Anthony Graham: Moving Back to the Mothership, SOUTH of LBJ

Great Western Mortgage’s Realtor of the Week is Anthony Graham of Elite Home Sellers. We sent Jeff Lindigrin up to McKinney to get the scoop on the Iowa-born super Realtor:

CD: So are you a native Dallasite or where were you born?

AG: No, I was born in Iowa…corn-fed, but we moved here when I was 4 years old, so I consider myself a native.

CD: Where do you live? House, Condo, Barn? House style?

AG: I am about to list my house in McKinney and move back down to Dallas. I have a 15-year-old Highland Home that I put granite, wood floors, travertine, etc. Totally needs to be featured on this blog. It’s gorgeous and I hate moving, but I hate sitting in traffic a lot more. It should sell to the first buyer who comes through. Fingers crossed!

CD: And in that traffic you drive a… let me guess, Mercedes Benz or a pickup truck?

AG: Haha, close… are Dallas realtors THAT predictable? I drive a Jaguar XF and I LOVE IT! I’m on my second one and will probably buy a third when I run this one into the ground. Which I will do.

CD: What’s your favorite ‘hood in Dallas and why?

AG: Hmmm, this is a hard question! I like everything in Dallas for different reasons. I really love the historic homes in Munger Place and Junius Heights… and I love all the mid-century modern homes in JanMar. If I’m dreaming, or showing clients, then my favorite areas are Old Preston Hollow, Bluffview, and Strait Lane/Taylor Estates area. We have so many cool neighborhoods, it’s really hard to pinpoint an absolute favorite.

CD: What’s your favorite restaurant ?

AG: Al Biernat’s is my favorite for special occasions… I’m craving the diavolo sauce that comes with the calamari right now. Otherwise, my favorite hole-in-the-wall/more obscure restaurant is Urbana Café in East Dallas… and I really like Lucia in Bishop Arts.

CD: If you could move in Dallas, where else might you live — what other neighborhood?

AG: I daydream about remodeling a mid-century modern in JanMar… but I’m looking at Lake Highlands, M Streets, and Lakewood right now. The mid-century modern is more of a 5 to 7 year goal.

CD: How the heck did you get started in Real Estate? Who’d you work for first? How long selling? Inquiring minds and all that…

AG: I got into real estate to make a little money to pay for chiropractor school. No kidding. I started in October of 2007 at the age of 23 and watched the market fall out from underneath everyone. It wasn’t easy to be successful back then, but I immediately fell in love with the game and knew I wouldn’t be returning to chiropractor school. Sorry mom. I started as a buyer’s agent for the Michael Reese Home Selling Team at KW in Frisco. I was there for about two years before leaving to start my own team, Elite Home Sellers. I was getting burned out selling the same floor plan and same cookie-cutter house over and over in the suburbs. I had dreamt of selling million dollar homes in Dallas and decided it was time to start making my dreams a reality. It wasn’t easy because we all know what the luxury market was like in 2010 and 2011, but we’ve come a long way since then and I’m glad I took the leap!

CD: Wow, we almost had to call you Doctor? That’s scary. Speaking of scary, what’s your worst sales nightmare? Just worst transaction ever?

AG: Haha, I don’t know how much I can say because he is a real estate fanatic and reads this blog : ) Long story short, in my first few months as a luxury agent I had a client rob me blind of all my commission because he was a jerk and knew I’d fold like a cheap tent. I sold an $800k house that ultimately netted me around $4800 when it was all said and done with. I needed the sale and the social proof more than I needed the money, but he was a total jerk and we all had to walk on egg shells around the guy.

CD: Geeze! What’s your best/highest sale?

AG: $4,350,000 is my biggest sale to date. It’s an amazing 14,000 sqft castle in Southlake. Easily the coolest house I’ve ever seen, let alone shown or sold. I currently have it as a hip-pocket listing for $5.25M if you know anyone : ) I also got to work with my first NFL football player last year. I’m a huge football fan, so I must admit I was pretty star-struck the entire time.

CD: Wow. How quickly have you ever turned a house?

AG: The market in our Metroplex is just insane..in the last twelve months we only had one house stay on the market longer than 10 days and we had two of them sell in the first two hours! We just listed a home in Preston Hollow last month that was on the market for over 4 years with multiple agents and we sold it in less than 48 hours! The market is amazing right now and we know what the buyers want!

CD: Candy says she wants the story on that one. How much did you sell last year?

AG: I did just over 10 million in production last year. My goal is to do at least 15 million this year.

CD: Secret Sauce to marketing a house?

AG: Oh boy… I don’t know how many of my secrets I can share! One things is for certain, MARKETING MATTERS! We do A LOT of stuff that most people aren’t doing yet. My newest addition to our marketing campaign is the helicopter videos and photos we do for our clients. It’s somewhat new technology for the real estate industry and we’ve figured out how to make it work really well for us! You can find a copy of our latest listing video on VIMEO.com. Just search 5835 Waggoner, and you can see what I mean!

CD: If you ever change careers for an encore you’ll…?

AG: I don’t ever see myself leaving the industry. Even if I had more money than I could spend in 10 lifetimes, I’d still be showing houses on the weekend to excited buyers! Real estate is my life!

CD: OK, we get it! Finally, what is your favorite place for a second home (do you have a second home?) and why?

AG: It would have to be warm and beachy…I love the water and hope to see myself on Island Hunters on HGTV one day!