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Spotlight on . . . Carol Berry
After 30 years of working as a legal secretary and real estate paralegal, Carol Berry—who joined CENTURY 21 Cedarcrest in November 2020—is ready to negotiate on behalf of her customers, review contracts, and help home buyers and sellers enjoy a smooth transaction from start to finish. With many years of direct selling experience as well, she said that the skills she acquired in both fields will help her deliver exceptional service.
“Through my paralegal work, I have experience with the flow of real estate transactions and can help customers understand all the elements of a home buying contract,” said Carol.
She said she was always interested in real estate—actually, houses and people—and programs on HGTV about home improvement, buying and selling, and house flipping fueled her interest in becoming a real estate professional. She decided to attend real estate school, passed the exam last October and joined Cedarcrest Realty shortly after that.
“John McKenna, the attorney I worked with at the law firm, put me in touch with a former colleague of Susan Mazzetta at Cedarcrest Realty, who connected me to Susan. I interviewed with her and we stayed in touch for a year. I was delighted that she invited me to come back when I was ready and I did! I interviewed with John Sass last fall; I didn’t even think about interviewing anywhere else.”
Carol is glad she followed her gut instinct to join CENTURY 21 Cedarcrest Realty, noting how well everything fell into place as she starts her new career.
“The mentoring and training are excellent; I have a wealth of knowledge about real estate at my disposal and the classes cover everything you need to know to be a good real estate agent. The camaraderie here is so nice. Everyone is on the same team and other agents have been so generous about sharing their expertise. Everything about being here has made this midlife transition so much easier.”
The mom of a special-needs daughter, Carol knows that patience and empathy are needed to overcome the challenges that arise in life. She also relies on her faith to guide her. As she advances in her real estate career, she will apply those attributes to her work.
“I like to see people achieve their dreams, whether buying a house or a condo. Right now, I’m helping first-time home buyers match desired locations with their budget. Finding the home that makes them happy and meets their needs will take some time and patience. I’m ready with both.”
Agent Spotlight . . . Chanda Webb
No car? No problem. Chanda Webb, who joined CENTURY 21 Cedarcrest Realty in December 2015, was not going to let the lack of her own car stand in her way of finding success as a real estate agent.
Chanda was working at Essex Community College as an advisor to students transferring into four-year programs, in part creating events that connected students to four-year colleges. Her knack for making matches and connecting people has served her well in real estate.
With her daughter graduated from high school and taking a year of study abroad, Chanda felt it was a good time to explore other careers and income streams, and took the real estate course. She interviewed at Cedarcrest Realty and explained she was without a car at the time. “John Sass, Susan Mazzetta and Dennis DiSabato believed in my potential and gave me a chance; they’re all so down to earth and really care. They made a place for me and I worked on building my leads and doing my training in the Caldwell office, which I got to by bus.” Since Chanda was still working at the college full-time (she recently left her position in September), she used her vacation and personal days for time off to attend agency meetings and training sessions. Thanks to the real estate technology employed by the CENTURY 21 system, she was able to work remotely as well.
She also got busy by walking her neighborhood and knocking on doors. “Within four months, I had my first listing, just by walking through my community,” she said. “Soon after, I got two more listings—even though it took another year before I got a car.” She said that friends, homeowners from her listings, and her customers often drove with her to showings; other times, she took public transportation from her Bloomfield home.
She also discovered the power of working a database of contacts.
“I knew many people at the college where I was working, people who cared about and believed in me. I reached out to these connections to ask if they knew anyone looking to buy or sell a home; I got referrals that way and made referrals to other agents as well. Being a connector by profession was helpful, as I was able to get people to help me out and vice versa.”
As for why she chose real estate, Chanda said, “If you’re a go-getter, real estate is for you. If you want to connect people and help them understand about buying or selling a home, this is the perfect career. I find it so empowering and I’m so glad I was able to do this as a single parent and still be there for my child.”
Her daughter, now age 27, got married last year in England. Chanda is grateful that her real estate income enabled her to cover some wedding expenses and join her daughter overseas with family and friends from the U.S. “It felt so good to help my daughter, and know that it was directly from my real estate transactions,” said Chanda.
She cites the trainings at CENTURY 21 Cedarcrest as factors in her success as well as the many online tools for helping her market listings and build a book of leads. She’s taken full advantage of the technology to create polished, professional brochures and customer guides, find and develop quality leads, and stay in touch with connections about homes on the market with email newsletters. “C21 Online is excellent and all agents should know about and use this great marketing tool,” she said.
Chanda is now designated as a seller representative specialist and hopes to one day teach real estate courses. She is working on the required designations to qualify for that. And, she has a car. Good thing, since she said that even through the pandemic, she was still getting referrals, talking to prospects, and began showing houses again in the early summer. Now a full-time real estate agent, she is working hard with our sales manager to execute and meet her sales goals. We are very proud of how far she’s come!
