5 Powerful Lessons on Networking from Realtor Tonya Keener

Dylan Silver (00:00.738)
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Real Estate Pros podcast brought to you by Investor Fuel, the nation’s premier real estate mastermind. I’m your host, Dylan Silver, and today on the show we have Tonya Keener. Tonya has a diverse range of experience ranging from the trucking industry to being a graduate of York Leadership School in York, Pennsylvania, and she’s a realtor and we’re gonna talk about

some of the diverse strategies she’s used to gain listings here today. Tonya, welcome to the show.

Tonya Keener (00:35.776)
Thank you for having me.

Dylan Silver (00:37.514)
Absolutely, but before we hopped on here, I let you know, I always like to talk about folks entry point into real estate and you’ve done so much. I know for many people listening, it can seem a little confusing, maybe even overwhelming. How do I get in? Do I be a realtor? Do I do wholesale? Do I join with people who are investing? How did you get in?

Tonya Keener (00:59.914)
So I was truck driving and I felt really strong that God told me to do real estate. I couldn’t see all the pieces then. I didn’t know but I knew enough with my relationship with God that I should follow that. And so I just said, okay, I told my husband I’m gonna do real estate now. And I started taking the classes and got my license.

Dylan Silver (01:21.442)
So backing up a bit, for folks who are listening and are thinking, well, you know, I don’t have a real estate background. How am I gonna go do real estate? I don’t necessarily know if I’m cut out for this. That’s how I felt. I don’t know if you felt that way when you were truck driving, but coming from my background, which was still sales, I felt like I don’t really know anything about the real estate space. I don’t know if I’m cut out for that. And then we were talking before we hopped on here, the test.

was so hard for me. It was so hard. I don’t know how I passed, but I did. And I think you had maybe a similar experience.

Tonya Keener (01:52.788)
Yeah.

Tonya Keener (01:58.996)
Yeah, I failed three times, but I’m persistent. I knew getting my CDL, that was hard. And I persevered through that. I failed the first driving test I took and then passed the second time. for me, I didn’t have any background in real estate either. And I was like 340 pounds. I was at my highest weight, right? I’m truck driving, so I’m dressing pretty much like a dude, right? Hair crazy. And I’m thinking to myself,

Dylan Silver (02:20.067)
Alright.

Tonya Keener (02:28.061)
what a realtor looks like or how they show up to present theirself and I’m like, wow, like that is not me. How am I gonna do that? But again, I just have the confidence to put myself out there and anytime I put my, you know, I start to do something, then I give it my all and I’ve been successful. Four years now later, I came in second last year in my office. So yeah, I just trusted myself.

Dylan Silver (02:55.938)
I think it can be challenging for folks to quote unquote fail forward. And I’ve personally struggled with this where you hit a roadblock and you’re trying so hard to get over the hump, whether it’s an exam, whether it’s networking, whether it’s getting into the right circle to where you could have that opportunity and you’re just trying and you’re just trying and you’re trying. But from hearing you talk just briefly now, it doesn’t seem like you were phased at

all by the obstacles.

Tonya Keener (03:28.391)
Yeah, I’m not someone either considered book smart. So I knew I would struggle in that area from my past. I knew like I would have challenges but still and it is very difficult because it’s such a broad career. There’s so many different avenues. The best thing is to also be in a good broker and get under the right people that will give you that guidance because that really helped me finding the right broker really and then walking me through it all. It definitely helped me a lot getting started.

Dylan Silver (03:58.508)
To your point, Tonya, I’ve found that having a semi-strategic approach to networking has enabled me to be literally where I’m at today in this seat. For me, it was initially just being afraid to go to these real estate meetups and to be mingling. I felt like I had, you know…

Imposter syndrome. I wasn’t even in the space. I don’t have a deal. know nothing here We are talking with lenders and RML o and agents and brokers investors Hard money lenders and there I was, you know in the car business like and I’m just like I don’t know what I’m doing here but I’m trying to to be in the room and You found a broker that was able to as you said Guide you through that process Do you have a?

mentality and approach to networking to making those relationships and then also part B of that how did you meet your broker?

Tonya Keener (04:54.591)
Yeah, 100 % networking. don’t think people realize the importance of it because real estate success is all about relationships and developing those relationships. And I was very strategic. That’s the whole reason part of why I went through the Leadership York program was to get familiar with my county because I’m not originally from here, build relationships because that does lead to business, right? So that is huge. And I do as many networking things as possible. I’m even actually starting my own networking group to develop.

closer relationships with other business professionals. So but as far as

meeting my broker, was interviewing with different brokers. All of them were telling me the same thing. They were like, oh, you’ve got to be part of a team. You’ve got to do it full time. You’re not going to make it. And I was like, I knew that wasn’t going to be for me. I needed to ease into it. And I needed to do it part time to get started. So when I went into Century 21, my broker was like, oh, no problem. We’ll move at your pace, your speed, whatever you need. And I was like, OK, this is my broker. And I’ve been with them ever since.

Dylan Silver (05:55.982)
Tonya, what were some of the biggest hurdles that you faced once you joined your broker prior to and maybe during that first couple of transactions?

Tonya Keener (06:06.333)
Yeah, so if you’re…

not if you don’t have a large spear which me not being from here is the case. I don’t have a large spear. I don’t have family here. I don’t have a bunch of friends here. So leads right is difficult. And then when I got some leads like I had four deals all at the same time in the beginning that just like hit me and I had no idea what I was doing. The paperwork was like overwhelming to me. Other realtors on the other side were yelling at me like they would literally yell at me like what are you doing? This is not like it.

It was just crazy. The realtor, some of them can’t, you know, not friendly, right? But I persevered through it. I had help, but the paperwork was probably one of the biggest hurdles for me.

Dylan Silver (06:49.9)
I came from the wholesale space before being a realtor and it’s a very tenuous relationship between wholesalers and realtors for folks listening. You may know this or if you’re new to the real estate space you may not know.

So when I was in champion school in Fort Worth, they were talking about wholesalers and not the best light, not the best light. So here I was being a wholesaler and they said, you know, does anyone intend or know of any wholesalers? And I was kind of proud and I raised my hand and there was an audible gasp, audible gasp in the room from someone who was attesting to be a broker. And this person said,

Tonya Keener (07:24.124)
Wow.

Dylan Silver (07:31.852)
excuse me, are you a wholesaler? To which I recognized, you know, there is some level of, I don’t wanna say tension, but just an expected process that realtors have in interacting with the public and interacting.

with wholesalers and interacting with other realtors and in many cases unforgiving and this didn’t even hit me fully until I sat for the exam and was studying for the exam and I said okay I get it now this is a very very very hard exam and they’ve kind of earned maybe a right plus their book of business to be a little bit uh uh uh uh uh maybe sometimes a diva

Tonya Keener (08:16.307)
Yeah, I can speak to wholesaling just from my experience. does, it’s, in my experience, the wholesalers have not always been reputable. And I think that’s why they get a bad name, right? Because I work with investors. I work with all people. But in my experience, yeah, it can, it’s not been very favorable experiences. So I think they do it to their self, you know.

Dylan Silver (08:39.148)
They do, I would say most of the time, coming from the wholesale space, people are just getting started, you’re just learning. And then also you have many cases, wholesalers representing themselves as a buyer, which in Texas, if you’re a realtor and you’re doing that, you’re violating the Deceptive Trade Practices Act. But if you’re at…

Tonya Keener (08:54.399)
Mm-hmm.

Dylan Silver (09:04.334)
average person, there’s a little bit more wiggle room, although you could still get in trouble. And so these folks are coming to sellers or they’re coming to realtors and they’re saying they’re the buyer, but then they intend to assign it. So then what happens is if you have an option period and your option period comes up and then there’s no buyer, well now,

that person’s left holding the bag or they just cancel the contract, which is unfavorable to everybody. But that is a strategy.

Tonya Keener (09:33.205)
Yeah.

Well, and the other thing is, you find, because this is hugely, it bothers me, and I experienced this often, that everything is so transactional now in real estate. Like I have buyers that I’ve spent weeks with, right? Did everything, got them their house, all that, and they don’t even do a review for me afterwards. It’s like when they’re done with you, they’re done with you. And I find that with other billiards, with wholesalers, like there’s no personal connection anymore with us as humans and just as professionals.

with each other. It’s like your means to an end. It’s transactional and that’s it.

Dylan Silver (10:11.342)
Tonya, to your point, I feel that greatly. I’m someone who likes to travel. I got a passport, I wanna say maybe two years ago, and hadn’t really traveled outside of the country in like a decade, practically since I was a kid. And I’m 30 now. And so, when I got the passport, started traveling, I was seeing outside of the United States, in many of these countries, specifically I was traveling to Latin America,

There was so much more connection between people and I wasn’t expecting that I was expecting differences in culture Maybe differences in economy day to day But I wasn’t expecting the level of connectivity between people to be so heightened like everybody knows their neighbor You’re not really ever eating alone

There’s not this hyper individualism that we have here and a kind of tendency towards isolation. And so when I came back, because every time that I leave, I’ve been back a number of times, every time that I come back, I’ll end in Fort Lauderdale or Miami. And it hits you just like that when you get back to the United States, like, okay, we’re back. This is how things are. And so to your point, Tonya, I feel like…

people just aren’t valuing those relationships and it is transactional.

Tonya Keener (11:29.983)
Yeah, I mean you can sell someone’s house and three years later they moved on and don’t even remember you and that’s just crazy to me because when I deal with anybody I treat them like I spend time with you. I want a connection more so than just that transaction because that’s just important to me. So that is a challenge in our build and that’s getting worse and worse.

Dylan Silver (11:55.828)
found that although I just sat for my license on Monday I have seen that and part of me feels like it in the real estate space because I come from the wholesale background working with investors and I have a relationship with one best in particular and have done multiple deals with him I’m probably going to expand upon that

when I’m licensed, then I would like to have that continuity with the same people. So I’m not certain for me, I’m gonna be dealing with…

I’m sure it will happen. I’m sure I’ll pick up some listings, but I won’t be dealing as much with one-offs But that is unappealing to me in some way coming especially coming from a car sales background where we’re basically you would Sell person a car and just like you’re saying even though it’s the second biggest purchase They’ll make in their lives. You really won’t hear from them again But pivoting a bit here Tonya. I do want to talk about York leadership

School, I’ve never really Delved too much into leadership schools, but I’ve always thought wow the fact that this exists is a really cool thing

Tonya Keener (13:02.405)
It really is because what they did, they’re a program that they take you and they get you ready to be on a board, right? So they introduce you, like I learned all about nonprofits, all about York County. It was an intense program for nine months, you know, once a week for like three hour classes, but it was worth it because knowledge is power and you form some relationships and people just respect that program. So it really did.

teach me a lot and prepare me and after that I felt ready to be on a board and now I sit on a board that I’m passionate about.

Dylan Silver (13:39.906)
Wow. So in that those classes was it all people who are going to be on a board or was there anybody who was there for leadership in general?

Tonya Keener (13:49.706)
So they had different scholarships and different things. So for our class, particularly, was for if you wanted to be on a board eventually. You don’t have to at the end, but that’s what you’re pretty much training for. And I think that’s so important because people making decisions in your community about businesses that really do affect you are the people sitting on these boards running these organizations.

Dylan Silver (14:15.278)
Yeah, mean, people may know this and I’ve heard people say it, but I’m not sure that it’s said enough. The government that affects you the most is your local government, right? And so you don’t, in many cases, really put too much thought into who these people are. You might not know them, but these are the people that are affecting your ordinances, your home, your transportation.

Tonya Keener (14:25.502)
Yes.

Tonya Keener (14:33.001)
right.

Dylan Silver (14:40.29)
maybe even your water, right? So these are huge, huge factors in people’s lives. And while you’re going through York, are you at this point in time full in your real estate career doing deals and how are you managing doing both?

Tonya Keener (14:40.446)
Yeah.

Tonya Keener (14:58.833)
Yes, I was. I was doing that. I was actually doing a local TV show too and called the American Dream. So I had so much going on where I was like contacting businesses to come out and host them just like you do on this podcast. So it was intense. It was an intense nine months, right? But I got through it and it was worth it and I have a great support system. So that helped me.

Dylan Silver (15:24.462)
It’s interesting hearing you talk about this because I’m thinking going from the trucking space to then this career. If you eliminated that you had done trucking, I would have said, well, this person has been doing real estate her whole life. She’s clearly networking on the top level. I call it guerrilla networking or networking junkie, fanatical networking. But I can only imagine being in the trucking space, you don’t really have.

time to do that. So was this a big switch for you, a total life switch in a way? Or did you know while you were doing trucking, even in the beginning, that this was going to be something that would come up?

Tonya Keener (16:03.007)
So I didn’t know about real estate and it was a huge switch, but because I’ve always saw myself being in ministry and traveling around and giving speeches and encouraging other people to help them overcome things that I have, I’ve just always saw myself operating in that dynamic. even though it was a whole new experience and it’s basically like training me for that later, it was easy for me to fall into it and get comfortable with it.

Dylan Silver (16:29.166)
Speaking of which, Tonya, before we hopped on here, you mentioned hosting a fashion show, which, man, lot going on, so much going on. I said I’m gonna save my questions for the podcast, and so I have so many. How did this come about?

Tonya Keener (16:42.759)
Okay. Okay, so I do workshops.

At some homeless shelter I go in and teach them different things and I formed a connection with the lady that worked there who did fashion and stuff and We were working together on a trauma support group that I found it that I want to get started called onions and she came up with this idea of a way to introduce it to everybody is to put on a fashion show I’ve never done a fashion show. It’s pretty much out of my element, but I said, okay, let’s do it I have did a concert to raise money for toys for tots. I

hugely successful in that but still I’m like let’s do it so now we’re full into it and it’s a lot of craziness it’s a it’s a big big big deal and stressor my husband’s gonna kill me if I ever do another project he said like this but yeah it’s coming up on May 3rd

Dylan Silver (17:36.216)
Wow, so I can imagine a lot of the experience that you’ve had leading up to this point have enabled you to be agile enough to put on a show like this, but also you can’t do it without the people that you know.

Tonya Keener (17:51.092)
Yeah. Yes. And so for me, the benefit, know, part of the benefit of being a realtor is people want to do business with you. You people want to sponsor things to help you for that connection. So I had learned early on like.

Call up people if you need something. You’re doing an event, call them up. Let them sponsor it and cover the cost. And I’ve been successful with that. Also, I’ve always sat down with anybody I work with. If I’m going to send you leads, I want to know who you are. I want to know that we align. And I want you to know that it’s reciprocal. I don’t want to send you business. I learned this early on too, just sending leads to a mortgage lender and getting nothing in return. I said, I’m not going to do that. I want to know you.

a business partnership I want to get something out of it so and I learned also how to pick up and get the government officials involved like I spent the day with the mayor when I was doing that show the senator is coming to the fashion show you know so I know my officials also York leadership helped with meeting those people too so I put it all to use

Dylan Silver (18:58.766)
This is such a tricky and sometimes people avoid it. Specifically in the investor space which I’m a part of, this kind of idea that investors are butting heads with city officials that, you know, zoning and…

different types of permits that they may need in certain circumstances can be frustrating. But I was sitting in on a podcast where an investor spoke about building a relationship just like you would want to nurture a seller if you’re an investor and you’re trying to buy their property or if you’re an agent and you’re trying to get a listing, nurturing that relationship. And this gentleman was saying he did really the same thing with the city officials and everyone who is

Sitting in on the podcast thought wow, that’s probably what we all should be doing

Tonya Keener (19:51.536)
I agree like I know we can’t talk about politics and real estate. can’t be one side or the other because right it causes problems. knowing your city officials forming those relationships is the only way you really will get anything done on a bigger scale, especially if you are trying to make a difference and you know have a positive impact on the community.

Dylan Silver (20:10.946)
When you’re doing all these things, right? You’re going to York leadership, then all the while you still have a passion. You mentioned for the support groups hosting a fashion show. You’re still selling real estate during this time, I imagine. Do you have any feedback for folks who, like many of us, are not sure how they can fit real estate into their lives?

Tonya Keener (20:39.143)
Right. Yeah, it’s difficult. I worked so hard though in the first couple of years to put in a structure for how I was going to run and operate my business that that’s what’s really carried me over and because I have focused on listings for like a year straight and got so many listings that kind of allows me now to kind of let the work just come in right because people are calling me and if you get under contract it’s because I have that listing so it’s kind of less work for me on trying to get new leads currently because

I have listings and then that also brings other business people are calling you. that property is not available, but let me help you with this property. So it is it is Difficult, but it can be done and you just have to have a structure in place a business plan and model and work that plan

Dylan Silver (21:28.302)
Speaking of which, Tonya, before we hopped on here, you mentioned cold calling million dollar listings, which I said to you, and I put the smile on my face, because I love, love, love cold calling, because I’m a, you know, came from the wholesale space, right? That’s what you gotta do. How did you get the idea to cold call million dollar listings? Did you see anyone else doing that? And how did it go for you?

Tonya Keener (21:51.082)
now.

No, no one else was doing it. No one else is still doing it out of like that. I’m familiar with because they all thought like wow, how’d you get these listings and you really called somebody? I mean people are people. I’m a person they’re a person. They have their property. Usually it’s expired leads. I’m going to call you. So I just said, yeah, I’m not going to limit myself. I did the same thing with commercial. I saw no one in my brokerage doing commercial really and I said, why can’t I do commercial? I’m going to do commercial and I call commercials to like I

is jump in. want to be diverse. I don’t want to put myself in a box and limit myself because the market is always changing and like when buyers aren’t wanting to buy then investors are great to work with right because they’re still going to be so you just have to be diverse and work many angles in real estate and it went very well for me. I I sold my first three point million dollar property last year. I have another point six million dollar property on the market. I had a five million dollar this all from

picking up the phone and calling these people and having conversations.

Dylan Silver (22:56.654)
So when you said the first one that was over a million was three million. So you went, I’m assuming average, I don’t know what the average out there, but maybe somewhere around five, four, 500,000, is that what the average home? So you went from four, 500,000 to now more than six times that to over three million. Was that a wow moment for you in your life when that deal closed? Was that unbelievable, like almost out of body?

Tonya Keener (23:00.894)
Yeah.

Tonya Keener (23:08.733)
Yes, yes.

Tonya Keener (23:27.003)
yeah, that was huge and it that deal had problems. So we weren’t sure at one point if we were going to get there. So it was very stressful and we did do it. You know, I worked very hard on that deal and when I got there just was so rewarding. But you know what’s I know this might sound crazy, but what’s more rewarding to me is when I have somebody that comes from a background of where they can only afford maybe like a hundred and ten thousand hundred twenty thousand dollar house their first time home buyers.

don’t have you know the best background but they’ve overcame challenges when I get them to closing and I help them that actually is more rewarding for me to be able to participate in that because it’s such a life-changing experience for them.

Dylan Silver (24:11.806)
really true and speaking for younger Millennials, Gen Z, there is a unfortunately a lot of pessimism that you know will we be able to buy homes with people in their early 20s what’s gonna happen because we just see the price going up and up and up which of course benefits people who have equity in their house but

What advice would you have for those first time home buyers who may be struggling with how are they going to do this?

Tonya Keener (24:44.081)
Yeah, so it’s so important to have professionals helping you. know, a lot of people start looking for houses before they even know what they can qualify for. It’s important to connect with a reputable lender that cares about you because they are going to walk you through what you need to do, not someone that’s just going to cherry pick and you have great credit. I’m going to help you know someone that’s going to say, okay, you have some challenges. This is what we need to do to get you there and they’re going to walk you through that. They’re going to give you the guidance.

so important because a lot of people think they want to clear up their credit and they go about it the wrong way with things that don’t even help them. And I was one of those people years ago. I got income tax, right? I thought, I’m going to pay off all this debt and it’s going to be great. It did not help me one bit because I didn’t understand how to do it the right way. Now I do. So it’s just so important. Connect with a good lender, connect with a real estate professional and listen to what they tell you. They’re going to get you there and they’re going to protect you if they’re doing

their job and it’s very important.

Dylan Silver (25:47.406)
100%. There’s so much that we could probably dive into that in a whole podcast. The idea of finding the right people to…

to help someone who’s a first time home buyer who might not have any other way to get the knowledge. You would think with all the information that’s out there on the internet that you would easily be able to find some of this, but shockingly you can’t, and oftentimes it’s the wrong information. But Tonya, I do wanna ask you, you’re doing so much. Where do you see…

Tonya Keener (26:12.509)
Yes.

Dylan Silver (26:20.172)
the conglomeration of all this taking you between the real estate, the fashion show, your leadership background, where do you see yourself in the next year, year and a half, two years?

Tonya Keener (26:34.739)
So.

I’m still building my business four years in my it’s not enough to really be super established the way that I want to be and to be having the referrals come in like I would like and that’s okay because I patience but I’m still building my connections. Yeah, I’m nowhere near there but the more that I reach out and connect with my community and do things to be involved the more I know that it’s going to transpire into me being successful on both levels real estate as well as my passion.

to make a difference. So I see myself in a couple years hopefully establishing my nonprofit that I want to do. So that would be the goal but still doing real estate because I do love it. I love the diversity and I love what all it brings into my life and all the people I get to deal with.

Dylan Silver (27:22.754)
What real estate taught me, Tonya, so far, and my journey is really just beginning, is the power of asking. Now, when I first started, I wasn’t really accustomed to being able to get coached or…

have influential people give me feedback that was very uncommon. What I’ve seen oddly enough and I’ve talked with a number of people who echoed this is that in the real estate space, sure you’ll have some people who are a closed door and you can’t get information out of them, but you have so many other people who just like you are wanting

to scale and they remember being at the beginning, which wasn’t that long ago in many cases, and they see in me or in someone else, hey, that kind of reminds me of that version of myself. And so when I come up to them and ask them kind of a basic question, like for instance, how did you get your first assignable contract? Or what made you decide to get a real estate license? And they’re a broker, right? I get all different types of answers, but it’s more or less an open book.

Tonya Keener (28:27.741)
Yeah, I love that. mean, everybody has a story, right? And there’s so much different people that you meet and you connect with and you can learn from. So you have to just take advantage and absorb it all and put yourself out there.

Dylan Silver (28:41.494)
Absolutely. Tonya, we are coming up on time here. Where can folks go to get a hold of you?

Tonya Keener (28:48.647)
Okay, so you can call me, right? One thing that people credit me on is I always answer my phone. All right, I’m calling you right back, right? So 443-466-6462. I mean, I guess I can type that in somewhere. Or you can go to my website, Tonya Keener Relity. Find me on Google. I work with Century 21 Core Partners, so I’m accessible.

Dylan Silver (29:16.174)
Look folks, if you’re in the Pennsylvania area, specifically York, Maryland too, that’s right, we didn’t even delve into that. Maryland or Pennsylvania, reach out to Tonya, she can be an excellent resource, anywhere from million dollar listings to even being a first time home buyer, she can be an excellent resource there for ya. And so that wraps up another episode of the Real Estate Pros podcast by Investor Fuel, the nation’s premier.

Tonya Keener (29:20.743)
or American.

Dylan Silver (29:45.602)
Mastermind in the real estate space. I’m your host Dylan Silver and thanks for tuning in. Thanks Tonya.

Tonya Keener (29:51.069)
Thank you.