Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer McFadyen.
Hi Jennifer, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
Growing up, I was a little all over the place. When I was young, I wanted to be a professional athlete, specifically a track star in the Olympics. I loved the dedication athletes showed, and that they were ultimately in control of their performance/outcomes through hard work.
As I grew up a bit more, I started gaining an interest in animals. I loved the idea of marine biology and was interested in becoming a vet or doing other medical routes with animals. I took a few pre-med classes in college and wasn’t in love with Chemistry.
After deciding the medical industry was not for me I decided to lean into what I was good at…which was math + business. I love being strategic with money, driving efficiencies within businesses, and truly understanding the foundations needed to grow a successful business. This is why I was a great corporate employee for Target HQ for almost 9 years, and why I’ve loved helping female business owners, as well as myself, start successful small businesses.
You could say I have always been a bit of a hustler. From a young age, I worked hard at golf courses as a hostess, waitress, and beer cart girl. I also taught swim lessons, lifeguarded, and managed the pool. You could say I held almost every high school job at the local Country Club to get my paychecks where I wanted them to be. I would also pick up babysitting jobs and collect pop cans for $0.05 per can around my neighborhood to help pay for my soccer trips across the US.
I held multiple internships throughout college helping local community businesses and small business owners, and then out of college I started my career at Target HQ as a Business Analyst. I worked my way through multiple positions at Target such as SWAT Analyst, Target Canada Consultant, Merchandise Manager, and Financial Planner. I learned a ton at the corporate level, and am very appreciative of those experiences.
To be honest, real estate was never on my radar. Growing up, I always perceived Realtors as not necessarily having a lot of business acumen and not having that tough of a career. I don’t know why I felt that way or assumed those things (I’m sure I heard it at some point in my life, but it wasn’t a career I dreamed about. Interestingly enough, I fell into the business by chance.
Around 2014, I started to travel the world for multiple weeks at a time. I was burnt out at my corporate job as a Merchandise Manager and Financial Planner, so I would leverage my saved-up vacation to travel for 2-3 week long periods at a time. During my travels, I would soak up the culture, listen to podcasts, and just try to learn more about the world vs. concentrate on my day-to-day back home. It was here I started learning that a lot of the wealth in the United States was built off real estate.
So in 2015, I decided I was going to change careers and start to buy up investment properties to build a passive income stream that would allow me to travel and work remotely. I had a handful of business start-up ideas that I was toying around with but no one would allow me to job shadow at the time, so a friend in real estate suggested I get my license and “secretly” shadow an architect/interior designer to learn more about the behind the scenes of my interests. Becoming a Realtor is fairly inexpensive ($2,500 give or take) and only takes 90 hours’ worth of coursework in Minnesota, so I got my license! I knew I was planning on buying a duplex as my first investment property and thought it could be useful to have my license down the road. Little did I know this would be the start of my big transition.
By March 2016, I was a licensed Realtor, and then in Nov. 2016, I purchased my first property, a duplex. I began to house hack…bringing my “rent/mortgage” down to just $700 per month. This helped me pay down debt and start saving money at a rapid pace! Once I started to get my feet wet in the industry, and I saw how good I was at negotiating, understanding the ins and outs of a property, and truly developing a full client care experience from start to finish. I knew this was what I was meant to do in some capacity, so once the summer of 2017 rolled around, I started to ramp up my client pipeline and planned my exit from Target HQ the following spring.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
My biggest challenge for me is saying no. Real estate doesn’t turn off – you can run your business at all hours of the day, every day of the week. If you aren’t good at creating boundaries for yourself, your family, and your team, it is very difficult to lead a balanced life. This is where I struggle the most. Earlier, I shared that I love to travel, well…it’s difficult to time when you will be busy with clients, what your day-to-day is going to look like, and ultimately be able to fully unplug. I’m getting a bit better at being able to set my phone down here and there for a few hours at a time, but there isn’t one day that goes by when I can’t be accessed or when I’m not checking emails/texts from my team or clients.
In addition, real estate is a 100% commission-based role that is cyclical. There is no consistency in paychecks, no corporate benefits, and no promises. Understanding what financial discomfort looks like for each person is something I have had to learn for myself and help teach my team. Proactively saving and creating a safety net, while ensuring you are continuing to build out your book of business, even while you are swamped, is important in this industry to keep the lights on. When you’re busy, real estate agents can become stressed from workload, and when we are slow it’s a different type of stress. It’s a mental muscle that has to be built and creating a support system of like-minded business owners around you is important.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
My team and I support the greater Twin Cities residential real estate needs. We help anyone looking to buy, sell, rent or invest in real estate – whether it be condos, primary homes, multi-family investment properties, down-sizing, flips, or rentals.
Our number one priority on my team is to help our clients make sound financial decisions that align with their goals. Everyone has different needs when it comes to buying or selling real estate. It is our job to create a strategic approach that caters to the needs of our clients and helps them in the next phase of their life.
Residential Real Estate: We live local, we sell local, we buy local & I know your favorite Twin Cities neighborhood. From great school districts to the most walkable streets in town, we guarantee you’ll love making the house we find your ‘home.’ Ready to sell? Let’s maximize your investment and get you ready to move!ROI: Curious about your return on investment with your never-ending house project list? We’re happy to help! If you live in the Twin Cities and surrounding areas, we can pull together a free consultation to discuss what your top priorities are and what impact that could have on your resale value.
Real Estate Investing: If you’re looking to start building your investment portfolio and want to dip your toes into multi-family investing, reach out! We work with both first-time home buyers and seasoned investors to strategically capitalize on great opportunities popping up throughout the Twin Cities.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
With the economy trying to right-size inflation, we have felt a shift this year in our business. Many homeowners that may have been thinking about making a move, are no longer wanting to leave their low-interest-rate mortgage payment homes. This has caused an even larger deficit in inventory levels for buyers looking to make a purchase. Multiple offers still exist, but with the lack of inventory and increased interest rates, affordability is getting tougher for some buyers.
I think it’s a great opportunity to capitalize on slightly less buyer competition. For any buyers sitting on the sidelines and waiting for interest rates to drop before they start shopping again, I would challenge them to do a bit of the math. For example – if I were to buy a house today and pay a slightly higher interest rate for 12-18 months, it would potentially cost me $12k give or take (depending on the purchase price), over that course of time.
However, if I were to wait until interest rates fall, and housing prices continue to appreciate + multiple offers skyrocket again, I could end up paying $50k-$80k over the list price. I would rather take my chances now with slightly higher rates, and then refinance down the road, which would also allow me to start building equity on my purchase sooner.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jenmcfadyen.com/real-estate-services
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jen.mcfadyen/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mcfadyenandco.realtor/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/all/?fetchDeterministicClustersOnly=false&heroEntityKey=urn%3Ali%3Aorganization%3A92580831&keywords=mcfadyen%20%26%20co.%20real%20estate&origin=RICH_QUERY_SUGGESTION&position=1&searchId=d4768205-0924-4b33-9d20-2338a917ae94&sid=m4%3B
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mcfadyenco.2501
- Other: https://mcfadyenandco.kw.com/
Image Credits
Katie Kopan
