Individual volume: $40 million
Individual sides: 38
Welcoming a Restart
In 2018, Susie Lee attained her doctor of pharmacy degree, but after a heart-to-heart with her father, she made the decision to follow her passion for real estate. Her parents immigrated to the U.S. from Korea in the late 1980s. "They worked hard and saved enough money to buy their first home. As the property appreciated in value, they leveraged their home equity and purchased investment properties," Lee, now 29, says. "I realized the power of real estate investment. It provided middle class workers like my parents the opportunity to build generational wealth."
She built her business for two years. Then the pandemic hit. Lee didn’t see it as a bad omen, though—she saw it as an opportunity. "The pandemic kind of leveled the playing field for all of us," she says. "At that point, we all had to figure out new ways to do business."
Lee went to work using social media, and YouTube in particular, to give market reports and a synopsis of the most interesting and useful real estate news. Then she used Facebook Live to walk her friends and followers through homes. "I found that the fastest way to get my name out there was to show my face. Leads started coming in from people who wanted to see properties virtually." It didn’t take long for her brand recognition to kick in, and with it, her client base.