I am frequently asked about my background and how in the word I ended up in real estate. It’s much different than most agents.I have a Masters in Business and worked for two top employers, Humana Hospital and Blue Cross Blue Shield in management, before I took a different path.
Before I discovered my love of real estate, my husband and I started a healthcare record storage business where we managed files, x-ray films, fetal monitor systems and more for hospitals and surrounding physician offices. We found there was a need to have immediate access to these kinds of files when they couldn’t store them on site. Previously they were stored at an accountants office where they would then need to be requested and 7 days later your physician would finally receive the records…If someone is admitted to the ER, they need important records NOW, not 7 days from now. So my husband and I left the healthcare environment and started our own company. Our friends thought we were crazy!
We worked crazy, CRAZY hours – getting up in the middle of the night, pulling files, going to hospital file rooms, purging and filing in the middle of the night when there was not a lot of busy activity going on. 7 days a week. We had a group of people that worked with us and it was quite exciting at the time but really hard work. Much to our surprise, we had a national company approach us to buy our company. We jumped at the chance.
After that I decided I wanted to buy and renovate houses. So that’s what I started doing. I started working with agents to purchase these homes but I already knew how to find details on the home, what to do with each investment and knew I was capable of doing the work. Eventually I said … you know what? I should get my own license so I can open the doors to these homes myself. I would then be able to list them, to get top dollar because an licensed agent can always get more for a house than you do if for sale by owner because of the exposure to so many more buyers. So, that’s what I did.
People started coming to me asking for help to buy and renovate. Throughout this time I renovated probably 100 houses and learned a whole lot more. I started helping others who asked and eventually was spending most of my time helping others buy and sell homes.
My husband I eventually moved from Jacksonville, Florida to South Carolina and that’s when I started my own real estate company. I wanted our company to take care of my client the way I would want to be taken care of if I was a buyer or seller, which was completely different than what anyone was doing (especially 20 years ago). So I started a team approach – a very specialized team approach. I didn’t want to hire agents where so they would go do whatever they wanted, whenever they want and however they wanted with no consistency within the company. I wanted our company’s clients to always have an exceptional experience, the Shannon Rollings’ experience.
So I started with just me…me and one….me and two, three and on and on. We developed details and skills within the company. Now it’s me and 45. On specialized teams where everyone is an expert at what they are doing from marketing all the way to closing. Our clients have an expert right by their side the entire process, and that’s the way I’d want it to be done if I were a buyer or seller.
If you think you have a love of real estate, or any part of the process that you might be an expert at, give me a call! I’d love to see if your goals align with ours, and maybe we could work together. Or if you know of somebody that’s thinking about buying or selling, of course, give us a call, my team and I are on standby 7 days a week, 9AM to 8PM, ready to help you or your family and friends take the smoother road to sold!