Podcast

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here’s your host, Cabo Jim.

Schaller. Welcome Good Neighbors to episode number 121 of the Good Neighbor Podcast, estero. Today we have Good Neighbor realtor Ally Miller Welcome.

Hi Jim Cabo Jim, how are you?

I am awesome. I’m excited to learn about you and your story, so why don’t we jump in? You’re a realtor, obviously, but why don’t you share a little bit about what you do and who you serve?

Well, thanks for having me. I’m a full-time realtor. I’ve been doing it almost 11 years and I am very committed to helping buyers and sellers get to their next level in life. It’s a very rewarding profession.

And that’s what you got to focus on. You got to have a passion, you got to have a desire, you got to love what you do. So how did you get involved in real estate?

Well, I’ve been working for advertising agencies for most of my adult career and during that tenure there was a period where I did most of high-end luxury and we did a lot of the marketing materials for developers and builders. And that’s when I realized that, oh, something was clicking, that I really, really enjoyed that aspect of the marketing. Oh, something was clicking, that I really really enjoyed that aspect of the marketing. So that’s when I figured, okay, after about 15 years in that business, that I was ready for a change. So I started to look into interior design. And then when I realized how comprehensive that was going to be, that I figured, since I’ve already been to college, I’ve already kind of done all that education, had professional experience. I wasn’t looking to really completely start all over again.

So I went. My husband said why don’t you? You know you’re really good with the floor plans and you have a passion for the design why don’t you maybe take that into the real estate aspect? And it really never dawned on me. And so I did. I jumped in, got my license and 11 years later I wish I would have done this 30 years ago.

Right, a little hindsight. You look back, you’re like I thought. I was going to do this, but I like doing this so much better.

Yeah, I really found my calling.

That’s and that’s great. So have you notice things change within the industry in your 11 years since you’ve been in it?

Absolutely. I mean, I wasn’t in it, right, you know, because the market really changed in 08. So it was really good 05, 06. I wasn’t in real estate 08, 09 is when it really changed and I didn’t get into it until about 13, 2013. So what I would say from that whole time right now there’s a little bit of a shake up in the industry because of some of the headlines and some antitrust issues. So some, this is going to be the biggest change the real estate industry, besides market wise, has changed in a very long time.

Interesting. So are there any maybe myths or misconceptions surrounding the real estate industry that we could clear up for our listeners?

Yes, 100 percent that this is an easy job and all we do is open a door and make hundreds of thousands of dollars. It’s definitely not like what you see on TV. It is a lot of hard work and a lot of building relationships and going back to basics, because it takes a while to go from A to Z and we don’t get paid until we close on a sale. So we can work months without getting paid and I think people forget that aspect. They just see like the quick ones and sometimes there’s a lot of hard ones in between.

Yeah, there’s a lot of work that realtors do in the background that people don’t realize. You know, even trying to sell you the home yourself or trying to go to a different realtor. I mean there’s a lot of things that go on that people don’t realize.

Absolutely. We’re like the conductor, because when you have a stage conductor, everybody reports to I mean to the producer, because everybody reports to them. They talk to them. No, they don’t really talk to each other. So we’re like the producer, you know, we talk to all of the resources that have to make this deal come together and hopefully make the both sides a win-win. You know transaction.

Absolutely, and, like so many things nowadays, things change so quickly as far as rules, regulations, guidelines and the way you know, rates, things like that.

Absolutely Everything affects one thing or another.

Absolutely so are you from Southwest Florida originally.

I am not. I actually was born in New York but lived there till I was five. I grew up in Miami and then I lived there during Hurricane Andrew and then after that, where I was working because I was still in college, I kind of got my way up to Boca Raton and that’s how I ended up moving to the East Coast, like a little bit in Palm Beach County, and I’ve been there for a very long time. So my husband’s been wanting to move to this coast and here we are, and that’s the challenge of my life is building a local business on the East Coast and having to start all over in the East.

Coast yeah.

They are different. It’s Florida, but they’re very different, it’s so funny, you say that because two hours away and it is.

It’s worlds apart.

Yep, yep, well, what’s that? And then even you talk north-south. What do they say? The further south you get in Florida, the more northern you get.

That’s true, right.

It’s crazy, but no, we love this coast and it’s going through, like much of Florida, through such a great expansion and growth you know there is opportunity has slowed down a little bit, so us people down here are taking a breath.

That’s true, but you know, we all live in paradise and everybody wants a little piece of paradise.

Exactly, can’t blame them. Cannot blame them, it just costs to live in paradise. It does. It does, but it’s worth the price. So are there things that you enjoy doing outside of work?

Absolutely. We love exploring, especially being in a newer area to us, since we’ve been on the other coast for a very long time. We love to take day trips and go explore. We don’t mind jumping in the car and going and, of course, fine dining. There’s lots of great restaurants here, so we like good wine, we love great champagne and that’s what we do. We go explore new restaurants and just kind of take in the sights.

Exactly, yeah, you get a different feeling over over here. As far as I would say. It’s more Florida in a sense, but old Florida, you could enjoy some of that paradise. They could enjoy some of that paradise.

So is there one thing maybe that our listeners should know about you and maybe Domain that they don’t know you know? One thing I think it’s important to note is that realtors because I think the industry kind of gets a little bit of a bad mark but we are licensed professionals just like a doctor, an attorney, a financial planner. We’re not just salespeople because, like when you go shop for a car, you go shop for furniture, those are salespeople. You don’t have to be licensed for that. So you know, it may be easy to get the license, but it’s definitely not easy to have a fiduciary responsibility from A to Z for somebody who you know is spending one of the biggest investments that they own. So I just would like people in the public to remember that we are professionals and even though we talk about commission a lot, I mean it is a professional, professional fee, just like an attorney and a doctor, and hopefully they’ll shop on skill and not price right, it’s good.

That’s a great point, because you go to a doctor, because he’s the cheapest yeah, I mean, who’s going to open, do my open heart surgery? Yeah, right, right he’s the cheapest exactly yeah, you know you want to do that, you want to do that exactly.

And then, like you mentioned, it’s one of the biggest purchases in somebody’s life, so cheapest.

Exactly. Yeah, you know you want to do that, you want to do that Exactly. And then, like you mentioned, it’s one of the biggest purchases in somebody’s life, so they need to have that expertise and that knowledge to make sure that you know it works out down the line and in the future.

Yeah.

So is there anything else that you wish our listeners maybe knew about you, whether personally or with work?

Yeah, I mean, I have a lot of real customer reviews. If you want to search me on Google and you know, I know everybody knows a realtor but if you don’t, I would appreciate the opportunity to meet you and see if I’m a good fit for either buying or selling with you, and if you’re not in the market right now, then maybe you have everybody knows somebody that’s selling or buying.

So you know, this podcast is a great way just to get some exposure and we appreciate the opportunity to do that. So if you don’t know a realtor, then Allie Agent is who you need to look for.

I love it. I love it. So how would they go about getting a hold of you if they were interested?

Yeah, so they could find me at alleyagent. com. They could search properties free, safe and secure on my website and Domain Realty. We have a beautiful office that’s right on 41 in Bonita Springs, that’s the main office, right next to Angelina’s restaurant. And there’s offices in Naples and Fort Myers. So we serve all of you know Lee and Collier counties in Fort Myers. So we serve all of you know Lee and Collier counties.

So look, look me up and let’s see, let’s meet in the office and get to know each other. I love it, allie, thank you for being such a good neighbor. It was wonderful getting to know you and I hope to see you out in the community here soon.

Great. Thank you, Jim.

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast Estero. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpastero. com. That’s gnpastero. com, or call 239-296-2621.