Count Your Blessings, Not Commissions

By Melanie Robitaille, Sr. Staff Writer and Graphic Designer

A career in real estate means conducting business in many different places, but nothing could prepare EXIT Realty of Lubbock Sales Representative, Kristal Saenz, to work from a hospital bed.

If that wasn’t indication enough of how tenacious she is, Kristal also moved out on her own, went to school, and worked at the age of 16, and eventually completed the required reading to qualify for her local real estate course in one day, and walked into her future EXIT office after getting licensed with a sale ready for contract.

When Kristal puts her mind to something, she goes all in, with all heart. Throughout her life, real estate was always there in her passion for homes and interest in architecture, but “it was never one of those things where I was dabbling,” she admitted..

From the moment she helped a friend translate a buyer’s contract, she knew it was going to be about earning people’s trust, never the money, but she also knew this wasn’t the typical real estate reputation. So, when she met with father/son Franchisees, Gene McGuire and Russell McGuire, in their Lubbock, TX office, it was beyond anything she had expected.

“EXIT made it seem like I had walked into a family’s home,” she recalled. “I felt welcomed in, like they cared about me and not just what I could produce for them.” And this is the same mentality she extends to all her clients, because family is paramount to her.

Kristal joined EXIT early in 2016. Remarkably, she used her second commission check to buy her first investment property, of which she now owns 15. Her mother would buy her a bottle of champagne to celebrate every closing she made, but that support system would be rocked to its foundation when her mother was diagnosed with cancer that year.

Kristal’s fledgling career was so successful, it afforded her the ability to help support and partially care for her mother. But amidst her mom’s fight throughout 2017, Kristal would be rocked again when she was told in the same day that she reached her 15-year goal to cap at EXIT’s 90/10 split, that she also had cancer herself.  

“Then came that rush of knowing you achieved one accomplishment, only to feel that sense of ‘what’s going on?’ In an instant everything changed,” she recollected.

Kristal continued to conduct her real estate career, all the while being worried about her clients. That made it possible for her to pay for both her and her mother’s insurance deductibles, help her sister who quit her job to care for both of them, pay off her cars, her house, covered incidentals, help her sister find her dream home, and purchase 20 acres for her mother, herself, and her in-laws to be able to retire on as well.

“I’ve been able to give back to the same people who gave to me,” she said when asked what she’s gained from a career in real estate. It’s a promise she made in her humble beginnings that she shared once with Gene, and he thinks she’s more than lived up to it.

“If there was one word I would use to describe Kristal, it would be ‘grateful.’ Anytime you talk to her, she gives all the credit to others for her accomplishments, and never fails to express her appreciation to everyone,” Gene proudly shared.

Kristal made a big impact at her office in a short time, and they rallied around her in her time of need. Agents sat with her through chemo appointments and filled in for her when she needed it. Some agents even shaved their heads in support during their Christmas party as she went through treatment.

“I’m truly honored to know Kristal and call her my friend,” Russell explained. “Her example helps us all focus on what’s really important, such as always valuing relationships and deliberately looking for opportunities to help others. We constantly see her put others above herself, and in turn her business continues to thrive.”

She wouldn’t say it’s been easy, but when you derive the sort of purpose that Kristal does from her work, and you’re in it for the right reasons, that’s what makes you truly rich.