlock their true potential
for lasting transformation.
Follow at Clean BL Parker or BFEmpowerment.
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(26:18):
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Powerfully broken empowered youto overcome unhealthy
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