The Alimond Show
Welcome to The Alimond Show --join us as we share our entrepreneurial guests' stories, uncover their secrets to success, and explore the unique paths they've taken to build thriving businesses in our community.
In each episode, our host, Aliyah Dastour, sits down with a diverse group of local business owners, from the corner cafe to the boutique shop, from tech startups to family-run enterprises. We peel back the curtain to reveal the trials, triumphs, and transformational moments that have shaped their entrepreneurial journey.
Discover the passion, perseverance, and innovative thinking that fuels these businesses, as well as the challenges they've overcome along the way. Whether you're a budding entrepreneur seeking inspiration or simply a curious listener interested in the stories behind your favorite local spots, The Alimond Show has something for everyone.
Our guests share their experiences, insights, and valuable advice that can empower you to turn your own dreams into reality. We discuss topics like marketing strategies, customer relationships, community engagement, and much more, offering practical takeaways you can apply to your own business or career.
Join us every week as we celebrate the unsung heroes of our local business community and explore the vibrant tapestry of entrepreneurship in our area. Tune in to The Alimond Show and get ready to be inspired, informed, and motivated to support and nurture the businesses that make our community thrive.
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The Alimond Show
Jennifer Warner: From Broker to Resilient Real Estate Advocate and Community Builder
Curious about how to navigate the ever-changing landscape of residential real estate? Join us as we sit down with Jennifer Warner, an associate broker and realtor with Fathom Realty, who runs Jen Warner Homes. Jennifer's unique approach to real estate emphasizes listening to each client's individual needs and adapting accordingly. Learn about the current market challenges, including inventory shortages and fluctuating interest rates, and gain insights into the rewarding nature of helping clients find not just a house, but a true home and community. Jennifer's passion is illuminated through touching anecdotes and valuable lessons from her diverse professional background.
In an equally inspiring turn, Jennifer shares her personal journey of resilience and transformation following a life-altering car accident. This pivotal event led to a profound rebranding and instilled in her a renewed perspective on life and work. Explore the impact of trauma on personal growth and how Jennifer's 18-month recovery period reshaped her future aspirations. Get motivated by her emphasis on relationships and community engagement, and her encouragement to face challenges head-on. This episode is a rich resource for anyone looking to overcome fears in a tough market and accelerate their growth through real-world experience. Don't miss out on this treasure trove of insights.
My name is Jennifer Warner. I am an associate broker and realtor with Fathom Realty. My company is called Jen Warner Homes and I am a residential realtor.
Speaker 2:Okay, and tell me a little bit about how you help your clients and what they're usually coming to you for.
Speaker 1:How I help my clients depends on the client. Clients depends on the client. There's not a one size fits all so you can have an experience-based process to get them through. But it's much like I can't ever tell anybody I can promise you a stress-free experience, because everybody has different stressors. No house is the same, no property the same, no person is the same. Nobody's needs are the same, so I have to listen. Everybody's needs are the same, so I have to listen, absorb, adapt and kind of pull it together.
Speaker 1:It's like somebody throwing pieces of a puzzle at you and you gather them as you go to form the bigger picture. So I would say that the best way I can help my clients is by using my past experiences, whether it's, you know, my own personal experiences. I've been a renter, I've been a landlord, I've been a first-time homebuyer, I've bought new construction, I bought a total do-over house, I've upsized, I've downsized, I've moved across straight lines, I've moved alone, I've moved with kids, with pets. So you take some of those experiences, combined with the experiences you've had in the past with other clients and other situations, and kind of roll it in to a bigger, more hopefully streamlined process.
Speaker 2:I was not aware that you had all these hats and like a different point of views of, like how you yourself were a seller or a buyer once right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you have to bring that to the table to really understand what they're going through.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And now give me a little bit of a background about who you are, who you were and how it got you to this point and how you got into the real estate industry. That's a long story Give me a nice little summarization, but don't miss any key points.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So again, I've worn a lot of hats, as most people have. So I have been a business analyst on a government contract. I did client relationship management for a software company. I did some retail. I did a great time as a stay-at-home mom, which I think was one of the most important jobs I've ever had Very challenging job, job. And then I had some moves, apparently with all the past history, and I had some not so great experiences and I was in a transitional part of my life where I needed a change and that involved going back to work and I was trying to think about what I was going to do and I thought you know, I could probably do some of that better. And boy won't this be great. It'll give me flexibility, because being a mom was still hands-on, parent was still so important. I don't know where I got that understanding that it was very flexible and it is, but it's a challenging job.
Speaker 1:It's a seven-day-a-week job but I love it and I tell you it was the first client I ever had was a rental and they were moving from out of state and everything was so new to them and I felt kind of tour guide and hand-holding and they had their own challenges to get through and we did it and it was one of the most rewarding things I had done in any of my jobs was providing that service and some of that just grew. That passion for it grew over time with different experiences that I had in understanding how important home was. You know it's a safety net, it's your comfort zone. And then it transitioned into not only the home and the four walls that you live in but the community that you're in. You have to really love where you live, not just your house but the area around you and your lifestyle. And so, there again, the business kept growing, my love for the industry kept growing and it's been a really great journey for me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but you give me a couple of insights currently on how your market is doing or some challenges, of how you guys are trying to overcome it or how you're dealing with that.
Speaker 1:There's always challenges. The market is always different, whether it's the crash or economic conditions, or there's always something, and that's what makes this job so much fun. I used to work in a cubicle looking at numbers as an analyst and now I'm out in the street and I'm interacting with people. So challenges now you don't look at challenges from a nationwide vantage point. Real estate is very hyper-local. So I can say inventory is tight, but maybe not in certain areas or at certain price points, and that's what makes this everything so very fluid, which makes it fun. So you're constantly recreating. I can say, hey, I sold a house when COVID hit and people were not going anywhere, and here I am trying to market this property. You know how do you do that. Or you're trying to find a house in an area where there haven't been more than seven sales in 12 months, you know, and you kind of feel like Dog the Bounty Hunter out there hunting for the house and it's fun.
Speaker 1:So right now I'd say yes, there's some inventory challenges. I see some changes. I think the interest rate issues have. You know, they've normalized a bit more. It's not horrible, you know, 6%, 7% when you look at it from a, you know, bigger picture view. Historically, I remember my parents paying something like 18%, 17%, 18% back in the day, you know. So if you need the time, for me the time, the right time to buy a house, is when you need it, and then you work within the budget that you're given to get the house that you can afford that fits. And remember, a lot of these houses aren't going to be your forever home. Most people move within five to nine years. So you live in it, you're building some equity and then you kind of transition up or maybe you transition down, or maybe you transition out of the area.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love how thorough you are in these explanations because you just gave me something to think about. It's not just the house you're buying, but also the area that you're living in. And it's just like I know maybe for some people who have experience when they're looking for homes. I know maybe for some people who have experience when they're looking for homes, but maybe if I was someone new in the real estate looking for a new house, I don't know why I feel like not just my location is important, but like, oh, I love this house, but maybe the location is not good. I don't think about those things yet because I haven't looked into it. So I love how thorough you are and you kind of like just having this conversation with you. I feel like you're helping me and holding my hand.
Speaker 1:As someone who doesn't have that much experience, so I think that's great.
Speaker 2:I love that. That's what I hope to do. Yes, I think it's so important for real estate agents brokerages to have really close relationships with their current clients, their past clients and maybe future clients. It's a trust issue, but you have to remember past clients and maybe future clients.
Speaker 1:It's a trust issue. But you have to remember I can't say you know, I go out to build relationships, I provide a service. You have to provide a service and be of value first. The relationship is a result of your work, of your service, and that's the way I look at it. It just kind of comes naturally. It should. You know you're working with somebody.
Speaker 1:A house is really personal. Think of it as you know, it's your private space and it's going to be their future private space and sometimes, as far as finding the right fit, they're sharing some, I guess, somewhat private information, some details. So you get to know them kind of organically, much like a hairdresser, you know, as a pseudo therapist, you know. So you get to know them kind of organically, much like a hairdresser, you know, as a pseudo therapist, you know you get. You get some of this private aspect of somebody as you're going through planning. You know there's this private space so it kind of grows organically. But yes, you should nurture it. It's very important to nurture it because there's a continuing trust factor there.
Speaker 1:And that was one of my issues early on with my own real estate experiences. I felt kind of like a dump and run the person you know, agent did a great job of marketing my house, but it was sign here, sign there. There wasn't a lot of explanation. The whole thing seemed kind of whirlwind. Trust me, trust me, you know, okay, I didn't know what I was doing. I was in my twenties and when it was all said and done I was like what just happened? What is going on? And then the second time, and then never heard from them ever again. So I noticed that every time I did a real estate transaction, I tended to do it with somebody different.
Speaker 1:And now, being in that role and forming this relationship, you kind of don't want to. You're so intensive with your communication for several weeks, sometimes months, and then just to drop off the face of the planet is kind of hard. And then it becomes awkward the longer that the time goes on. You have nothing to say.
Speaker 1:There might be something of value, something going on in your area, an event coming up hey, I'm going to be nearby, or I drove by, I saw your house, so there's a way to stay in touch so that you gain that trust. And then, when you go out and do your marketing, you're not marketing to strangers and starting from scratch over and over again. If you really like working with that person and you stay in touch, chances are they're going to refer you to their friends. If you like them, you're probably going to refer your friends and then work becomes that much more fun because you're working with people you know jointly, that you know like trust, and then your marketing can be spent on you know kind of enriching and servicing the people that you've worked with before and then gaining new friends along the way.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. That's a great way to look at it. On that note of marketing, how are you using, are you using social media right now to market yourself, make?
Speaker 1:some like tip videos. No, and I am going through a rebrand which I'm super excited about. Talk to me about that I'm super excited about. So one of my kind of mantras is to live an experienced based life. I mean, amor Fateh is one of my favorite sayings, which the way I interpret is live a life worth living again and again and again through reincarnation right. So for me that means experiences, and from experiences you gain knowledge, you gain perspective and understanding knowledge you gain perspective and understanding.
Speaker 1:So, and it leads to growth. So as I grow, I find a need to rebrand, and this one I'm very excited about. So when I started in real estate, I dove right into the industry. This could be great. So I have to look the part, I have to act the part. You know this is how I'm going to fit in.
Speaker 1:And then, after a while, I realized you know, you throw yourself into something. It could be any industry or any group. You throw yourself in to conform. Well then, how do you differentiate yourself amongst everybody else? You just tried to fit in with. It doesn't seem to make any sense. And what's wrong with going outside?
Speaker 1:There was an agent in my first brokerage. She's fantastic, and the one thing I noted is they don't look like an agent, they don't dress like an agent, they don't. You know how does this work? And then you slowly realize that they're authentic, they're being who they are and they're attracting their friends. And not only that, they're fantastic, they're experienced, they're skilled, and you put it all together and it's like, wow, that person struck gold.
Speaker 1:So you have to constantly rebrand as you grow, because growth as you age is inevitable. You can be 90 years old and you're still growing. So through the experience you grow and I've come to the realization of you know. This is kind of where I'm leaning at this phase in my life. I live in Western Loudoun, I work there, I play there, I volunteer there and that's where I'm going to do a little bit more of my focus.
Speaker 1:I'm more of a Western Loudoun focused agent. I still have clients all over, all the way from Alexandria to Berryville. But my rebrand is a little bit more organic to me. I'm not, you know, I try and I helped, enlisted the help of a branding professional, because I'm not, you know, the expert on type styles that relay this or that. And it was a very nice, easygoing, very similar conversation to get to know one another and they were able to draw from it and come up with color schemes that really spoke to me and represented me. And you know it's a little bit of both. So my social media, since you asked about it, you have a professional page and you have a personal page. I got rid of my professional page.
Speaker 2:You said I'm going to be authentic through and through.
Speaker 1:It's me, you get me. I kind of have come to the realization for myself that I don't believe in a work-life balance.
Speaker 2:Explain that.
Speaker 1:So you have your mom hat, you have your you know real estate hat, you have your wife hat, you have your friend hat. You have all these different hats. I just wear one hat and sometimes I got to turn it around Right, so, depending on the situation I'm doing. But you get me, you know, and I can be all these different aspects. So, instead of trying to struggle and find this work-life balance, I find myself living a intentionally driven life. This is how I want it to be, this is what I hope for myself. These are the experiences I'm going to learn along the way, and then I kind of wrap it all up and I try and share it with others and I use it with my work and my friends and my relationships.
Speaker 2:And yeah that's what I do. So you mentioned that you're always growing, no matter what age, right?
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:What inspired this rebrand for you? Did something occur, or did you come to a realization one day and you were just like you know what? Why am I doing this Like I want to do? I'm curious.
Speaker 1:It started it was actually a slow process. It wasn't like one thing. That's a catalyst. Sometimes it's that slow drip and suddenly you realize the room is flooding. I was really doing well in my position.
Speaker 1:I was on a, I was on a great team and I was with a great brokerage and I had a really bad car accident. I just, you know, I remember bits and pieces and I remember the first time I met my surgeon, after they took me over to Fairfax, and he looked at me and said you're probably going to lose your leg, and that panic, you know, overcomes you. And next thing, you know, you wake up. You know I'm looking down. Do I still have my leg, anything else? So yeah, I had a bad orthopedic injury and I fought through recovery for 18 months and 15 surgeries and I have my leg and I have my foot and I can do these things and that journey in itself lends new perspective.
Speaker 1:But it also gave me an opportunity to kind of step back and observe things from a different viewpoint and a different vantage point that I hadn't seen before. I guess the way certain things operate or do, or what I had been doing, and you know it changes you. These experiences change you and you have to use them as a catalyst for growth. So that was part of my slow realization of, you know, things that were more organic to me. I wanted to do them this way. This became more important to me. I think I can serve other people this way and this way through these different approaches. So slowly over time, you know you kind of mature into yourself. But that was the biggest catalyst for me.
Speaker 2:Wow, I'm glad I asked because I did not know all of this, so this is very inspiring.
Speaker 1:And everybody has a story. They're just different stories.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, man. I'm so glad that your outcome was to have your leg, because, oh my gosh, like I know there's like prosthetics and stuff, but still they're just that concept that you not having your leg anymore.
Speaker 1:There's nothing wrong with it in a way, it's a weird concept, yes, especially when you're like look, I can move my toes. I don't get this, I don't understand. And you know, I asked my kids later on. I didn't really think about what they thought and I said well, how did you feel through all this? Because I was feeling all sorts of things and going through all sorts of things. And they said you know what, even if you lost your leg, you would have, you were a rock to puff, a prosthetic, you would have been fine. And, like we know, you would have been fine because you had determined you had already predetermined your outcome that you would be fine.
Speaker 2:So it's all about your outlook and how you look at things, and you can either sit there and say like, oh, I lost my leg. Woe is me kind of thing, and I know some people handle those situations differently.
Speaker 1:It can be like a total like mental shock for them. But and that's okay, yes, that's okay, everybody has that. But ultimately, yes, I think you can control your destiny to a certain point with your attitude and your grit and your resilience. And sometimes you dig deep and you find things that you didn't even realize that you had, and then the gift is to use that, going forward and share it and, you know, grow from it and change and improve and I feel like I could sit here and talk to you about mile, I'm like.
Speaker 2:But I know this is not about me, but I'm just going to ask you some questions about life because this girl's anytime. Yeah, yeah, thank you. Where do you see yourself as a person and with your business in the next three to five years?
Speaker 1:Three to five years. A lot can change in three to five years, I know so. As a person, I see myself continually striving to grow in relationships. So that includes you know your marriage, your friends in relationships. So that includes you know your marriage, your friends. That's.
Speaker 1:Another thing I learned from my accident is people are like I heard this analogy once and I loved it People are like parts of a tree. You have friends that are leaves, friends that are branches, friends that are roots, and when you go through something traumatic or challenging, sometimes some of those friends drop off like leaves and some, you know, can only take so much and they snap like a branch and others are roots. But then there's always somebody else. For every person that kind of comes out of your life, a new person comes in. So I continue to live my life with that mentality of welcoming, you know, and enlarging my circle, but still, kind of at the same time, some of it gets a little bit smaller and concentrated. I see myself continuing to travel a ton I'm a travel junkie and that includes locally as well as beyond.
Speaker 1:I see myself continuing to grow the business the way I currently envision it, with this rebrand, you know, really focusing on my community more. I love where I live, I love sharing it. I do a lot of relocation work so it's fun to invite people in and kind of feel like the tour guide, you know, and just enriching my circles and my skills and then just, you know, continue to enjoy my family and I'll see where it leads.
Speaker 2:I love that. I'll see where it leads. Yeah, and do you specialize in certain areas of the real estate market, like, do you only focus on investing um only first time buyers? What do you are you looking to like expand that?
Speaker 1:And you know most realtors have done it for a long time. I've done this over 14 years, which isn't the longest, but long enough where I can say I kind of feel like I've worked the whole spectrum of people from those on assistance through the county to those with several million dollars and everything in between. Between. Where I've kind of settled is ranging from first-time homebuyer, which I absolutely love, to sellers, which I also absolutely love, whether it's relocating, downsizing, upsizing you know it's your part of this next chapter they tend to range. Funny enough, they all, most of them tend to be, like I said, referrals. So they all tend to be anything from the first time home buyer, which could be mid twenties, to kind of just before retirement age.
Speaker 1:A little bit of move up, a little bit of move down. Strictly really residential. I do do some land, which is really fun because you really have to dig deep and go into land records and you're walking parcels and throwing your boots on and looking at the potential and you know consulting with different people. You're, you know, getting your clients to consult. I do a little bit of investing, not as much as some others, so principally just residential, you know. Home.
Speaker 1:This is where I'd like to live. I love this song, yeah, sorry. No, you're good, it's okay. Sometimes I catch myself just singing along and then I answer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's funny. Yeah, but no, yeah, we'll just wait for it to ring out.
Speaker 1:She's a classic.
Speaker 2:Yes, her voice is timeless Like. Imagine having, like, a silky smooth voice like that.
Speaker 1:I know, I know I don't have one of those.
Speaker 2:Me neither, but I pretend I do too Exactly. Have I touched on everything Like are there something that you want to get out there that maybe I did not ask you yet?
Speaker 1:No, I guess maybe you know, I hope some people kind of check my Facebook page, or more my Instagram page, as I start to roll out my rebrand. I'm very excited to do that. I'll be doing things like visiting some of my favorite places and inviting people to come along. You know, hey, I'm here today. Why don't you come join me? It's a remote working situation. You know, first iced teas on me, or you know, so I can help introduce some of those things. So I'm excited to see what the reaction is, how people you know receive it, what the comments are. I'm going to stick with it because, like anything else, it's a habit. You just have to keep doing it over and over. So here comes the hard part. Yeah, you know, anytime you do start something new, you have to create that habit and get over that little hump and get over the hump and also get over just the little nervousness of presenting it like starting your first video, which I haven't really done.
Speaker 1:So I'm going to start doing that and maybe sharing I've. You know part of me is very out there, you know, for people to see, and there's always been a part that I've kind of reserved. Sometimes it's things, you know, it could be trials and tribulations because you want to exhibit happy things, but sometimes when we share things like when I shared my accident I had so many comments from people telling me how what I shared helped them and that was fascinating to me. So I thought, you know what, maybe I'll share a little bit more of myself. As I open up and you know people share with me, I'm going to start sharing a little bit more and then start, you know, attracting more people that are like-minded or maybe some people that are complimentary or maybe totally different, and that's fine too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I feel like you would benefit too, also having like getting to know people with your new rebrand, maybe inviting like a group of people who are new to home buying or selling, and maybe do like a going out tea party or just having a conversation, something different right when we can all like have a little croissant together and talk about like okay, what are your needs, what are you? This is she's new here. Yes, she lives over here.
Speaker 1:See it goes in so many different directions. So I'm actually going to gather I have a relocation guide because I am a relocation specialist with the National Mooming Company and I'm going to invite some of my relocation clients together and we're going to talk about what were some of the things that were really challenging for you when you moved into the area, what are some of the things that you really loved, maybe, what were some of the things that worked best for you with the whole moving process, and take that and share that, and I can do that in so many different facets, whether it's first time homebuyers or selling. So I'm excited to see where it goes because I'm learning along the way.
Speaker 2:The world is your oyster on this new journey. It is.
Speaker 1:It is so I'm excited to share with everybody, you know, my current version of myself.
Speaker 2:I guess you can say I'm rooting for you in this new version of you. Yeah. Like wine you know, always and now. My final question is if there is a message or anything in your heart that you would like to share with our audience, it can be in regards to the real estate industry, life, anything. What would that message be, just? One or two, if you really want.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I again, I would encourage others to live that experience based life. Um, and part of that experience of I really do and I can say wholeheartedly from my own experiences is um, having a home is one of those experiences I'm so glad I've had, and I've had multiple, and I've shared and I've grown, and it's not just an equity-building thing but it's. You know, that's your safe spot, that's your private spot, that's your memory maker, that's your family, that's your quiet time, it's personal expression. It's so many different things. So don't be afraid, don't think I don't know where to start. I can't do this. You know the market is bad. You know, if you put it off, it's kind of like failure to launch, you know. Or you know, put off rebranding or put off starting that video, you know, just go out there and you can read and read. But the more you experience, I think the faster you learn and the better you can be of service.
Speaker 2:I agree 100%, because that's happened to me where I'm like reading and reading and I don't understand it, and then when I get thrown out there, when you apply it, it's totally different, yep, and I learn much quicker. So I totally resonate with what you said and I'm sure some listeners will too. So thank you so much for being here and sharing your story.
Speaker 1:Thanks so much for having me.