Today we’d like to introduce you to Karin Carr.
Hi Karin, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
I went into real estate after moving to Napa, CA in 2005. I had a 2-month-old baby and it was so expensive to live there, I thought if I could just sell one house a month I’d have an amazing career. A year later the market imploded. No one wanted to buy homes because the prices were plummeting. Sellers couldn’t give their homes away. In 2008, I ended up selling 72 homes by myself with no team. I learned that if I could succeed in a down market, I’d be well positioned to thrive in a great market. I was elected the President of the Women’s Council of REALTORS® for my local chapter in 2011 and REALTOR® of the Year in 2012.
Fast forward to 2012 when my husband and I had our second baby. We decided to move to the southeast to be closer to my parents since we were all the way on the west coast with no family around us and no support system. Chris got a job in Hilton Head and we packed up and moved cross country. I had no idea how hard it would be to establish myself in a new city with no name recognition, no market share, no one who had ever even heard of me before.
It was tough. I took six months to learn my new area, get my daughter established in school, and get licensed in a new state. Then I hit the ground running… and nothing happened. I still had no market share. According to the GA Real Estate Commission, I was newly licensed so that meant everyone thought I had no experience. I struggled for a while until one day, I decided to upload some videos to YouTube.
That decision changed my life. I made terrible videos that had bad audio, worse lighting, and no production quality but they gave great information to people who were thinking of moving to the area. I kept at it and after a few months, I got the magic phone call! He said, “I feel like I know you already. I’ve watched all your videos! My wife and I are selling our house and moving to Georgia and we want you to help us.”
From that moment on, YouTube became my #1 method of marketing myself and my services. Within a year I was so busy I formed a team. The Georgia Coast Homes Team was born but we had to change the name once we moved into other states. Only a few short years later we have 8 licensed agents serving Savannah, Hilton Head, Augusta, and Atlanta. I have been recognized at Publix, the local pool, Hunter Army Airfield, and while donating blood! They say, “Hey, aren’t you that lady who sells houses on YouTube?” It makes me so excited that people watch the channel and trust me enough to hire me for one of the biggest financial transactions of their lives.
I began teaching other real estate agents how to harness the power of YouTube for themselves. I wrote an Amazon best selling book, “YouTube for Real Estate Agents – Learn how to get free real estate leads and never cold call again.” I’ve been featured on ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, and Time. I speak all over the country at real estate conferences about using video to attract clients who are dying to have you represent them. I was even asked to audition for a show on HGTV! All because of YouTube.
It’s truly the best thing I ever did for my business. And the best part? Every single client we have came to us first. We don’t have billboards, we don’t spend money on radio ads, we don’t buy leads, and we don’t cold call. We don’t have to. Our phones ring off the hook. And I couldn’t be more excited about it!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Not knowing anyone in this market. Feeling like I had to go to networking events, wear my name tag everywhere, cold call people, go door to door introducing myself as a local real estate expert.
I did cold call people and hated every minute of it. People hung up on me, called me a vulture, swore at me, and made me rethink my life choices. I almost quit real estate and went back to corporate America before I had the random idea to upload a video to YouTube.
My videos were awful at first. I had no idea what I was doing. But I became a student of YouTube and learned about camera equipment, lighting, and audio. I got better over time but I’m still no pro. My videos are not going to win me an Oscar!
We’ve been impressed with GCH Team with Real Broker, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Real is an 8 year old, tech-powered real estate brokerage providing better service to agents, so agents can serve you better. We currently operate in 40+ states and Canada.
The GCH Team serves both buyers and sellers in the Savannah area, Hilton Head/Bluffton, metro Atlanta, and Augusta. We make YouTube videos every week to educate and entertain potential clients.
Real estate agents who are still relying on print marketing and rubbing elbows at the country club simply don’t have the skills necessary to sell homes in today’s competitive market. And while the GCH Team may be savvy video marketers, award winning agents, top producers, and best selling authors, we know that a successful real estate business is nothing if you don’t know how to effectively market online.
At GCH, you’ll never get the high pressure sales treatment from ego-driven agents. With over 50 years combined experience and a genuine love of homes, architecture, and sharing the love of our area, we are not the status quo. Yes, we have a popular YouTube channel that brings us over 40,000 views a month and the loyalty of amazing clients that become lifelong friends once the home sale is finished. But you won’t see billboards on the freeway with our faces on them. And you definitely won’t see us driving around town in purple Lamborghinis to show the town how successful we are.
Our agents have been hand-picked because of their experience, knowledge, skill with video marketing, reliability, professionalism, dedication to learning more every day, and sales and negotiation skills.
While we do have some amazing endorsements and testimonials, we don’t use terms such as Best, Top, or #1. Quite simply, we’re media-savvy Realtors® selling luxury real estate in Savannah and throughout the South.
What are your plans for the future?
We are looking at expanding into Florida and other markets in the Southeast. Mostly, we are looking to up our game when it comes to our video production quality. We have been very informal and DIY when it comes to our channel so far, and that has served us well, selling close to 100 homes a year. But now we’re planning to uplevel our production quality and really make our channel stand head and shoulders above the competitors who are trying to duplicate our success.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.georgiacoasthomes.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/georgiacoasthomes
- Facebook: facebook.com/georgiacoasthomes
- Youtube: youtube.com/karincarrrealestate
- Other: https://g.page/r/CQPuvYrvjp40EBA
Image Credits
Raylyn Reed Photography
