“I started my real estate career in 2020. A friend had been in real estate with EXIT for ten years so when I made the move from Nova Scotia to New Brunswick, instead of continuing my career as a mortgage broker, I decided to try real estate,” says Mary Mellin, Sales Representative with EXIT Realty Advantage. “EXIT was dominant in Nova Scotia, so I never even looked at any other agencies when I moved to New Brunswick.”
Mary enjoyed everything about her EXIT office, from the support of General Manager, Dana Clowater, to on-site tech support, to the myriad community events in which everyone participated. “The community events were fantastic for me, because I was new to Fredericton, and I didn’t have a big sphere in this town so having a presence in the community really helped.”
In her rookie days with EXIT, Mary benefited from the depth and variety of training offered by her brokerage. Chris Turner, the company’s Training and Development Manager, invited industry experts like home inspectors to educate the agents on the inner workings of a home so they could feel confident when listing and showing property and during the home inspection process. Also, Chris toured listings with the agents, “almost like job shadowing,” says Mary. “I needed all that because I wanted to be a professional, to know what I was saying and doing when talking to a client. I didn’t want to just show up in a business suit with a portfolio and look smart, I needed to be smart. I needed to show them that the services I provided were knowledgeable so my clients felt confident selling and buying a home with me.”
Mary built her business by being accountable to her career treating it like a nine-to-five job. “I got up every day and went to the office. In the beginning I didn’t have any clients, so I wasn’t making any sales; I was just going to the office and learning. The veteran agents at EXIT saw me every day; I showed up. So, the busy agents who were going away knew I would treat their clients the way they would, so they gave me a lead. EXIT had a whole team of people and a whole office full of veterans I could learn from and who at any second would help me.”
Mary joined EXIT as part of a team which subsequently decided to leave EXIT. “I left because I was going with the team. I thought it was the thing to do, so off I went,” she remembers.
Mary was unhappy with the move right from the start. “I told myself I’d give it eight months, the same length of time I’d been with EXIT, but it didn’t feel the same. There weren’t community events where I could get involved with my family. My 11-year-old loved EXIT and he cried when he found out I left. EXIT says they’re a family and they really are a professional family.”
Even while Mary was with the other company, she was encouraging people to join EXIT. In one example, the millennial daughter of a friend asked Mary for advice on which brokerage to join. “I told her to talk to other brokerages, but at the end of the day EXIT was the place she needed to go because of everything they offered like training and technology. She interviewed with two other companies and in the end, she chose EXIT.”
Mary stuck it out with the other company for eight months then made the decision to return to EXIT. “I told the team I was leaving, and I was going to do real estate as Mary Mellin. Everybody at EXIT was more than happy I was coming back.”
Mary is licensed in both New Brunswick and with EXIT Realty Metro in Nova Scotia because she and her husband are planning to return there. “I’m back and forth because I’ve already started doing business in Nova Scotia. The broker, managers, owners, staff and the real estate agents have already extended that warm EXIT welcome to me.” With EXIT, Mary won’t have to start from scratch because she will earn sponsoring bonuses from EXIT Realty Corp. International based on the production of the people she introduces to the company regardless of which EXIT office she and they are with throughout North America.
Mary is happy and grateful to be back with EXIT. “I’m doing really well,” she says. “I work for myself but I don’t have to be by myself. I have a team that is there to support me. No one’s in competition. We’re all just there to help each other grow. And my son is ecstatic that we’re back.”
It’s great to be where we belong