Today we’d like to introduce you to Sophia McCormick.
Hi Sophia, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Currently, I am a Realtor with Next Step Realty. I started in the Real Estate Industry in Property Management simply because I wanted a discount on the rent of my first apartment. That initial leasing job turned into a long career in Property Management working for a handful of Residential Property Management roles ranging from leasing to bookkeeping and ultimately a Property Manager. In between, I also worked as a New Home Sales Rep for a National Builder. In 2018 I knew I wanted to leave property management but didn’t know what my next step would be. I started by deciding I would no longer live on-site where I worked.
I reached out to an old classmate who I knew was a Realtor to meet to discuss her helping me purchase my first home. By the end of our coffee meeting, I had decided I would join her new Real Estate team she was starting and she told me I could be my first client and sell myself my first home! Later, that year I passed my real estate exam and quit my full-time job to become a full-time realtor!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not always been smooth. Real estate by nature is a roller coaster because it is so unpredictable. When I started, I expected immediate success. At one point pretty early on, I wondered if I had made the right decision to become a full-time Realtor. My now husband (boyfriend at the time) told me to just work for the next six months without focusing on the results and reevaluate again at the end of that six months. Shortly after that conversation, I got a listing and closed my first transaction! It was a only $50K listing but it was the spark I needed to keep going. I ended up selling almost $6M of real estate in my first year, over $7M in my second year, and over $10M in my third year!
Within those numbers though are a lot of challenging transactions.
Also, during this time, I dealt with a medical condition, fibroids, that severely affected my health. For about 1-2 weeks each month, I was in severe pain and had decreased energy. Some days I could barely get out of bed because of the combination of the fibroids and also my depression which is something I have had to manage for as long as I can remember but really deepened after the passing of my mother in 2005.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a full-time MD Realtor. I can help anyone with Real Estate in MD but I specialize in Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Anne Arundel County, Prince George’s County, and Montgomery County. I help buyers and sellers with resales, new construction, and land purchases. What sets me apart is my unique set of life and work experiences. I have done everything from teaching English in Japan to managing budgets for luxury high-rises. I am most proud of my ability to solve problems and my resilience and grit.
Many people do not know that when I was in college, our family lost our family home in foreclosure so it gives me great pride today to be able to help my clients buy and sell real estate. On the days when it was hard for me to get out of bed, I was thankful for my clients because they gave me the motivation to get up and attempt to do something great.
Networking and finding a mentor can have a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
I have been really fortunate to have some really great mentors. I always found them organically but I also think I am extremely coachable and good at forming relationships with people I respect and admire. I love learning from people who are at the place where I want to be.
My advice would be to identify the people inside and outside of your organization that are where you want to be and reach out to them to start some type of friendship or mentoring relationship.
Also, don’t be afraid to be uncomfortable. I throw myself into uncomfortable situations and have done so most of my adult life. Even though I am usually terrified, I also know that nothing good comes from being too comfortable all of the time.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sophiamccormick.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sophiamccormickrealtor/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sophiamccormickrealtor/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLcuL_yBpRV7c4JVEwhfS7A
Image Credits
James Harper, Sophia Bednarik and Lauren McMullen
