Patricia Dinkins - Realtor

Have you ever wondered how a personal passion can evolve into a thriving career that shapes the lives of others? Patricia Dinkins of P Dinkins Residential Properties with Samson Properties joins us to share just that—her seamless blend of personal interests and professional expertise in creating wealth and stability through real estate. With a heartfelt commitment to navigating life's milestones, like divorce or entering golden years, Patricia's story is a beacon for anyone seeking to leave a lasting legacy.

This episode is a tapestry woven from Patricia's colorful experiences, her innovative marketing strategies, and the intimate client relationships she fosters beyond the closing table. She opens a window into the vibrant world of Northern Virginia's housing market, and then takes us on a journey through the irreplaceable value of cultural exploration. Whether it's a transformative property sale or the anticipation of her next travel destination, Patricia's narrative is a poignant reminder that living with purpose often starts with a single step outside our comfort zone.

Transcript

Real Estate and Marketing Insights

Speaker 1 0:00

My name is Patricia Dinkins of P Dinkins Residential Properties with Samson Properties . My tagline is legacy , wealth and stability . So I help individuals create legacy for their families , stability and wealth , and I do this by being a negotiator , a life coach sometimes , because sometimes people have life , be life and , as they say , sometimes an educator , negotiator , just leading them through the process so they can have success in their home life or home transactions .

Speaker 2 0:31

That's right . Can you tell me why that is so important for clients to have , like when are they calling you up , like you know what this is going on ?

Speaker 1 0:39

They need your help .

Speaker 2 0:41

Let me know .

Speaker 1 0:41

Okay . So they call me when the home no longer meets their needs . So either they want to become homeowners or there's a definite family divorce , or they're too old , because this year I've changed my niche to the 50 plus communities , because I'm in that age range and my dad , as I told you , turns 92 today , so he's in that age range too . So I want to protect them , so I want to protect them , basically just giving them success that they need in making their dream come true .

Speaker 2 1:11

I love that . Tell me your story Like . Who were you as a kid that led you to this journey in your life , to this point .

Speaker 1 1:18

Well , I think the kid part doesn't play into me getting to this point . Okay , what does play into it is I was engaged at one time and he and I would go around visiting open houses , so we both were supposed to do it together . But we didn't get married . But nonetheless we were supposed to go into the business together and we were like we can do that . So , like I said , didn't take place . So years passed down the road and I was like I'm going to get my real estate license . I love that .

Speaker 2 1:44

But who were you as a kid ?

Speaker 1 1:46

Who was ?

Speaker 2 1:46

I yeah , Like what do you mean ? Like what did you like to do ? What did you grow up listening to ? Like we want to get to know the person behind the business . Okay , how were you like ?

Speaker 1 1:55

I'm like crafts Okay , excuse me , I like being creative and that plays into my business too , because I love marketing and so marketing allows me to be creative , also Loving crafts , like I'm going to movies , what else ? I used to go bike riding with my girlfriends George Washington Park , where we used to go down there and bike ride , so I guess that's about it , yeah .

Speaker 2 2:18

Okay , yeah , and what kind of music did you grow up listening to ?

Speaker 1 2:21

Oh , probably definitely R&B , r&b .

Speaker 2 2:23

I love me some R&B .

Speaker 1 2:24

Yeah , r&b yeah .

Speaker 2 2:26

Love that and can you ? You said marketing is a big role .

Speaker 1 2:30

I love marketing .

Speaker 2 2:31

Yes . So tell me , what advice would you give to any entrepreneurs who are looking to market themselves and putting themselves out there ?

Speaker 1 2:39

Basically market yourself by being creative , opening to new ideas , getting out there and networking , because networking is so important . Also , there's a saying that you may have heard it it's not who you know who knows you .

Speaker 2 2:51

So Haven't heard that one . Okay , I'll put that one in my pocket . Okay , be my guest . Thank you , and can you tell me a little bit of what you do for your business with marketing , like , how are you putting yourself out there , your business , Okay , like I said , I'm starting this year to do more networking to get my name out there .

Speaker 1 3:10

Also , of course , social media stuff .

Speaker 2 3:12

I was going to ask like anything online .

Speaker 1 3:13

Yes , online social media Facebook and IG , doing podcasts . I just recently signed up for this software where people can search for my name on Alexa and other devices like that . So doing that . Advertising in different program booklets one of the schools down the street from me . They're having an auction so we can advertise in their booklet , advertise in Inova , so just do a lot of advertising .

Speaker 2 3:44

I love that . I love that you're doing it like physically . You know it's not just online , you're out there putting your name in . For some people they've totally shifted just because of what's available to them now . So I find that very amazing that you're like still , you can also get to know people that way as well . And like hey , this is my name , this is what I do . It gives people like you know what I really like ? This person I want to like , support them . I want to do that .

Speaker 1 4:08

Yeah , and I love doing videos too . So I have a YouTube channel and I do post videos on IG , on YouTube .

Speaker 2 4:16

That is good . I hope that you're putting that informational stats and all that good stuff out there , but also definitely personality , definitely .

Speaker 1 4:24

Yeah , yeah , yeah . Like I said , I love the creativity of it .

Speaker 2 4:28

How did that get started ? How did you dip your feet into showing people your videos and just putting play on that camera and recording yourself ?

Speaker 1 4:36

The coaches that the powers that be say the new thing is video .

Speaker 2 4:40

That's right . They did not lie . They don't lie .

Speaker 1 4:42

So I just started doing it and my girlfriend always tells me well , you can do it off the , you know , off the fly , the top of your head . I don't need a script or anything like that . I just started doing stuff so it just comes natural to me .

Speaker 2 4:53

Okay , yeah , and I see you've got some stats here . Anything you want to share with us ?

Speaker 1 4:56

Yes , I'd like to share the stats for January and February , please do Okay . So the market stats . This is for Northern Virginia . So in January 771 homes sold , but in February 1,020 homes sold . So it's moving up the number of homes sold . The median price for January was 650,000 . February 687,250 .

Speaker 2 5:22

So things I'm looking up they are a little clout for you .

Speaker 1 5:28

The month inventory Now in January there was only 0.7 . That's moved up a little bit . 0.9 months of inventory . So that basically means it would take 0.9 for everything that's on the market to sell out . Still low inventory .

Speaker 2 5:43

Yeah .

Speaker 1 5:44

Average days on the market for January is 29 days , February 22 days . Like I said , things are looking up .

Speaker 2 5:51

We love to hear that .

Speaker 1 5:52

Yes , I do too . Of course . The number of pending sales for January was 1,072, . Pending sales for February 1,227 . I'll speed this up Housing inventory for January is 981 . For February , 1,153, . Houses of inventory and the new listings for January is well , it's 1,070 , for February 1,255 . So everything's looking up basically .

Speaker 2 6:22

I love that I mean even interest rates .

Speaker 1 6:25

they're not like the threes . Lenders say that it'll never go back to the threes . That's what I hear , so don't look for it .

Speaker 2 6:33

Sorry , sorry , folks Don't look for it , so it's probably like those sixes .

Speaker 1 6:38

It'll end up being , hopefully the end of the year , mid-sixes somewhere around there .

Speaker 2 6:41

Wow , I love that you have that projection for you , because a lot of people say a lot of different stuff . They're like you know what , I don't know , but the number one thing that I hear is like don't wait for that three , because you're not going to be getting that number three .

Speaker 1 6:52

But I always tell my men have mentees also , so I always tell them you got to know some stats . You can't just tell people , oh , the market's looking up , you have to have some information to give them .

Speaker 2 7:02

And I think you're the first one to bring that . So thank you so much for bringing it , you're welcome . You should show it to the camera too and be like look at that , we got the stats y'all Right here , right here . Perfect , give me both angles . And now tell me a little bit how you're keeping up to date with what's going on in the market . Like to help you and your potential buyers and sellers to help .

Speaker 1 7:23

Basically I go to the National Association of Realtors or Northern Virginia Association of Realtors and look up the monthly stats . Also my brokerage . They provide us with the stats every month as well .

Speaker 2 7:34

OK , so you guys are really on top of that . You got to be .

Speaker 1 7:37

Yeah .

Speaker 2 7:38

And what are some strategies that you found during your career that have really helped you as a real estate agent ?

Speaker 1 7:44

Strategies , being personable , being real . If you don't know , say you don't know . Don't try to , I guess , bamboozle or stonewall the clients . So , basically , being honest to who you are .

Speaker 2 8:00

Honest to his policy . I like that and what are some tips that you would like to give to any first time home buyers ? They're not sure where to look , where to go , what to do . What would you like for them to know ? If anybody's listening .

Speaker 1 8:14

First time home buyers . What you should do is first make sure you start saving . Don't overextend your credit when your first step is to get that pre-approval , because if you don't get the pre-approval , you start looking and you end up disappointed because you have in your mind , oh , I like this house , but then you find out you can't afford the house . So then you feel it all depressed or whatever .

Speaker 2 8:40

Sad .

Speaker 1 8:41

Right , sad , depressed or whatever . And also , once you get the pre-approval , don't change money , don't move your money around in your bank accounts , don't go out and buy a bit cost items , don't take a new credit card . So basically keep everything the same during that time , because that can mess up your loan .

Speaker 2 9:00

That's good advice there , because I feel like a lot of people forget they're like do I need to move this here ?

Speaker 1 9:03

so ?

Speaker 2 9:03

it'll look good Right . Will it show when my credit goes through .

Speaker 1 9:06

Right and you're thinking about oh , I'm getting this house , I'm going to go out and buy some new furniture . Don't do it , folks , until you get the house .

Speaker 2 9:12

Wow , that is actually a really good advice , because I mean , I'm not on the market for a house right now looking . I just don't feel like I'm there and being realistic with myself here . But that is something that I'm definitely going to consider and I'm sure other people are like wow , I didn't even think that when I buy a house , go buy all that furniture .

Speaker 1 9:28

That's something that seems like a common thing that you would want to do , but actually it's not Right , because you may think you know you want a new house , but you also want a new car . Yeah , you can't do both of them at the same time . No , ma'am , no , if you're getting the house , get the house , get the car later .

Speaker 2 9:43

I love that , yeah . What employees do you currently have ? Me personally .

Speaker 1 9:48

I'm a solopreneur . Oh okay , I'm not on a team or anything .

Speaker 2 9:51

Okay , so that's good to know . Have you ever considered getting help , not like with another real estate agent , but maybe or like any assistance just with helping you like organization putting stuff out on social media for ?

Speaker 1 10:01

you , I thought about it , but I like the creativity about it . Now , when I have a whole lot of clients , it's best to have someone , because if you're having buyers and sellers , the buyers are running you around all over the place , so you need someone to help you with the paperwork and stuff like that .

Speaker 2 10:19

Okay , okay , yeah , and I love that you said that , that you love the creativity part , so you creating it and putting it out there like that's your little passion .

Speaker 1 10:25

That's me , yeah . I love that All the way .

Speaker 2 10:29

And then have you had any weird requests ever from any potential home buyers or clients in general , like requests like , hmm , I want a house , but it definitely has to have this , and you're just like that's a weird request . But you know what ? I think I know a home Anything like that .

Speaker 1 10:44

Yeah , Unfortunately no weird requests . I've had some rude clients before but not weird requests for homes now For homes .

Speaker 2 10:53

Okay , have you ever had any experience with anything like haunted or potentially haunted homes ?

Speaker 1 11:00

I want to say yes and no . I showed one of my clients the house and when she walked in there she's like something doesn't feel right about this house .

Speaker 2 11:08

Oh my .

Speaker 1 11:10

And so she didn't stay in there long . So after we got out of the house I told her . I said someone did die in the house . Oh my goodness .

Speaker 2 11:17

See , this is why I asked , because it's crazy to hear these stories and the fact that she just followed her intuition . I don't know something . You didn't say that . And then you're like actually that's crazy , yeah .

Speaker 1 11:29

And I have gone to show another house , and when we went in there , like upstairs , they had like candles all around and then they had like the witchcraft in general . Oh no , so we didn't stay in there either . Oh my goodness .

Speaker 2 11:41

So you were showing the home and they just had that there , like they had that .

Speaker 1 11:44

The people had it upstairs in their house .

Speaker 2 11:46

Yeah , I don't know if that's one way to sell home . I mean no judgment . You guys you , do you , but that's very interesting .

Speaker 1 11:52

Yeah , so those are the , I guess , the weirdest things .

Speaker 2 11:55

Okay , thank you for sharing that I'm always so curious to know . So , thank you . And then , for any real estate agents or any people who are working in the real estate industry , what advice would you like to give them as far as personality goes , like what's an ideal real estate personality that you think people should have ?

Speaker 1 12:16

That's kind of hard because we each work differently . Like I said , I would say , being honest , be yourself , because every client is not meant for every agent . So you may meet somebody and you all may clash or whatever . They're good for another type of agent . So just be yourself , be true to who you are . And I always tell new people who are thinking about getting into the real estate business . I let them know in front . It's a hustle business . It's not something where you can just lay back and chill . You definitely have to work , okay , yeah .

Client Relationships in Real Estate

Speaker 2 12:49

And then how important is it to you to build and keep those relationships with your clients even after you've made that transaction ?

Speaker 1 12:57

It's very important because they may give you a referral . Exactly , exactly , yeah . So it's very important Not only that , you don't want them to think that you are only interested in the transaction , you don't want to just sell them a house and dump them .

Speaker 2 13:12

No , no , I love that . Do some clients ever go to you for some advice in the area , like when they're moving out of state or they're like do you know where the best ? This and so on so is , how are you keeping up to date with that information for them when and if they ask you that ?

Speaker 1 13:28

No one's really asked . One client moved to Alabama , but that was her home . I met someone this past Sunday when I was doing an open house . She was kind of new to the area and I asked her . I said , well , are you , you definitely want to stick to this area ? She said well , and I was like , how about Fairfax ? How about Springfield ? She's like , well , I'm not familiar with that . I said , well , there's a metro there . You know that you can consider . So yeah , so it's basically just knowing certain areas where people want to move to . I love that , yeah .

Speaker 2 13:59

And then , what do you like to do in your free time , like when you're not selling homes and bringing up all the information and doing your research ? Who are you outside of ?

Speaker 1 14:07

that I love to travel .

Speaker 2 14:09

Tell me where you've been .

Speaker 1 14:11

I've been to Germany , Dubai , of course , places in the United States , but the big one is coming up in April . I'm going to Singapore .

Speaker 2 14:22

Oh , my goodness . You have like a little curiosity bug in you to travel .

Speaker 1 14:27

And I've always . You know you talk about what type of person I was as a child . I've always loved culture and languages , although I'm not proficient in anything which I was , but I've always loved culture and languages .

Speaker 2 14:39

I love that . What made you want to go to Singapore ?

Speaker 1 14:42

This is funny . I was watching one of the TV shows I can't think of it now the one where they're chasing around the different countries . You know what I'm talking about .

Speaker 2 14:54

Chasing around different . I don't .

Speaker 1 14:55

They're on teams and they're going here and there getting tasks of different . Anyway , it was a TV show , Maybe Survivor or something like that .

Speaker 2 15:01

No , the other one I don't know .

Speaker 1 15:04

Maybe one of us could think of it , but guys , it's a TV show on there . We promise and you probably know what I'm talking about yes , about there going around different places in the country , and Singapore was one of the places that they showed . Okay , and they went to Singapore . I'm like oh wow , that looks interesting . I think I want to go to Singapore . So that's how Singapore because of a TV show .

Speaker 2 15:24

Love that . Yeah , I'm curious . What wasn't that interested you ? What did they do ? Or was it a food ? They show a location ?

Speaker 1 15:30

a land , just the landscape environment , and I'm into architecture as well , so I like the architecture of the buildings . So I was like that looks interesting .

Speaker 2 15:38

I love that . Are you going to go alone , or how are you going to go ? I was going to go alone .

Speaker 1 15:42

But one of my girlfriends , pat , I don't want you to go alone , I said , but it says it's one of the safest places you can go .

Speaker 2 15:46

Okay , but I'm glad someone's going with me .

Speaker 1 15:49

That's what my other girlfriend said . She's glad that one of my other girlfriends is going with me .

Speaker 2 15:53

Yes , I had another guest that I was talking to . They like to travel on their own and I think that's really awesome and I think there's something to be said about somebody who likes to go out on their own and I'm sure you don't have to depend on any plan around you .

Speaker 2 16:04

But I feel nervous Sometimes . You just can't wait on people . You're so right . But man , I mean that's amazing . Good for you for having that courage , because even sometimes I feel nervous to go to a concert by myself . I'm like I need someone with me .

Speaker 1 16:20

Concert . I'm not sure . I've gone to Vermont , Not Vermont , rhode Island by myself . Okay , yeah , because I just wanted to get to myself . Okay , I'll go to Rhode Island by myself . You don't have to worry about asking somebody where you want to eat or what you want to do you just do your thing . I love that You're inspiring me .

Speaker 2 16:38

Maybe I'll consider You're the second person who likes to travel like that . But , I'm glad your girlfriend's going with you nonetheless .

Speaker 1 16:45

Okay .

Speaker 2 16:45

Shout out girlfriend .

Speaker 1 16:46

Okay .

Speaker 2 16:47

Shout out Dorela . Yes , yes , you'll see that when we get to your little shorts , but all right . Just to wrap this up , one more question . If you could leave our listeners with one message , what would that message be ? It can be in regards to your industry , or anything in the world or in life , or something in your heart , a message .

Speaker 1 17:06

I guess I can give two messages .

Speaker 2 17:07

Yes .

Speaker 1 17:09

First message is a real estate message . Real estate is one of the best investments that a person can make . For example , one client was in her house four years . She sold it after four years and she netted over $70,000 . So I mean stock market's good , but real estate's better . So consider investing in real estate

Finding Your Purpose

Speaker 1 17:29

.

Speaker 2 17:29

And then , before you get to that second message where can people find you ? What's the name of your website ?

Speaker 1 17:34

Oh , wow , the website . It's long , okay , so the website is Patricia Dinkins . D-s-n-d-e-v-i-n-k-e-n-s-s-n-s-a-m-d-s-o-n-propertiesnet . All right .

Speaker 2 17:52

And then what's the second message ?

Speaker 1 17:54

The second message is we all have a purpose in life . So once you find your purpose , don't be afraid to say it . Step off your comfort zone and pursue your passion .

Speaker 2 18:02

I love that . Thank you so much for being here today .

Speaker 1 18:04

Thank you for having me again . I love it . Yes , absolutely .

Speaker 2 18:07

Thank you .