Today we’d like to introduce you to Nina Petrus.
Hi Nina, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
Becoming a realtor was an unexpected destination. The journey to getting here was long, but every experience has led me to exactly where I’m met to be. The idea of living in a house, was something I fantasized about since I was a child.
I grew up in a small apartment in the Bronx (an NYC borough), where I lived with my mother and my great-grandmother. I would see these kids on T.V. that lived in a homey house in the suburbs, with a yard, and I wished I had that. Eventually, my mother remarried, and along came my sisters. My parents decided to leave the city and bought a house in the suburbs.
I was a teenager by then, so the transition wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. I did not fit in at my new school, and I was also struggling at home. I soon began using drugs to cope and dropped out of school. At 18, I left home, and I got involved in a 6-year abusive relationship. My drug dependence got worse, and everything spiraled.
I bounced from one terrible living situation to the next and even found myself homeless a couple of times.
Fortunately, I found my way and decided to get help. After treatment, I had nothing to my name, but I had a whole new outlook on life and was excited about the future. Only 2 weeks out of treatment, my life took the most unexpected turn. I reconnected with someone I knew in high school, who was also in recovery, and I got pregnant.
Both of us were fresh out of rehab and had no money or assets, so this was going to be a long road. We worked relentlessly, we sacrificed, we struggled, and we often felt defeated, but things did eventually get better. We got married, I took college classes and got a job at the hospital, and my husband got into a trade union.
We were finally able to afford a stable place to live and our family grew again. We still struggled a lot, since my husband was still an apprentice, and I had to stay home after the second baby because of daycare costs. And, our dream apartment started to reveal itself to not be such a dream.
There turned out to be mold issues, plumbing issues, heat that constantly went out in the dead of NY winter, and more. After 5 years, we had also really outgrown it. We were so ready to take the next step, and we set our focus on becoming homeowners. As you can imagine, we were still pretty poor.
Becoming a homeowner is not such an easy feat when you only have fair credit and barely any savings. It took a lot of research and a lot of coming up with creative solutions. One of those creative solutions may have involved leaving NY and moving over 700 miles away to beautiful east Tennessee. Though, we did first try a couple of times to buy a house in New York.
On the first attempt, we found ourselves way unprepared and unknowledgeable. The second time, we were so close and even had an accepted offer on a house, but then Covid hit a few days later. My husband worked in New York City, so he very shortly found himself laid off and the house fell through.
By the time we were ready again, the housing market blew up, and us being able to get the house in NY became out of reach. Looking back, however, it could have been accomplished both of those times had we been better informed. This is why I strive to be the realtor I wish I had been in those times. When we decided to leave NY, I was not about to depend on my next realtor to guide us this time.
I did a ton of research and mapped out my own game plan. Our homeowner journey in TN was not without its obstacles, but we did it this time! The market was almost as crazy here, our first deal fell through the night before closing, and we had to live in a hotel for a couple of months… but we did it! Our family finally had a home.
A place that was ours, where we didn’t have to worry about landlords raising the rent or selling the house. A place we could paint and decorate however we wanted, without needing permission. We could finally settle down. We could finally feel secure, and we could start building equity. But for me, the biggest accomplishment I felt was being able to give my children what I wished to have as a child.
Every struggle we went through made us appreciate this accomplishment so much more. I do sometimes wish I had known more back then, so the struggle to get here hadn’t been so arduous, but you live and you learn. And I definitely learned. Now, my mission is to take what I’ve learned and help others achieve this accomplishment too.
There are so many people who want to become homeowners but feel like they’ll never have the means to get there. It’s such a defeating feeling. I want to help those people find their way to homeownership, whatever their current situation may be. There are so many options and solutions out there that most people don’t know about.
I want to educate them. I want to show them that it’s possible and help them make a game plan, so they can feel confident and hopeful, instead of defeated. This is why I became a realtor.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
It has never been a smooth road, but my struggles have conditioned me to be resilient, resourceful, and compassionate.
My biggest struggle now, especially as a realtor, is self-confidence. Unfortunately, that’s the negative conditioning result of my past. For me, it’s more so than the challenges of starting my career in a new area, with a very limited network.
I still often struggle with imposter syndrome and feel like I’m not good enough for success. However, one valuable lesson I’ve learned along the way is that if you’re comfortable, you’re not growing. So I keep pushing myself.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work?
I work with people who want to buy and sell residential property. I mostly work with first-time homebuyers, as that’s a niche that I’m very passionate about. I think my compassion and willingness to educate and go the extra mile for these buyers is what sets me apart in this field.
Many first-time buyers need a lot of guidance, and I am very empathetic to that need. I want them to have the insight and the tools to succeed. Right now, the market is really hard for first-time buyers, but no matter how much time and work it is on my end, I believe everyone deserves to own a home, and I’m going to do everything I can to get them there. I have lately taken an interest in and been educating myself on real estate investing also.
I used to equate investing with slumlords, but that was a very anecdotal view. Investing provides an opportunity to build generational wealth for your family, while also putting yourself in the position to help renters and your community.
I would love to also start working with investors, new or seasoned, who are investing for those reasons.
How do you define success?
Success for me, as a realtor, is pretty simple. Making my clients happy + getting them to the closing table = success. Referrals are nice too.
Overall, as long as I’m doing something I enjoy, while helping others, and still being able to provide my children with comfort and stability, that’s all the success I need.
Contact Info:
- Website: Knox.flexmls.com/ninapetrus
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nmp_real.estate
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Nina-Petrus-Realtor-102088552532314/
- Other: https://treftn.com/agents/
