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RISING STAR - MAGGI CRAFT
Real Estate Career Takes Rising Star Maggi Craft By Surprise
Written by Susan Marquez
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Photography by Abe Draper Photography
With a friend like REALTOR® Victoria Prowant, there is no telling what a person will do. “She’s the reason I got into real estate,” says Maggi Craft of Southern Homes. “Thanks to Victoria, I have been in real estate for three years now and I love it!”
Maggi Craft
The unlikely part of the story is that Maggi was not job hunting. “I had a successful career as a bank rep for a company that lends money to car dealers. I had a six-figure job and I traveled around the state. I would visit five to 15 car dealers a day, checking on their funding and such.” Maggi’s husband is in the car business, as was Victoria’s, and the two couples became friends. “One day, out of the blue, Victoria called me. I was at my company’s home office in Dallas.”
Victoria asked Maggi what her retirement plan was. “She said I could buy rental property and create another stream of income that I could use for retirement. She said that is why she originally got her license to sell real estate.” Long story short, Victoria talked Maggi into it.
“I got my real estate license but had no intention of leaving my job,” Maggi says. “I joined Keller Williams and was going to do real estate deals on the side.” And Maggi did just that, selling homes to her car dealer buddies and friends. “When Victoria moved over to Three Rivers Real Estate, I followed her.” The more Maggi got into real estate, the more she began to feel that she was just checking the boxes in her other job. “I began to feel that I was just doing it to get a paycheck.”
Without realizing it, Maggi made $70,000 during her first year selling real estate. “That got my attention,” she laughs. “I thought, what if I just focused my energies on one job instead of two? I knew I was stretched thin, and there wasn’t enough in me to do everything I wanted to do.” That first year, Maggi received the rookie of the year award in her company. “I think Victoria was more excited than I was!” In her second year, Maggi was the second highest producer in the company. “I decided it was time to leave my job, and that meant giving up the benefits, tenure and paid vacation. I was kind of nervous to go to a commission-only job in real estate, but I decided if I was going to do it, I was going to do it with my whole heart.”
Not only is she selling real estate to others, but Maggi now owns six rental properties and serves as the full-time manager. For a time, Maggi was also a representative for Matilda Jane, a direct sales company selling clothing for women and girls. And she also published three of the eleven romance novels she has written. “I had to step back and realize that I can’t be good at everything and I can’t do everything well, especially when trying to do it all by myself.”
About the time she was focusing on real estate full time, Maggi’s mother, who owned a daycare center since Maggi was three, came for a visit. “She ended up moving in with us and taking care of my daughter.”
Maggi says it’s the people who drive her to do what she does. “I love that no two days are the same in real estate. I work with a builder now, and I’m listing all his houses for him.
Through that, I have learned that I like new construction listings as opposed to selling existing homes, mainly because there is not as much emotion involved! I also love working with first-time homebuyers. It’s more work, but it’s always exciting.”
In her spare time, Maggi enjoys playing tennis. “I have played on numerous tennis teams. Tennis is a great way to network with other REALTORS® and to meet potential clients, plus I enjoy playing.” She also enjoys watching her daughter play softball. “I like the schedule I have as a REALTOR®,” says Maggi. “I’m not a morning person. I can stay up all night long, and surprisingly, many of my clients prefer to do business at night. It’s not unusual for me to show at house until 9:00pm.” As Real Producer’s Rising Star for November, Maggi Craft would not have it any other way.
