Today we’d like to introduce you to Angie Baldon.
Hi Angie, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I have been Realtor for 8 years, and I am literally working my dream career! I was previously in the corporate world where I worked for the same multi-billion-dollar company for 22 years. I held several positions and had a great career, but always wanted to be in real estate. I would go to open houses for fun. Dragging my family along – lol. Growing up, my mom cleaned houses, and my dad was a painter, so I spent a lot of time in beautiful homes all over the city – I think that’s where my love of homes began. 8 years ago, I had the opportunity to start my real estate journey working for Chip and Joanna Gaines (from HGTVs Fixer Upper) Magnolia Realty. I didn’t want to miss that chance, so I got my license and worked my corporate job as a realtor for 2 1/2 years until I was established enough to “retire” from
my corporate company. Exactly 2 weeks after I gave my notice to my company Magnolia told us that they would no longer have a real estate segment in Houston. It was shocking, and I worried that I had just made a huge mistake…I vividly remember standing in our kitchen crying while making dinner with our kids running around, and my husband looked at me and said, “You have a goal and dream…don’t let this stop you. Fall apart tonight, but tomorrow, pull yourself together and remember why you started.” That talk has gotten me through many ups and downs in this business…2 brokerages closing, hurricane Harvey, losing my mom, COVID, losing my father-in-law, and losing my best friend. I love this business so much because I am trusted to help people navigate some of the most important phases of their lives… people often buy or sell because of major life changes… having a baby, job changes, losing a spouse, just making more money and able to finally buy the dream house, divorce… it’s very important role.
One of the major benefits that I never expected moving into this career were the connections within the industry and our community that I would make – agents with other brokerages, photographers and videographers, title reps, mortgage lenders…I have been blessed that this career has given me the ability to be more involved with my kids’ schools through sponsorships, recognizing needs within our community, and looking for ways to fill them. It is so much more than a job.
Everything that I have learned this far (and I still have so much more to learn) brought me to starting a team where I get to partner with other agents and help them grow and find their niche and passion in the business. I am still working in my dream!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has not been an easy road, but I wouldn’t change a thing about it!
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about HOU Realty Group/brokered by EXP?
We are a community-based real estate team that is Houston-proud and people-focused! We take our marketing VERY serious by working with the best photographers and videographers in the industry. We truly put our clients first in everything that we do, and we strive to meet our clients where they are at in their selling and buying journeys.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the COVID-19 crisis?
Ohhh…so many lessons from the Covid crisis…we could write books about what Covid revealed; however, since my business is about where people call home, I will focus on that. Covid caused home to be everything to people… I had clients who, once the immediate crisis was lifted, wanted to move back home or closer to their family because overnight, everything changed, and they started to realize what really mattered. The virtual world opened up opportunities to live away from where you worked… parents found alternative methods for schools, so they were no longer bound by school systems. It was so interesting to watch my clients navigate this new world. On top of that, the market changed drastically, and almost every homeowner gained a tremendous amount of equity just by owning their house. Almost 4 years later, we are seeing homeowners making decisions that are greatly impacted by the fact that they have so much equity in their current homes.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.connecthou.com
- Instagram: angieb_realtor
- Facebook: Angie Baldon Realtor
Image Credits
Alistair Sheen
Andrei Restrepo
Allison Saadi
Dawn Hellums Wibben
