Business Innovators Radio - Interview with Corina Fieger, Broker Associate with Colorado Home Realty

Episode Date: November 28, 2023

A natural teacher and facilitator, Corinna is happiest when helping others. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Elementary Education and was an elementary teacher for about 20 years. Perhaps that explains her unusual amount of patience! She loves helping her buyers find the perfect home and will search for and show as many as it takes to get there.When it comes to sellers, she is a go-the-extra-mile kind of gal. Whatever is needed, Corinna doesn’t hesitate to dive in and help. She has been known to mop floors, clean out storage units and even maneuver through a dirt crawl space to check out a hot water heater! While initially, she may seem reserved, as you get to know her, you’ll see her outgoing nature, as well as her creativity and kindness. She would tell you that being kind is one of the best things you can be! Inspired by honest and hardworking people who tend to see the bright side of most situations, Corinna wants to create a positive experience and help as many people as possible achieve their goals of homeownership.A self-described homebody, Corinna appreciates more than most the importance of feeling comfortable and secure at home. She wants every client she works with to feel the same and to be educated and confident in their real estate decisions. When she’s not rolling up her sleeves to create a world-class experience for her clients, you will likely find Corinna at one of her kids’ sporting events including soccer, volleyball, track, and basketball. Her household also enthusiastically supports all Colorado sports teams! When time allows, she loves hiking with her family, watching movies, playing games, walking the dog, or getting lost in some good historical fiction. Her creative outlets include organizing events, painting, interior design, baking, and cooking. She hopes to travel to all seven continents in her lifetime. She’s well on her way, having visited four: North and South America, Europe, and Australia. In the meantime, she and her family take lots of road trips around the US including her home state of Wyoming and the Black Hills of South Dakota where she has family roots. What is Corinna most proud of? Her kids. They are growing into kind, smart, creative people. Words Corinna lives by: If you don’t start, you won’t arrive. Take a deep breath, continue on, and persevere!Learn more: https://corinnafieger.coloradohomerealty.com/Elite Real Estate Leaders Podcasthttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/elite-real-estate-leaders-podcastSource: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-corina-fieger-broker-associate-with-colorado-home-realty

Welcome to the Elite Real Estate Leaders Podcast, brought to you by Trailstone Insurance Group, bringing you interviews with the best real estate and mortgage professionals, empowering you to understand the current trends in the housing market so that you make the American dream your reality. Enjoy today's episode. Welcome to the Elite Real Estate Leaders Podcast. Today we have with us, Karina Figer, who's a broker-associate with Colorado Home Realty. Karina, welcome to the program. Mike, thank you. Hey, I'm looking forward to chatting with you, but before we get into what you do

and how you do it, give us a little bit of your story and background. How'd you get into the industry? Right. So I come from an education background. So I was an elementary school teacher for over 20 years, decided I needed a career change and had always been interested in real estate, have family members who are involved in real estate as investors, as brokers, and I thought it was a good next step, allowed me some more flexibility. My kids were little. And so that's kind of was, this is my second career. So that's where I went. You know, I think the neat thing is when you talk to people that come out of education, they've got a really unique set of skills that is poised to really make you successful in an industry

like real estate because I'll bet you if I gave you a pop quiz and said, do you love being a salesperson? You would say, no. And that's wonderful because nobody likes to be sold, but they need their needs met. So I think when you can approach serving your clients with value and teaching them and educating them, it just comes natural to you. I'm certain. So why don't you tell us a little bit about your approach to serving your clients through the perspective of helping them fully understand.

and feel like they're making the right decision rather than being told a bunch of stuff. Right. Yeah. And that's exactly how I approach it from an educational and advisory standpoint versus a sales standpoint. You know, I've had clients that's taken us three houses to find their forever home. And I've had clients where we've looked at over 100 homes, super patient and allow my clients to, you know, kind of develop their own paths. and decide what they like and what they don't like and what's going to fit for them, try to educate them about the whole process so that nothing comes up that's super scary.

I work with quite a few first-time homebuyers, and so I think there's a lot of fear around not knowing, and so once people know, they feel more empowered to make educated decisions about what they want to do. Yeah, because, you know, there's an old saying, like, people like to buy, but they don't like to be sold. meaning don't push me. You know, don't, don't make me feel icky. Don't, don't say what's it going to take to get you, you know, just talk. Just treat me like you're human, you know. So what do you find some of the approaches are like, let's just say a first time home buyer?

What are some of their concerns that they typically have that when they're coming to you, that they're worried about and then you're able to help smooth them through and understand the process? Right. I think the first thing I guide most, anybody who's looking for a home is to, speak to a lender, partner first. So the budget is set. They're not afraid of those numbers. They kind of know what they're comfortable with and know what they're looking for. Sometimes, especially in the Denver market, it is kind of a little disappointing what your dollar will get you. So to come out of the gate with that ammunition to know, like, you know, this is my budget and this is where I'm

comfortable at. And so let's find a place that fits my needs financially as well as at. And as in a home. I think that's that's huge. I also think the inspection process is kind of scary. So I like to try to and I guess educate my buyers about that process as well. That, you know, they have the right to have an inspector come in there and check everything out. And those people are very professional and can give them a good idea of what homeownership looks like. I try to partner with inspectors that kind of have the same philosophy and lenders as well. Like, you know, they're in the education game as well and to tell people, you know, this is how you can qualify and this is what we do and these are your steps and this is the paperwork I need or during the inspections. Like, you know, this is just this is pretty normal.

This is not normal. This is how you upkeep your home if you've never owned one. Those kind of things. It's just to have to build that team. and as part of your education process. Yeah. And having your art teacher and your music teacher and your PE teacher. Right, right.

And that comes from experience. You know, like when you personally do a transaction and then there's a hiccup and then you learn and then you learn how to prevent it next time, you can then tell the next client, oh, hey, you know what? Here's something that I noticed with Honda Associations or whatever the case might be. Like, we need to make sure that we take care of this up front or, you know, there's some potential delays. So let's get this paperwork submitted up front so that it's a nice smooth process. So you're always just constantly learning and tweaking and updating. Right. And just sharing what you know and what you learn with people.

I was doing kind of a final walkthrough with some folks yesterday and there was a light switch that wasn't working. And I'm like, well, I said it's probably one of the outlets on the wall. Look for one that's upside down because that will be the one that's ran by the switch. And they're like, we've never, we did not ever know that. And I'm like, there you go. Tricks of the trade. So just that's constantly the hat I have on and just like to tell people. And even after the transaction, keep people educated about, you know, their home.

And I send out periodical emails, periodic emails like, hey, we're going to get our first freeze. Have you done this, this and this to get your house ready for winter? Yeah, I think it doesn't end at the end. It's neat because, you know, you go, you finish up the transaction and you go to the the closing, but in reality, it's an opening because you're opening a relationship and you just exemplified what real estate professionals should be doing, staying a touch afterwards and giving tips and helping. And so that's really, that's really awesome. Yeah, because I'm definitely a home body. And so, you know, building your home and fluffing your nest is very important to me and

taking care of that. And I like all the things about that. I'm just super excited. to help people get into their home and then super excited to help them make it their their home. Yeah. So what do you find some common misconceptions are that people have about the real estate process, whether buying or selling? And how do you address those? Right. I think if we're doing our job, right, your client should not fill a lot of the stress of the transaction that they don't know what goes on behind the scenes, you know, in negotiations and contract knowledge. and that kind of thing. And I think sometimes real estate agents get a bad rap.

We don't just, you know, drive around in our Mercedes and open doors. You know, I've, yeah, there's a lot that goes into it. And a lot of knowledge that you need to have in order to help people make informed decisions. And not what are you doing to stay up to date with those, that knowledge and market trends? I mean, because a lot of things change and, and you got to. You've got to keep up to date so that you can then educate your prospects and clients. Right. Our brokerage does a fantastic job of we get weekly emails with market updates and all the numbers,

showing us kind of where the market is moving in the number game. I'm an avid learner. I'm constantly taking classes. I think the last one I just took was about how methamphetamine is changing, like, some of the homes that we sell. And that was super informative and learned a lot of things that I would never have known otherwise. And now I know what to look for, especially, you know, in some of other neighborhoods.

And, you know, especially if it said this home had been a rental property. I think that happens a lot just to help protect people. And so I, if I see a class come across that looks interesting to me and I feel like my clients would benefit from it or I've had that situation. before and would like more education about it, I actively pursue those type of learning opportunities. Yeah, that's important. But I think our brokerage does a great job of keeping us up to date on the numbers. Yeah, for sure.

Hey, so can you think of any tips or strategies that sellers should keep in mind to maximize the value of their house when listing it? Because a lot of it is, you know, like prep and curb appeal and all that. but what are some of the main things that you teach your sellers? Right. I think the huge thing is, is if you know you're going to sell your house that keep up on your everyday maintenance or your, you know, annual maintenance and just make sure that you are keeping all of your systems clean and ready to go, like furnish, your air conditioning, your windows,

you know, cocking around your windows, your plumbing, that you address those things as they come up. And then also when you're getting ready to sell, you know, kind of neutralizing everything in your home is a great start. Neutral paint colors, neutral flooring, you know, take down your family pictures and just kind of make everything a neutral space. So buyers can come into your home and go, yeah, I can see myself here. And there's not a glaring forest green wall. And I don't know what to do with that. You might love this or that color, but I really think that that neutral is a pretty big. AHA.

It is. Yeah. But I do think that, yeah, keeping your home well maintained is a great place to start. And if you know you're going to sell your home, maybe even have an home inspector come in and do like a presale inspection. So they can catch those things that you can fix. Now, when people aren't in the heat of the moment. And that's a good point. And bail because, you know, your furnace hasn't been serviced in three years.

Yeah. And then you're behind the eight ball because it's like, we got to close and we got to get this. And if you did that up front, because, you know, home inspections aren't horribly expensive. So if you know, you're going to sell and you get it done now and you go, oh, look, there's some little minor things. So, okay, I can work on that. But if it is major, then now you've got a little bit of runway ahead of the deal. Right.

Yeah. and you'll know, oh, you know, maybe we need to give this a break and have, you know, someone come in and fix this and get it repaired before we put our house on the market. And then you can market that, you know, if you put something like a new roof or sewer line, that's marketable. You can say, hey. Yeah, brand new furnace, brand of a furnace. Yeah, exactly.

Awesome. So I'm sure that working with first-time homebuyers or people in maybe tense situations like we have to sell so that, can you think of any interest? or memorable experiences you've had with when working with clients? They're all memorable. All the clients. I always learn something new with all of my clients. Yeah, but I do really, I had a client this year that she did not feel safe where she was

currently living and some different people had moved in. it was a condo place and she just didn't feel safe there any longer. And so we really dug in and found her a place where she feels accepted and safe and has security. And it made me feel really well, really good to get her well established in a neighborhood that she felt more at home and a little safer in. So that was, that's probably my favorite transaction so far this year was that just, helping and we sold her old place and, you know, moved her into a new place. And she's just absolutely loving it. That's awesome because you have made, that's more than a transaction.

That's like quality of life. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And that's always super fun. And I always, I really love when I walk into a home and like if I've looked at, you know, dozens and dozens of homes with clients and if I see the home and I walk in there with them and I'm like, yep. this is it. Like I know this is going to be the house that's theirs and to see them light up and go, yep, this is it. It's really a very satisfying feeling to know. That is awesome. You have found their perfect place. And I had some sellers last year that had bought some property in Wisconsin in the woods and we're going to build their forever home there. And so I knew it was a couple years out when they would sell. And then all of a sudden, their

plans changed and they needed to sell and they were moving to their forever dream home or dream property. They're still building their home. But to be able to up that and since I'd been in communication with them and we'd kept an eye on the numbers for so long, they sold at a really good time in the Denver market before interest rates increased and, you know, they had multiple offers and got a great deal on their house and made some cash and moved to the woods. So, And that was kind of a cool, cool thing too. Yeah, that's awesome. Hey, so what would you say kind of wrapping up what sets Colorado home realty and your service apart from other options in the area?

Right. Well, I definitely think we are a full service brokerage. Everyone I work with there just goes above and beyond what you would typically think a realtor should do. I mean, I've cleaned houses. I've taken stuff to the dump. I've had colleagues that have painted and have done yard work for their clients. I think we just take it one step above. And then I feel like, well, now those people are my friends, too, and the colleagues.

And I got to coffee with them and to lunch. And I celebrate the births of their babies. And it's just you build a relationship, which is super exciting. It's just not a transaction. You're building a relationship. I love it. That is great. Well, I tell you, it's been really interesting learning what you do and how you do it.

And I really appreciate you coming on. If someone is interested in learning more about what you do and then also reaching out and connecting with you, what is the best way they can do that, Karina. The best way it probably is to text or give me a call. And my phone number is 303-513-1971. or they can just email me as well at Karina at Colorado Home Realty.com. Excellent. Well, thank you so much for coming on. It's been a real pleasure talking with you. Thank you, Mike. Have a good one. Thank you for listening to the Elite Real Estate Leaders podcast.

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