Meet Kasey McGee of Red Door Real Estate in Quincy

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kasey McGee.

Kasey, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My real estate career began almost five years ago, I started as a real estate assistant for a year to make sure I knew the ropes before diving right in on my own and hoping on board with Red Door Real Estate. However, my real story begins twenty-six years ago on Long Island, New York where I grew up. I was raised by a strong single mom with my older brother. We lived in a four bedroom, spacious home until I was about thirteen when we moved to Quincy. We sold our home and moved in to our first rental, first of many. When we moved to Quincy I instantly fell in love with its history and everything that it had to offer. Going from one apartment to another was not fun and I promised myself I would work hard enough to have a permanent place one day to call home and place I could paint the walls without having to ask permission. It sounds cliché but I have always been a lover of HGTV and let me tell you, real estate is not what you see on those shows but it was definitely an inspiration for me. After graduating high school, I could barely afford to go to college, but I did for a few semesters and ultimately decided to jump into real estate at twenty-one, which has been my best decision to date. Twenty- one was an interesting year because it’s also the year I had my first child, which gave me even more of a push. I was no longer in college, had not finished a degree but dove into real estate (very scary!). I didn’t do too great my first year but promised myself I wouldn’t give up. Five years later I own my own house, paid my way through college with one semester left, last year sold a little over $5,000,000 in real estate and am on track to almost double that this year. You know, there is something so rewarding about helping people buy and sell their homes, I think where I came from has given me so much more of an appreciation and drive to follow this path. I know what it’s like to want a home, to fall in love with a home and back that up with the knowledge I have grown to understand about the process and it just works. I think my story and a lot about my life is relatable, we all have a story and home is a major part of that story. While I am still finishing up my degree from UMASS in IT and business, I have no plans to slow down my real estate business. At this point, having a degree is just another check mark on my list of all I have wanted to accomplish. I really can’t say enough about working at Red Door Real Estate that last few years, it has been so rewarding and I have learned so much. One thing I can say is there is always something to be learned in every deal. A major reason I have chosen to stay with Red Door Real Estate and grow with them is everything they have to offer my clients and all the support our team gives each other. Support is a major part of how I got to the level I am at today and I cannot thank Red Door Real Estate and its owner/broker Madelene Cheney enough. With all that’s going on in the world today I think women are stronger than ever and it really is all the strong women in my life that got me to where I am today, and of course my husband and kids!

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not been a smooth road and I honestly don’t know if the word “smooth” actually applies to real estate transactions sometimes. My first year out on my own I realized how competitive the real estate world really is and add in a market that is red hot, fast moving and I felt helpless at times, I couldn’t keep up. I did so much research on things to help brand myself and get to the next level. It really does take relationship building and time. My second year into real estate I had my second child, so now add two children to the mix of trying to grow your own business. While the flexibility of hours was helpful it was very difficult to balance my time when people called and needed paperwork at that moment or wanted to see a house at dinner time. I had lost out on clients because of how young I was and the experience I lacked. I even thought, what will I do I have nothing to fall back on. I started to use that as motivation and explained to people that those reasons are why I want it more, having something to prove gave me such a drive. My lowest point was when I needed to get a second job, I got a great paying union job with full benefits. You are probably thinking, why would you complain about that? Well, it wasn’t my passion and it made me realize that money doesn’t buy happiness, you have to love what you’re doing to be happy. After about a year of balancing both jobs my real estate career finally took off and I knew it was the right time to quit this great paying job I had for something I loved because it was coming down to choosing to make it to appointments for my clients or make it to this job I hated. I quit that job and I have never looked back since. There are so many situations and things that happen during real estate deals and I feel one of my now strong points is that I have learned how to step back, take a breath and handle things professionally and with honesty, giving up isn’t an option. I think many have this vision that real estate is just showing a house and getting paid for it and it takes a lot more than that. I have so many friends that see my business posts and are like “you’re killing it, I want to get into real estate” and I am all for supporting them but I just don’t think they realize what it takes. Once I figured out time management and learning how to take control of my clients and deals (which I am still learning everyday) things started to go a lot smoother. There are good months and bad months and there are always ups and downs, there is no weekly paycheck, or guaranteed income, and deals do fall apart but there is an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment and happiness when you get to that closing table and I always say to myself that I just made someone’s dream of owning a home come true, and I reflect on where I came from and then I think what can be better than this?

Red Door Real Estate – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Red Door Real Estate itself has been in business for eight and a half years and I am so happy to be a part of this team for almost half of that time. We are definitely a smaller office but I think that’s what sets us apart, a smaller office where when you work with one of us you are essentially working with all of us. We support each other and who doesn’t need support when making one of the biggest purchases of their life? We specialize is residential real estate from first time home buyers to investors and people purchasing their third or fourth property. We often have mortgage brokers come by for learning sessions on the newest loan programs and what’s going on with interest rates, we also have attended webinars as an office to stay up to date on ways to market ourselves. There are so many things we are proud to say were knowledgeable on, after all giving our knowledge is a major part of the home buying and selling process. We offer virtual tours, professional photography, aerial photography, just listed mailings, newspaper ads, social media ads and many more. It’s important for us to be relatable and reliable for our clients and we always have our client’s best interest while trying to make the process as stress free and comfortable as possible. Red Door Real Estate definitely gives you that personal touch you won’t find anywhere else.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I can’t really just pick out one moment honestly, I think there are a few, of course my first million dollar sale was one of my proudest and each time a client writes me a review it makes me proud of the work I am doing. I once had a family friend have me over to discuss listing their property. They ended up hiring someone else and ended up going through three other agents before finally calling and hiring me and guess what? I am the one that sold the property- I was pretty happy and proud that I was able to prove myself on that one. But most of all, I am proud of my growth and drive especially over this last year. I don’t think success is about the amount of money you make or how many sales you make, I think success is how you can grow beyond each goal that you set and meet. I am looking forward to what 2018 brings and continuing to grow my business and serve my clients the best I can.

Contact Info:

• Address: 222 Sea Street
  Quincy, MA 02169
• Website: realestatebykasey.com
• Phone: 631-609-5378
• Email: kasey@reddoor-re.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kaseymcgeereddoor/
• Facebook: facebook.com/realestatecastles
• Other: www.reddoor-re.com

Image Credit:
Feda Eid
Dana Marshall Photography

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