A LIFE OF
SERVICE BY MELANIE ROBITAILLE, SR. STAFF WRITER & GRAPHIC DESIGNER
With the nature of their vocation being relocation, military personnel understand moving better than almost anyone. No other profession values a good exit strategy like they do, ensuring a safe passage minimizing damage and loss. It’s no coincidence why EXIT Realty was so named, and no surprise that U.S. Army Staff Sergeant, Christopher Portillo, with permission from his superiors, chose a real estate career with EXIT to ensure he had something to fall back on when he retired. Having learned the benefits of passive income through his parents who’ve since retired and live entirely off their earnings from their investment properties, the idea to get licensed came while examining the closing paperwork on his last home sale. “I was like, ‘why don’t I just buy and sell my own home and keep most of the commission?’” he said of the idea that has grown into an avenue that helps his family and other military friends. Chris obtained his license in 2021, but if his military training taught him anything, it was about trust and connection among your team, and he was looking for that same feeling in his real estate career. He knew he was onto something when he first met Franchisee, Brandy Brown and learned of the culture at her EXIT Realty Mountain View office in Colorado.
“I love EXIT so much because it’s like the military. It’s a sense of belonging. It’s an awesome place to belong to.”
WELL SUITED FOR REAL ESTATE
Now it sounds like no two worlds could be further apart, but the truth is, the values inherent to both the armed forces and the real estate industry are more similar than you might think. There’s a servant heart at the center of both professions that makes real estate a great career for military personnel transitioning to civilian life, or in Chris’ case, on active duty. Aside from being highly adaptive, he brings a militant level of organization, discipline, and accountability to his real estate career, all of which have served him well. “We’re taught these networking skills,” he explained. “What makes [real estate] a good fit is having that connection with other military members, having that door. Once you get out you still have your veteran’s card. You stay in contact with your unit, and you can always talk about being licensed at Family Readiness Group meetings. A lot of military members, when they move, don’t know many people, and they’re not going to know many REALTORS® in their new community. They often reach out through friends in their unit for referrals. But if I’m in the unit with this license or my spouse is, I have that extra foot in the door. If you know someone in the same unit, you tend to trust them a little more because you work together, you deploy together, and you really rely on one another.”
Volume 11 Issue 2 39