In this month’s agent spotlight is Lorie Bartron, an agent with Prudential California Realty in Santa Barbara. Lorie has been helping people buy and sell real estate in Santa Barbara County since she received her real estate license in 1988. She is an Associate Manager at Prudential California Realty in Santa Barbara and has also served as Director of Training and as a Mentor to new agents. She has also served on the Board of Directors at the Santa Barbara Association of Realtors and chaired several committees within the association. She is widely respected among her clients and colleagues for her experience and knowledge of all phases of the real estate business and is ranked in the top 2% of Realtors nationwide.

Lorie and I had a great discussion about how she got into the business, what she likes about it, how she uses technology, why she likes minilistings and what keeps her going.

How did you get started in the real estate business?
In 1988, I was working as a business consultant and received a referral for a realtor that needed help organizing her books and files. After getting her organized, she recommended that I get my real estate license and work with her as her real estate assistant. After I got my license, she got cold feet and decided not to hire me. Since I already had the license, I decided to go for it anyway and started out in the business on my own. In my first year, I received the “Rookie of the Year” award!

You’ve been in the business for almost 25 years, what do you like about it?
I really love the business and find it very exciting. Every day brings new challenges and something different to work on. I love working with people, serving and helping my clients with their real estate needs. I find the service oriented aspect of the business very rewarding. I also love that there are no limitations on what you can do or accomplish – the only limitation is the amount of effort and hard work that you are willing to put in.

What is the biggest change you’ve seen during your career?
The level of sophistication of the buyers and sellers has changed dramatically, especially over the last few years. Technology, the internet in particular, allows them to come to me a lot more educated and informed about real estate than ever before. While a higher level of client sophistication can make my job easier, it can also make it more difficult. I have to work hard to improve my marketing to match the client’s knowledge level and expectations. I also have to constantly review the resources and information available on the internet in order to stay current with my clients, if not one step ahead of them.

Speaking of technology, how does it help you with your business?
I’m always interested in learning new technologies and finding ways to integrate them into my work flow to both generate business and help my clients. I’ve invested a lot of time over the years establishing my brand and reputation as a realtor who provides top notch service and sales expertise. My goal is to regularly evaluate the technology I’m using in my business against what’s available to make sure that it exceeds, or is at least at the same level as, the service and sales that I provide to my clients and that they expect.

How do you use mobile technology in your business?
Mobile technology is amazing. It lets me take my entire business with me out of the office and into the field. I use my mobile phone not only for calls but also for texting and emailing clients. In addition, I have an iPad that I use for contracts and to stay in touch with the office while I’m travelling.

What phone are you using?
The iPhone.

As an iPhone user, what is your favorite app?
Mostly, I use a lot of the standard utilities such as the email, calendar, and contact applications. These are invaluable to me. I also use the camera a lot. Outside of that, two of my favorite apps are the eKey application for lock boxes, which I would be lost without, and my miniListings app.

What do you like most about miniListings?
miniListings is a tool that brings a lot of value to my business, and I’ve only integrated it into a small portion of it. Thus far, I found that it really helps me when I’m working with buying clients. If we’re driving by a property, I can use miniListings to quickly pull up the details. Plus if we’re in a neighborhood that a buyer really likes, even though I may be very familiar with the area, it’s so easy to access the app to see what is available around us and to get additional details. Best of all, I can give it to my clients so they can search using their own phone, and if they find something they like, it calls me! I’m excited about the potential opportunities as I integrate it even further into my marketing plans.

You’ve trained and mentored new agents, what‘s the one piece of advice you’d give someone considering a career in real estate?
It’s extremely important that one has the systems in place to run their business before they get started. For example, make sure you get your office setup, design your website, and put a technology plan in place before you get going. Having a plan and implementing it is the key to being successful.

One last question – what keeps you going after nearly 25 years in the business?
The real estate business is very demanding, and it’s hard to stay well rounded, but it’s something I strive for. I like to work hard, but I also like to play hard. I’m very careful with my time and make sure that I make time to spend with my family and on outside activities, such as boating, water-skiing and traveling. I’ve found that letting my hair down (or putting it up in this case) and spending time with my family at the lake wakeboarding is just as important as spending time working on and in my business.

In addition to her successful roles as a real estate agent, wife and mother, Lorie has also sat on the Board Directors for LifeChronicles, a local non-profit corporation based in Santa Barbara. LifeChronicles provides an opportunity for people to share and preserve important messages and life experiences as well as to express their love for those they will eventually leave behind. The videos they create help to capture a person’s life story and become a priceless gift for the family members left behind. You can learn more about LifeChronicles through their website at http://lifechronicles.org.

I’d like to thank Lorie for spending the time to participate in this month’s agent spotlight. Lorie is a shining example of how you can grow a great business built on the foundation of providing outstanding service and caring for your clients. Even more impressive is how Lorie has been able to achieve tremendous success while striking a balance between her personal and professional life in order to stay grounded and well rounded. I really enjoyed our discussion, and I’m happy to see that Lorie has been able to effectively integrate technology, particularly the latest mobile technologies and miniListings into her business to continue on a path of success.

You can learn more about Lorie by visiting her website at http://www.loriebartron.com, and to see her miniListings application in action, just go to http://minilistings.net/loriebartron using the browser on your smartphone.