Today we’d like to introduce you to Barbara Stevens
Hi Barbara, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I started out my real estate career over 28 years ago as VP of Marketing and Training for a corporate relocation company in California. In 2008 I formed my own corporate relocation company called OakTree Relocation Services along with a partner. Shortly after forming OakTree Relocation, I bought out my partner and took over sole ownership. At that time, one of my corporate accounts was Bosh Home Appliances who had a plant in LaFollette TN, which lead me to make frequent trips to the Knoxville area on business. I had visited family and relocated many families to Knoxville over the years, however had never given serious thoughts of relocating to East Tennessee myself, until one day while driving to the airport, I called my husband and told him how beautiful Knoxville was and that I would love to consider moving here. He was ecstatic because he is a TN boy growing up in middle TN and attending college here. I am from Indiana, so as you can see relocating to east Tennessee put us both closer to our family roots.
The other piece of my story is our family; our son and his wife have 3 grown kids and our daughter, and her husband have a young daughter all who were living in CA and very close to us; and as you may guess, this Mom and Nana wasn’t going to move across the country unless her kids and grandkids relocated too. It didn’t take them long to get everyone on board and I conducted what we call in the relocation world as a “group move” with my family!
Once I got settled in the Knoxville area I reached out to Wallace Real Estate because I knew they were the best and had a stellar reputation, which I knew firsthand since I had used them with transferee moves in and out of the Knox area over the years. It was a perfect match! So much so that both my husband and daughter joined me at Wallace, and we formed our team called Agents with Family Roots at Wallace. Seemed pretty fitting since Wallace returned to its roots about 2 years ago after leaving Coldwell Banker franchise and our family came back to our roots as well.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
As you can imagine, by leaving CA I was worried how my corporate clients might feel with the transition of operating my relocation company from Tennessee, you know just the change can set off many questions and concerns. I was so surprised to find out how supportive all of my clients were and how much trust and confidence they had in me regardless of what state I based the company.
When I started my own company in 1980 I knew the company would be a success and profitable, which we were. Again, it was the trust my clients had in me to make it happen. They helped me pick out logo colors for the new company and encouraged me every step of the way. I knew they wouldn’t just hand me the business and that I still needed to continue to earn their business for them to move with me on my entrepreneur journey!
It was a bittersweet day when I sold my relo company and turned over my accounts to another relo company, but a day worth celebrating knowing I gave 100+% every time I took that relocation journey with a family and hopefully helped them make one of the best decisions of their lives; new job, new location and new home!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am blessed with opportunities to be invited into peoples’ lives so that I can walk alongside them not only as their Real Estate Professional, but as their advocate throughout the real estate process. I believe everyone deserves quality of services, regardless if they are first-time home buyers or seasoned sellers.
My goal and what I believe sets me apart from other agents, is that my goal is to form a relationship with my clients, get to know them and their families not just for one transaction but a long lasting relationship where they refer to me as their Realtor.
I am most proud of the fact that after all these years, I still love what I do and am continued to be blessed with the opportunity to serve and hopefully make a difference in people lives.
Any big plans?
I will continue to be the best that I can be for my clients. Our team is hosting a Client Appreciation Party in a couple of weeks and it will be fun to watch clients interact and share their real estate stories- hopefully good ones! Maybe a laugh or two!
Contact Info:
- Website: htpps://barbarastevens.agent.wallacetn.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/agentswithfamilyroots/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/barbarastevensWallace/
