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OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

JUNE/JULY 2017 $3.00

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GAME ON!GRIT AND DETERMINATION MADE THESE REALTORS® STANDOUTS

J U N E /J U LY 2 0 1 7 • CALIFORNIA REAL ESTATE 7

Contents

[ JUNE/JULY 2017 | VOLUME 97 | NUMBER 4 ]

26

18Meet 4 Under 40What you can learn from young professionals who have stepped up to the challenge of being top REALTORS®

BY ROGER CRUZEN

22All the Single LadiesLadies aren’t waiting for marriage to become homeowners, and REALTORS® should take noteBY CATHIE ERICSON

24A Family Affair Sometimes the best business partners are those closest to usBY MELISSA DIT TMANN TRACEY

26Profile: Kelly PerkinsREALTOR®. Transplant recipient. Mountain climber. Philanthropist. BY LEAH COHEN

4 President’s Forum Stay driven!

9 Industry News> What C.A.R.’s annual membership

survey shows

10 Member Benefits C.A.R.’s Rising Star Awards seek nominees for 2017

12 Trends C.A.R.’s CCRE hosts a panel about the state’s most pressing concerns

BY RORY COHEN

14 Legal A contingent offer is often stressful, but understanding what it all means can make your life easier

BY JANA GARDNER

16 Technology We asked top REALTORS® what helps them stay on top of their game

BY PAUL SMITH

34 Voices What it took to save that big transaction

>>COMING NEXT ISSUE:The August issue of California Real Estate focuses on better marketing practices and will demonstrate how successful REALTORS® have leveraged these skills to network, get leads, and establish solid relationships in the industry.

Features

Departments

2218

COVER: Illustrated by Aaron Sacco

View us online at http://www.car.org/knowledge/pubs/crem/currentissue/

26 CALIFORNIA REAL ESTATE • J U N E /J U LY 2 0 1 7

THE PROFILE

By Leah Cohen

J U N E /J U LY 2 0 1 7 • CALIFORNIA REAL ESTATE 27

WPhotographed by Dale Berman

“They say, ‘Real life, you can never make these things up,’” she told California Real Estate. “My life is a living example of this—from catching a virus that led to a heart transplant, which also led to me climbing some of the most iconic mountains in the world with my donor heart. There is no ‘impossible.’”

Both professionally and privately, Perkins has tackled every goal with enthusiasm. Her friends and family credit her natural charisma, which is complemented by a healthy dose of positivity and know-how. In 2016, she had 10 transactions valued at $21 million with Villa Real Estate in Laguna Beach, Calif. She attri-butes persistence, endurance, and a remarkable work ethic to her success. “I am not an overnight success with my health nor busi-ness,” she explained. “I believe in commitment, accountability, hard work, and, above all, passion.”

Her husband, whom she met in college, said his wife’s strength and persistence have served her well in all aspects of her life.

“Kelly says she climbs because she can,” said Craig Perkins. “I believe she lives life with passion and intent, [also] demonstrated in her real estate business, because she can. This would not be possible if it weren’t for the decision of her donor family.”

From Appraiser to REALTOR®, and Much More

Perkins began her career as a residential real estate appraiser in Laguna Beach, Calif., and the surrounding coastal areas for several national lending institutions that ranged from Home Savings to Bank of America in the late 1980s through the mid-90s. She only left when she became ill. “After my surgery, I spent 10 years working in the non-profit world,” she said. Perkins was involved in climbing, speaking, and writing a book, “The Climb of My Life: Scaling Mountains With a Borrowed Heart.” She wanted a new challenge. “While I am an extrovert, I was not a born sales person in the slick or overly aggressive sense,” she

HEN KELLY PERKINS WAS 30 YEARS OLD, her

heart started beating erratically, even when she was resting.

Something was seriously wrong and she later learned she would

need a heart transplant. A virus had done irreparable damage to

her organ. Agonized over knowing someone had to die for her to

live, Perkins made it her top objective to raise awareness about the

need for organ donation. She wanted to make the most of her life.

The

Climb of Her Life

REALTOR® TRANSPLANT

RECIPIENT MOUNTAIN CLIMBERPHILANTHROPIST

28 CALIFORNIA REAL ESTATE • J U N E /J U LY 2 0 1 7

date,” she said. “As much as it was a nice

paycheck, it was my only sale that first

year. Still, it didn’t frustrate me, as I kept

being out there knowing my consistency

would pay off.”

Her persistence led to success.

“She has a natural charisma and

I think people are attracted to that,”

said Johnson, her mentor and friend.

“Charisma opens the door, but you need

to have knowledge. Kelly has it.”

Johnson met Perkins at an open house

years before she joined the brokerage

where he works. They ended up chatting

for hours before she took the full plunge

into selling. “She was aware it wasn’t all

rosy, and I tried to paint a realistic pic-

ture,” he said. “I could just see the spark

in her, as she had the connections and

the leverage.” Several years went by be-

fore Johnson encouraged her to make the

leap to Villa Real Estate, which had a total

KELLY PERKINS REALTOR®. Philanthropist. Climber.

Age: 55

Biggest Strength: Perseverance

Biggest Weakness: Impatience

Very First Job: Scooping ice cream

at Swenson’s Ice Cream Parlor in Lake

Tahoe.

Most Recent Purchase: Our first original painting of a couple

holding hands and riding bikes across

the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco,

which was what Craig and I did on our

first date.

#1 On Your “Bucket List”: To sell an eight-digit property

Career Choice No. 2: If it came

naturally, I would have liked to write pro-

fessionally.

Best Advice Received: Don’t stress

about what may never happen!

MEET KELLY PERKINSsales volume of $1.5 billion in 2016.

“Many of those starting off in real es-

tate experience a lot of pressure to go to

seminars about seeing results and suc-

cess quickly,” Perkins explained. “Most

people reading this magazine have been

to one or more. These events may work for

some, and for others they may not be as

effective. It’s important to have a script.

However, it’s equally or even more im-

portant to be myself and to have my own

voice. People know when you are authen-

tic and that is necessary in the business.”

The Business of True PartnershipLast month, Kelly and Craig Perkins

celebrated 30 years of marriage. “Kelly

and I met back in college. Although I

went to the University of San Francisco

and Kelly went to San Francisco State,

she roomed with her cousin who went to

USF with me,” her husband said. “I first

saw her sitting next to her cousin at a USF

basketball game, so I leveraged my rela-

tionship with her cousin to make an intro-

duction. It was kismet.”

Despite the curveballs life threw at

them, they have always worked as a team.

Whether in their early days of traveling

around the world or the many personal

and business projects they set out to

tackle, they meshed their unique skills

together to do better. “This includes our

post-transplant climbing endeavors and

subsequent Moving Hearts Foundation,

to our entrepreneurial business ventures

such as HydraCoach and Tele-Stake,”

said Craig. “Since we each possess unique

and distinct skills, we tend to complement

each other with the variety of required

tasks.”

Their first entrepreneurial venture was

with HydraCoach, the first portable hy-

dration monitor ever invented. The inspi-

ration for that project came from a dehy-

dration event Kelly experienced after one

of her post-transplant climbs. Since then,

they have commercialized and sold the

product around the world.

They also created Tele-Stake, the first

car friendly height adjustable sign stake

created. It allows for complete 360-degree

rotation for optimal viewing and expands

said. “The most comfortable way for me

to meet buyers and sellers was to host

open houses.” Slowly, but surely, Perkins

began to cultivate contacts in the field.

In her first year, she held more than 80

open houses and estimated that approxi-

mately 1,500 people came through. “This

proved to be a great way for me to get

my name out, meet neighbors, and iden-

tify buyers and sellers,” she said. “I even

hosted open houses for other brokerage

firms, which was quite unusual, just to get

experience and exposure.”

She never doubted that real estate

was for her because, as she put it, she

“truly liked how I was spending my days.”

Perkins pointed to the periods where any-

one would naturally get discouraged. Her

solution was to identify a mentor early on,

which helped her to navigate the bumps

along the way. “As much as I understood

there was going to be a ramp up period,

my husband kept reminding me to be

okay with the process and to just keep at

it.”

Perkins adopted the advice her men-

tor and friend, Michael Johnson, gave her:

“Practice non-attachment, which simply

means to not take it personally if some-

one did not hire you—even if they are a

friend. Keeping your nose to the grind-

stone and staying busy is the best way to

fight rejection.”

Hard Work Pays O�Perkins’ first sale was about five

months after she got her license. A buyer

came into an open house that she was

hosting and loved the home. “The buyer

came back later that afternoon, right be-

fore I was going to close up, and wanted

me to write an offer,” she recalled. “The

next morning, the buyer met with me at

my office to write an offer and just before

I was to submit it, I heard we were up

against another offer. I strategized with

them to put their best forward, which

they did.” It was a full, all cash price of-

fer of $2.5 million with a 30-day escrow.

Her mentor explained to her that this

wasn’t exactly the norm. “Truly, it was a

false sense of reality, given it was one of

the smoothest transactions I have had to

J U N E /J U LY 2 0 1 7 • CALIFORNIA REAL ESTATE 29

easily. “It was a challenge to get the sign

to point the right direction with the fi rst

placement if the ground was hard, making

it more of a time-consuming process than

it had to be,” Perkins said. “That is when

Craig and I decided to make a prototype

of a height adjustable stake that could be

rotated 360 degrees so you could compact

it down to fi t in your car without having to

fold down the seats. You can also orient

the sign in whatever direction you want

after placing it in the ground. We had a

great response and so Craig fi led a patent

and worked in his spare time over the last

year with manufacturers to develop it.”

And they have more projects in the

works that relate to their Moving Hearts

Foundation. There’s an upcoming trip

to South Africa in December, explained

Craig. “We are scheduled to speak later

this year in Cape Town in celebration of

the 50th anniversary of the first heart

transplant, which took place at the

Groote Schuur hospital,” he said. “We are

also in discussions on a potential movie

about our story, based on Kelly’s book.”

Perkins’ career and triumphs are

marked by optimism and gratitude. That

led to her charity, Movinghearts.org,

which was created in 2009 to share her

post-transplant climbs around the world.

“The Foundation’s rallying cry is to move

hearts, both literally and fi guratively,” she

said. Perkins’ focus these days is on orga-

nizing blood drives, which has an imme-

diate and tangible impact on saving lives.

She also continues to mentor both pre-

and post-transplant patients. Her work

includes hospital visits and periodically

speaking at medical events.

“An illness can drive people away or

bring them closer,” Perkins recalled of the

early days when she needed a transplant.

“In my case, Craig is an excellent care-

giver and is always full of support, so it

brought us together. My family too—I won

the lottery more than once between my

donor and my family, and spending the

days doing what I love to do.” �

Leah Cohen is a California-based free-

lance writer. Reach her at leahcohen

writer@gmail.com.

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