SOME women are successful as homemakers, while other people become successful from making homes. But for Lea C. Walker, owner of Allea Real Estate, it’s selling and brokering homes that made her flourishing.
Walker, who is now in her 20 years in the industry, revealed that she had also experienced tough times, struggling to sell even a house and lot. But this did not stop her from achieving the greatest accomplishments a real estate broker could ever wish for.
“As a neophyte in the industry, it was difficult to look for clients. Coming from a poor family, I had no connections to tap. Hence, I had to start from scratch,” Walker recalled how she struggled at first.
She added she had to give away fliers during holidays, especially local Davao City holidays, like Kadayawan or Araw ng Davao, and even go house-to-house to give fliers to prospective buyers. She said she had to do this and think of other innovative ways just to generate clientele base.
Her passion and dedication as a real estate broker pumped her to become one of the topnotch sellers in the industry, revealing that one of the biggest sales she was able to make was a 2-hectare commercial property for a mall.
“Number one is service to clients. I do my best in everything that I do. I guess that was why I got recommended by clients to their friends,” she said.
Aside from this, she said what might have endeared her to her clients is the way she sells, as she does not just help clients find a house or a condominium unit they need, she also asks them what they want for a house or a condo. She goes the extra mile just to give her clients not just what they need but also what they want for a property.
That’s why for her, the least a property developer can do to help their sellers and brokers is to give them the tools they need to sell the properties.
“Tools that help -- product knowledge seminars. And updates from developers. Those are the necessary tools for us to sell. Knowing your products well is very important,” Walker said.
She was glad that the recent business forum at the Marco Polo Davao dubbed as “Davao on the Rise,” which was brought by Philippine Daily Inquirer and Lamudi and was attended by several real estate brokers and sellers like her, was conducted as it was a great help in selling the real estate properties in Davao City.
For her, the Davao On the Rise business forum was very refreshing and very enhancing, saying: “Especially, the data, they were all complete, we can use those data presented to plan ahead.”
Discussed by officials from the private sector and department heads of the local government of Davao, namely, Chai Abaya of the Chamber of Real Estate and Builders Association; Kat Anuta, Department of Tourism-Davao spokesperson; Elizabeth Ventura, Anchor Land president; Christian Cambaya of the Davao City Investment Promotion Center; Generose Tecson of the city’s Tourism Operations Office; and Arturo Milan of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce, the business forum covered most of what the real estate sellers and brokers want to know.
“There are so many data that I can use to sell and I learned a lot,” she said, adding those data are also the things they need to know to sell a property in a certain place, and not just all about the specifics of a house or a condo unit.
She said business forums like the Davao On the Rise are very much welcome and very much appreciated by real estate sellers like her and hopes that more forums like this will be held in the future, not just in Davao City but other places as well.
Davao On the Rise business forum was also brought in part by Anchor Land and SunStar Davao.