The Truth About Real Estate Success: Daily Consistency, Service, and Long-Term Wealth

Mikki Ramey, Charleston, SC (00:00)
I think I watched HGTV and I thought that I was going to open doors and wear cute outfits. But you know,

like that’s not all there is to it. I literally sit on a screen or you know I’m making phone calls on my phone or I’m answering emails and texts through my database for you know at least six hours a day usually. So I’m able to sell off market properties that way like I’m just always connecting with people.

Quentin (02:02)
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds, and I am excited to be here today. I have another fantastic guest and I am going to let her tell you everything that she does, but this woman is not to be played with. You know, she is proficient at what she does. I love the way she’s growing and I just cannot wait for us to glean from her experience, from her knowledge.

And so I am so happy to introduce you all to Miss Mikki Ramey How did I do Miss Mikki?

Mikki Ramey, Charleston, SC (02:39)
good good as as close as Mikki Ramey but that’s okay that’s okay and you and you you needed to do it with a southern accent though

Quentin (02:42)
Ramey. Sorry, Ms. Ramey. And I tried to write it down phonetically, and I still messed it up.

There you go, right? Right? And I was

thinking like, go rain me. I was like, Quincy, get it. But yeah, my Southern accent, I’m not going to even offend you with me trying to do my Southern accent, but how are you doing today,

Mikki Ramey, Charleston, SC (03:03)
Good, good. It’s been a good day so far.

Quentin (03:06)
Good, good, I’m glad to hear that. And listen, I am a type, I love to dive right in. So I would love for you to tell the people what your main focus is these days. If you can give us a little bit of an origin story, kind of how you got to where you are. Like we love the heroin journey. And then also, nevermind, I did this before. I was going to say, tell them where you are, but you are the one with the bright future actually putting on a screen so they actually see where you are. So what are you up to and what’s your origin story? Ma’am, you have the.

Mikki Ramey, Charleston, SC (03:36)
All right, so right now I am the broker owner of Healthy Realty. It’s my real estate company that’s located in Charleston, South Carolina. And I’ve been in real estate about 20 years now. And I run a small but mighty real estate team here. And I’m also a real estate investor. own

multiple investment properties that range from short-term rentals to long-term rentals to commercial property to recently purchased multifamily. So got a lot of different investments and my origin story is that my first house I thought about buying when I was 22 years old I was engaged and so my husband and I went

or my fiance at that time. And I went to look for properties with a real estate agent and we were excited, but it was more money than we ever thought about spending, right? This was back in 1996 and it was a property for $100,000, which in our area, the same property now is probably, you know, $800,000. But anyway, I was terrified. I told the agent, you know, we need to sleep on this. We got to think about it.

she told me y’all she said I can’t believe how immature you are she stormed out of the real estate office I was in tears crying my husband my fiance was like worried that I was gonna not marry him like it was a hot mess so that was my intro into real estate and

Then I eventually, so I rented. I was like, I’m with y’all who have like had bad real estate experiences and you’re like, I’m renting. That agent is awful. She’s scary. So I had that experience. I rented for two years and then I ended up buying the property that I was renting. And so that kind of started my real estate journey because after two years, I sold that property for a $30,000 gain.

Quentin (05:44)
Mmm.

Mikki Ramey, Charleston, SC (06:32)
And at the time I was a teacher making $19,000 a year. And I was like, holy moly. Like I just made more in one real estate transaction than I made in a year of my salary. And so that got me started thinking about my real estate journey. didn’t get licensed until a few years later, but my journey started out in tears in a real estate office. Sad.

Quentin (06:59)
Wow, thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for sharing your story. Thank you for sharing your journey. My wife is an educator in DC public schools and so hats off. So I appreciate your service there, what you did there, because that’s a whole nother thing, but appreciate you there. And so I want to regurgitate some things to you because I’m going make a statement and ask you a question. So healthy reality, hit reality. That’s what you have now.

Mikki Ramey, Charleston, SC (07:12)
Love it.

Quentin (07:29)
I’ve been in the real estate game for 20 years. I’m your investor. You got short-term, long-term, commercial, multifamily. And in your 20s, you was thinking about buying your first home and the real estate agent told you he was being immature. Had your crime, she stormed out. my goodness. But then you bought your first property. You sold that for more than you made a year as a teacher.

man, you know, and so I regret to take these things back to you because I have a saying, Ms. Mikki, where I say destiny has no wasted moments. Right? Like when you look back, yes, right? The momentum has been building and it’s been building for years. This moment, the person you are now, that momentum was building in your twenties, probably even before then it was building. So you have experienced some things along this journey. So what has the journey taught you about yourself?

Mikki Ramey, Charleston, SC (08:08)
That’s great.

Quentin (08:26)
Has it taught you discipline, resilience? Like what has it unlocked in you, the journey that you kind of cling to and hold onto now?

Mikki Ramey, Charleston, SC (08:35)
Well, one really simple thing that it’s taught me is to always buy real estate. Like it’s just very simple, like, and always buy it. Don’t sell it if the market’s down, hold it until it gains if you need to sell. Like I just, I’ve never had an experience where I have on the whole really lost money in real estate if I…

if I think that I’m at that point, which you do, mean, properties don’t always appreciate, right? Like, but if you get to a point where they’re not appreciating, you need to try to hold on to it until it does. So, you know, I mean, that’s just a very simple rule. I think if you buy real estate in your 20s, you are eventually going to, you know, be a real estate millionaire. Like, honestly.

Quentin (09:08)
Yes. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Mikki Ramey, Charleston, SC (09:27)
So that’s just a really simple rule. Buying real estate is better than renting and there just a lot of long-term benefits.

Quentin (09:35)
Yeah.

Mikki Ramey, Charleston, SC (09:36)
with with me with service, you know, those first experiences taught me I’m never going to treat anybody like that. You know what, no matter and I serve all price points in my area as an agent when I serve people as a real estate agent, you know, also 200,002 million and everybody deserves great service that.

And people that are buying $200,000 are really nervous. Like they don’t have any money to spare, right? Like this is a big investment. It’s very serious. So, you know, I take a lot of time with those people that are first time home buyers, as well as the ones that are, you know, investors or own multiple properties.

Quentin (10:55)
I love it. I’m so glad you highlighted that word service. I often say, believe at the foundation of any sustainable business is servitude. Because when you serve people the right way, you have no, it comes back around. There’s an old proverb that I quote, and it says, ⁓ when you refresh others, you in return will be refreshed. So when you can serve somebody, and it’s almost like reading what you saw and throwing a boomerang out there.

Throw a boomerang of service out and it got to come back to you. So I appreciate that. Let me ask you adversity. Like how does adversity now show up within your business? Because every business want to deal with it, right? So what are some of the adversities that show up and how do you deal with it when they come up?

Mikki Ramey, Charleston, SC (11:38)
Thank

So in business, I guess there are two ways for me to look at it. Like within my business that I run, adversity is usually with people that are agents that are under me or employees that are under me and working with them to solve their problems and make them feel like they can get to the next level in their career. So, you know, that’s very important to me. And I have calls with

Team members like when I finished this I’ve got a 15 minute call with one of my team members to do Accountability and check in to see how she’s doing this week So I’ll do accountability calls with the members of my team to really try to limit the adversity there But it still happens, you know real states of business where people come and go they’ll

choose different real estate companies. So my goal is just to always attract like-minded agents who want to serve and who want to be full-time agents. Like that’s really who I want to attract. And then from a client level, I still am in production. So when I work with clients, like the adversity is

people want to cancel contracts and people you know not wanting to make price reductions so I deal with those adversities a little differently and I actually I was a teacher before I was a realtor but I was also a licensed counselor so there’s a lot of counseling that comes in with a real estate so I just help people figure out you know option a option B option C and say okay well let’s look at this you know

Like you don’t have to sell your house right now. I mean, ⁓ I would love for you to, but you don’t have to. This is what it looks like to keep your property. This is what it looks like if you sell it, you know, we can help you accomplish whatever you need. This is what it looks like if you rent it. You know, I try to be people’s advisors to limit adversity and the client relationship.

Quentin (13:46)
I love it. It makes total sense that you are a counselor. Like when you started taking, you said, take 15 minutes, you know, I got a session, I’m gonna take 15 minutes, calm people down. I don’t hear people talk like that. That’s some counselor stuff. So I told you my wife, educated in DC public schools, 10 years as a teacher, but now 10 years as a counselor. So she’s been did both sides of it too. So yeah, exactly. So that makes total sense. So what’s the next real goal for you for?

for a healthy reality, it, what are you looking at? Solve a scale next.

Mikki Ramey, Charleston, SC (14:20)
That’s a great question. So I hit a ceiling about three years ago. I mean, and this is a great ceiling to hit. Like I would, we would get close to a hundred million in production and volume sales every year. And so I couldn’t break that ceiling. And I finally got over a hundred million in gross volume of property sold. And we’ve done that for the last two years. And so that’s exciting. And the next thing that

I really want to do is to keep impacting other for me. I’m a female business leader. So I really try to impact other females. And so the beginning of this year had a conference for female real estate agents called grow. And we talked about how to create growth in your business and your personal life and in your faith. I’m a woman of faith to I volunteer at my church and you know. ⁓

I’m very busy with that. So I just want to impact women and real estate specifically and how they can bless their families and how they can bless others like through real estate. I really feel strongly that God works in the real estate market and I, you know, just want to be a way that that can happen. So.

Quentin (15:42)
You write God is in the real estate market. Like the earth is the Lord, the fullness thereof, the world when they that dwell therein, right? So it’s like, this makes sense that God would bless within the real estate space. I totally agree with that. feel that. ⁓ Let me ask you this. When you hear the word, I love it. You love your female leader. You want to impact female agents, taking time out to have 15 minute calls with people.

making sure they can be accountable, help them calm down their fears. So when you hear this word relationship, what comes to mind to you?

Mikki Ramey, Charleston, SC (17:00)
Different aspects of life, honestly, relationships and work and family mainly. So I want to have impact. I’ve been married for 30 years this summer. you know, we didn’t get, we didn’t break up at the real estate office. So.

Quentin (17:19)
You kept us on

our toes. And she still writing. She’s writing the gossip. You did it. So that’s great. Yeah.

Mikki Ramey, Charleston, SC (17:25)
And we made it. We

made it through that first adversity and stayed together ever since. So I’ve been married. So the relationship with my husband’s very important. I have four children. My relationship with them is very important. I have one ⁓ most beautiful grandchild in the world, according to me, because so.

Quentin (17:29)
Yeah, yeah. I love it.

Mikki Ramey, Charleston, SC (17:49)
I have that blessing and then I love the relationship I have with agents on my real estate team. really trying to impact them and making sure that they’re as busy as they can be. And then I have great relationships at church. We actually lead a young adult ministry. So I really have impact and pouring into 20 somethings that are trying to align their business and their work with their faith.

Quentin (18:19)
I love it. I love it. Is there any topic that I have not brought up that you would like to talk about? Or is there any other words of inspiration, education, motivation? I’m not sure if you came here with something on your mind that you wanted to make sure the audience get. I just want to open up the floor so you can deliver that message.

Mikki Ramey, Charleston, SC (18:20)
and

well, thank you. you know, the one thing that I said, this is about our impact on real estate, too. So I just there’s a lot of fear. Like it’s a huge transaction, right? Like buying hundreds of thousands of dollars of real estate is scary. Like I still I tell all my clients like every time I own, have probably bought and sold, you know, close to 30 properties.

over time you know maybe one year since I was in my 20s but and I still feel like I’m gonna throw up every single time so that’s okay. I tell them I was like if you don’t feel sick right now excited and like you’re gonna be sick to your stomach then we’re doing something wrong like that’s just how this is.

Quentin (19:15)
Ha

Mikki Ramey, Charleston, SC (19:26)
And so I think, you know, I encourage people that it is a big decision, but it’s one that will create generational impact. Like my family is going to have, you know, when I pass away, children will have real estate properties that they didn’t have to do anything to earn that, you know, mom just wanted to create generational wealth for them. So I love that.

I think real estate is very powerful in being able to do that, especially if you start your investing journey when you’re young. And so that’s very important. ⁓ And being a real estate agent from that perspective, it’s a lot of mundane things.

I think I watched HGTV and I thought that I was going to open doors and wear cute outfits. But you know,

like that’s not all there is to it. I literally sit on a screen or you know I’m making phone calls on my phone or I’m answering emails and texts through my database for you know at least six hours a day usually. So I’m able to sell off market properties that way like I’m just always connecting with people.

So if anybody is watching this and thinking about being a real estate agent or you are a real estate agent and you want to know how to get to the next level, it’s not glamorous. It is daily consistent behaviors that lead to long-term success. Like really small, small detailed daily consistent behaviors that lead to long-term success.

Quentin (21:00)
Thank you. I really appreciate your message and I’m glad you take time to talk to people that may be really getting into this and really getting the real of what’s really going on. So listen, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, collaborate with you, learn more about what you’re doing, how can they get in contact with you?

Mikki Ramey, Charleston, SC (21:20)
Yes, the best way to get in touch with me is to just DM me on Instagram. So my Instagram handle is moving with Mikki which is moving M-O-V-I-N-G with W-I-T-H Mikki is as you see it on the screen M-I-K-K-I. So I’m moving with Mikki. That’s the best way and just send me a DM. Follow me. I try to be on Instagram.

daily. That’s another part of the consistency. So I’m always, I always keep something in my story and I try, I usually make one to two reels a week and then post about my listings a couple of times a week.

Quentin (22:00)
Well, listen, let me say three things to you, Miss Mikki. One, thank you for your time. Couldn’t be doing anything with your time, but you chose to spend some time with us. I greatly appreciate that. Thank you for your story. Thank you for your authenticity. Thank you for the gift of your vulnerability. I appreciate it. I often say Jesus taught in parables. so stories are so powerful. They have a way of really getting to the heart of people and planting seeds. Somebody can water that seed. We may never see the growth.

but the seed is still there. So thank you so much for sowing seeds with your story. And lastly, thank you for your mindset. Thank you for the way you think and bringing that mindset to this platform. I greatly appreciate you being here, man.

Mikki Ramey, Charleston, SC (22:41)
Thank you. It’s so fun. I’m so glad to get to know you better and

shop. So, I love talking about faith and work. So, this has been great for me.

Quentin (22:53)
Me too. And I’m so glad you brought it up because I love talking about faith and work too. So I normally kind of let the guests kind of leave, but when they open up the door, I’m like, yes. So I appreciate you. Absolutely. So listen, y’all heard Miss Mikki, look in the show notes, get in contact with her. Definitely make sure you are subscribed here because I promise you we’re going to continue to bring up amazing people just like Miss Mikki. So ma’am, thank you again. And everyone else.

Mikki Ramey, Charleston, SC (23:05)
Yes, love it. I love it.

Quentin (23:21)
Have a fantastic day.

Mikki Ramey, Charleston, SC (23:22)
Alright, thanks.