15 Financial Lessons from Selling Tampa and Selling Sunset - youramericanmoney
Author: Michelle
Description: Over the holiday break I decided to watch Selling Sunset and Selling Tampa. I'm now addicted and have some thoughts about the shows
Date: 2022-01-05T10:00:00+00:00

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# 15 Financial Lessons from Selling Tampa and Selling Sunset

posted on 5 January, 2022

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Over the holidays, I became addicted to the following two real Estate shows: Selling Tampa and Selling Sunset. These two shows follow two very different real estate brokerages based out of Los Angeles and the other in Tampa, Florida. What’s interesting about these firms is that the Tampa brokerage is a Black woman owned firm (Allure Realty) and the LA Brokerage (The Oppenheimer Group) is owned by twin brothers who happen to be White men. Though I do believe that one of the brothers has decided to open his own brokerage. Real Estate is often brought up in conversations about building generational wealth and so I thought I would share some observations and financial conversations that came up as I watched these two series. And I finished both of them in their entirety. I was enthralled. So, I hope you’ve watched at least one episode of each show and will enjoy some of my insight.

*In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog. Please read my disclosure here.*

## Listen to the Show

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## Related Episodes

- Michelle’s Business Goals for 2022 (The Brand Building Lab)

- Thinking About Moving Abroad? What You Need to Know

- How to Shop Black 365 Days a Year

- Pretending Like it’s Business as Usual

## Selling Tampa and Selling Sunset (Show Notes)

- Dress for Success-It may surprise a lot of people to know that I really love dressing up. Not necessarily fancy, but I do love to look my best and for the past 7 years I’ve really focused on paying off debt and looking my best kind of wasn’t on my list. I just focused on wearing functional ok clothes and that was good enough. But,I’m going to be honest and say that I was shopping everyone’s looks. I want to walk into a room again and have people say, WOW, where did you get that dress/cute bag/etc. The amount of confidence these folks have when out in the world was awesome to watch. Of course, they have access to wardrobe and stylists but I do think that I can step up my game. Maybe, 2 years of wearing soft clothing has finally caught up with me. Now, how can dress for success in a sustainable way without hurting my wallet? I love earning affiliate credits with ThredUp which is an online consignment shop. You can check out here. I find a lot of brand new items with tags still on.

- It’s Who You Know-It was not lost on me that many of the deals these realtors were making were from who they knew. These folks were selling multi-million dollar homes and you have to sell those homes to people who can qualify for them. I found it really interesting to watch how they networked and stayed connected with their customers. Becoming a trusted realtor meant that clients would return to them in the future to purchase another property. In fact, I will only work with the realtor who sold my property. She’s awesome.

- The Importance of Speaking Up During a Financial Situation-On Selling Tampa there was a really interesting situation where the owner of the brokerage decided to change the compensation breakdown for her agents. I was actually really shocked that only 1 of the agents brought up their concerns and also the way that the Broker approached announcing the change in compensation really bothered me. I felt like she could have talked about the changes and phased them in 1 to 3 months from the time of the announcement. Basically, her actions really reinforced the fact that you should have a plan B because business owners typically are looking out for themselves. And always add to your credentials.

- You don’t know where people come from-One of the really interesting storylines for me was Chrishell Hartley sharing that she was homeless on more than one occasion when she was younger. She talked about being the “smelly kid” because they had no access to water to wash themselves. She and her sister talk about how they were provided Christmas boxes when they had nothing. And when she eventually purchased her home, it struck me how these experiences still impact her today. Also, there’s no shame to share where you come from.

- There are a lot of real estate opportunities even if you don’t think there are. Now, these shows focus on high end properties. But, people are always buying and selling homes. No matter what someone tells you there’s an opportunity but…it might not be the one that you want or recognize. With that in mind, if purchasing a home is for you, keep your finances prepared.

- Black Real Estate Investors who aren’t athletes DO EXIST. And, a lot of athletes are building wealth through purchasing real estate. I really appreciate seeing all of the Black investors on both shows. Obviously, Selling Tampa has more of these cameos, but this representation is important.

- Trust your gut instinct/first impression until proven otherwise-In both series, there are first impressions that the ladies had with someone else. Their first impression was right. Remember what people showed you the first time.

- Treat people how you want to be treated. They won’t forget if you’re an asshole.

- Focus on Earning more-Selling real estate isn’t for me. BUT, what is for me? Earning more. I love how each show shares the commission that the realtors will earn if and when they sell a home.

- The difference between listings in a more established brokerage vs. a newer one. Jason from the Oppenheimer group sold a 40 million property. It sold around 33 million but that was an insane commission. I do wonder how being a brokerage of Black women impacts the listings that they have access to. I think I will be able to better gauge this in season two of Selling Tampa.

- Pay attention to professional slights-they are communicating something important to you-don’t ignore them. Also, be wary of a workplace that insists you’re family but behaves in the opposite way that you would treat family.

- I love that Selling Tampa is showing a Black Brokerage and highlighting Black entrepreneurship-we’re out there!

- Friendship and business can be an uneasy mix without clarity, transparency and a no gossip zone.

- There are a surprising number of people who have a lot of money. I was so curious about the work that the buyers and sellers were doing.

- Random final thoughts-Let’s go Cougar life! Hot damn Cho on Selling Tampa, Live Boldly, I’m not a fan of Christine’s but I’m fan of her being 100% in love with herself. I had no idea how beautiful Tampa is. What a beautiful town.

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#### Michelle

I am an obsessive foodie, but not self-righteous with it, love travel, meeting new people, helping you look good, and am freaked out by people who don't enjoying reading...something! Grab a Perrier, read my blog, feel free to drop me a line! Hope to hear from you soon.

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