Buying + selling homes is easier than ever. We asked this agent why—what she said
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When you’ve been in real estate for 26 years like Patti Schreiner, you’ve seen a lot of changes in the industry. Since the long-time agent just moved over to ARC Realty’s Hoover office a month ago, we wanted to know why she chose ARC and what they offer that makes her buyers’ and sellers’ experience so smooth. Here’s what she told us.
Meet Patti Schreiner, ARC Realty agent
- Years in real estate: 26
- Previous profession: Jazzercise teacher
- Lives in: Shelby County
- Works in: ARC Realty’s Hoover office
Bham Now: How did you get into real estate?
Schreiner: “I’ve been in real estate 26 years and have loved every minute.
When we bought our first house in Birmingham, my husband stayed in North Carolina with our two young girls and I came by myself. The Realtor and I worked together for three or four days and had the best time. I thought ‘some day when I don’t have young children, I want to do this.’
The kids finished elementary school, high school, college, then I did it. It was hard to leave my other job, but I moved over to what I wanted to do.
I have met the coolest people through real estate. I love that clients become friends, and I work with many of them again when they are ready to sell and buy another house. They often refer me to their family and friends, so I have the pleasure of working with them as well.”
Bham Now: What’s your favorite part about working in real estate?
Schreiner: “All the people. That’s what I love the most. I love to work with people, all kinds. They’re all so different and just fascinating to me.”
Bham Now: What made you decide to switch to ARC Realty?
Schreiner: “We moved to Shelby county in July 2020, and the Hoover ARC office is five minutes from our house. After driving past that office six to eight times a day on the way to my previous office when I needed to get things, I started looking into making the switch. Learning about the tools and services ARC provides to Realtors sealed the deal.”
Bham Now: What does ARC provide that makes your job easier while making your buyers’ and sellers’ experience better?
Schreiner: “Since COVID, we’ve moved more toward virtual and paperless on everything. We were headed in that direction anyway, and COVID sped up the process.
ARC has a great system in place where we can show a property virtually on Zoom, or with an iPhone walkthrough. Then we can write up the offer and have the buyer sign it using docusign. Then we can send it to the listing agent to present it to the sellers.
From there, we talk about it over the phone and they can make a counter-offer.
It’s kind of crazy to think that you can show a property, write the offer, get it worked out and to the closing table having never met in person or touched a piece of paper.”
Bham Now: Is there one thing that really stands out to you?
Schreiner: “The marketing department at ARC is absolutely phenomenal. They make it easy for Realtors to do any kind of marketing we want to do. At the push of a button you can let them know what you want. They design it, send a proof, make changes, send it to the printer and deliver it to the office where the agent is later that day or the next morning.”
Bham Now: What does this mean to potential sellers?
Schreiner: “If you are a seller, things can happen fast. If you want your home listed and on the market in two or three days, we can get everything done that quickly. If you want to wait a couple of weeks, that’s fine, too. But the point is, we can push some buttons on the ARC Realty website to get things done quickly without having to go anywhere.”
Bham Now: How does the buyer find out if a home has, let’s say, a wet basement, or a smell?
Schreiner: “We always recommend that the buyer has a home inspection. The inspector has to go to the actual house and in all the rooms. They also inspect the exterior of the house. The buyer might go during or after the inspection to get a summary of what they found.”
Bham Now: What’s it been like, transitioning from another company to becoming ARC Realty agent?
Schreiner: “Lots of businesses shut down when the nation was shutting down. ARC never did. They kept going in a different way than they had been, with everything on Zoom.
We have training classes on Zoom to make sure we’re up to speed on the newest things coming out. All of the continuing ed that’s required to keep our licenses is on Zoom.
It’s been a very smooth transition.”
Want to learn more? Visit ARC Realty Hoover’s website today.
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