Meet Patrice Boenzi a Realtor at Fathom Realty, who is also a credentialed minister. Fathom Realty, provides her with all the tools she needs to be successful while keeping her splits almost non-existent. It was Patrice’s first business decision and one of the best ones she has made. Patrice pastored for 15 years and left the full-time ministry to pursue the ministry idea that she needed to fund.
After leaving pastoring, Patrice got her real estate license and started her career by flipping homes, purchasing rentals, and building her client base. Patrice has her Senior Real Estate Specialist designated and she loves to help her clients downsize.
The Problem Solver
As a business leader, Patrice loves solving problems, thinking out of the box, educating the consumer, and helping her clients reach their real estate goals. This “rush” keeps Patrice going. As an active real estate investor, she brings a different set of skills that help her clients prepare their homes for the market (to get top dollar); as well as, creative, out-of-the-box negotiation skills in this tough market.
When A Pandemic Shook the World
As opposed to other businesses, Patrice’s business thrived during the pandemic. She always leads with value and keeps in contact with her past clients and the pandemic allowed Patrice to check in and make sure everyone was okay. During the pandemic, Patrice learned to do things differently. She utilized Zoom for listing appointments and to meet new buyers. She witnessed people moving out of state, upsizing, and selling to take advantage of the low-interest rates. The pandemic affected the real estate industry as a whole in many ways. Patrice observed people having the freedom to work from anywhere which catapulted people to sell their properties for different options. Additionally, Patrice witnessed, second home prices soar as people had the opportunity to work from home. Historically low-interest rates encouraged people to make a housing change if they were on the fence.
Tackling Challenges
The main challenge for Patrice is low inventory and rising home prices. This combination is making it hard for some of Patrice’s first-time buyers to secure a home. In addition, in her experience, she is seeing buyers with FHA or VA loans having a harder time securing a property.
Patrice also tackles these problems by sending out postcards to potential sellers, networking with other agents, and making sure their lending options are solid. For her FHA and VA buyers, Patrice advocates for them with the listing agent and writes an offer that is solid and creative!
“In sales, no matter what industry, people buy from someone they know, love and trust; work your sphere!”
Patrice feels blessed with many accomplishments and achievements in her short time as a Realtor. She started her real estate journey full-time in January 2017. During her first year in real estate, she was Broker’s MVP and has been a top producer since she started. Patrice was on the cover of Top Agent Magazine, and in 2021 received two awards from her MLS board – Gold for top 3% Sales Volume and Diamond for Top 2% Transactions. In 2021, she was the top producing agent in her brokerage for the State of Illinois.
Suggestions for Younger Self
Patrice is a mentor for Fathom Realty and loves to train new agents to be successful. She feels, that entrepreneurs need to understand that no one is going to wake them up in the morning or hound them to do what they need to do; that must come from within. There are no shortcuts! The Millions are in the Follow-up. No Excuses! She says, “As entrepreneurs, we are responsible for running every aspect of our business and figure out what needs to be delegated.” Patrice feels many entre – preneurs want to be in control of every aspect of their business, but this mindset eventually slows them down. Entrepreneurs need to understand their value and how much their time costs. Shortly after Patrice launched her real estate career she hired a transaction coordinator, who took so much off Patrice’s plate that she was able to be in front of clients more which turned into more happy clients and more revenue.
Future Roadmap
In the next five years, Patrice Boenzi sees herself with several other types of income-producing proper – ties. She is making a shift to duplicate herself more, especially in this market. Patrice Boenzi is working on building a team of buyer’s agents, listing agents, and showing agents so she and her team, can service more clients and together.
