Real estate professionals are interested in people

Solano Real Estate Scene: Jim Porter

Article By: Jim Porter – July 9, 2016

Most really successful Realtors and loan officers have one thing in common: people.

The most successful business owners who sell mortgage loans or real estate are people persons. I just threw a tongue twister at you!

People persons are individuals like me who are attracted to people. We are fascinated at the differences in people and we love to get to know them and help them become homeowners or maybe just become better off in real estate.

Equity in a person’s home and rental property are huge parts of people’s lives.

I love hearing about my client’s background. I pretty much lived in the same neighborhood for my first 30 years of life. My brothers and sisters and I grew up in a San Francisco blue-collar neighborhood nicknamed the Sunset District.

In my 37 years as a mortgage banker, I have met people from every continent of the world. Realtors and mortgage professionals, like me, really have the honor of getting to know these people intimately because a home is usually something that everyone considers very personal and important. We get to really know folks.

I have over 100 fascinating stories about clients from China and India to Europe but I am only allowed 500 to 600 words here.

I met a man recently who has been here legally over the past 15 years and has become a very successful citizen. He is from Central America and he and a couple of siblings, along with his widowed mom, came here to escape after two of his teenage brothers were killed by violence in their home country. He is now a homeowner and a successful manager for a Fortune 500 corporation.

Since moving to Vacaville from San Francisco in 1988, the most interesting people I have met are the military people. It is amazing to me, the sacrifice made by the great folks who have to move all around the world to serve our country. As a kid, I can’t imagine my dad moving the family to Germany for the Air Force. To me, this is fascinating that these kids at Travis Air Force Base adjust to entirely new schools and friends during their childhood.

If you, like me, are someone who grew up in the same neighborhood his whole life and feels totally lucky to have had this advantage over kids who move around during their upbringing, you might be surprised with my findings. I always thought that kids who move from school to school were at a huge disadvantage, but what I have learned since moving to Vacaville in 1988 is that these kids excel in life and business. There must be something about the challenge of having to adapt and endure challenges over new relationships that makes people strong. I admire these people.

Jim Porter, NMLS No. 276412, is the branch manager of Solano Mortgage, NMLS No. 1515497, a division of American Pacific Mortgage Corporation, NMLS No. 1850, licensed in California by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation under the CRMLA / Equal Housing Opportunity. Jim can be reached at 707-449-4777.