Broker-Associate
Leader of the Robin Bird Team
No matter what path you take in life, sometimes you end up somewhere unexpected; but that unexpected place might be right where you belong. That certainly holds true for me. I thought I was destined for academia, as school came naturally to me, and my parents were always supportive of that path.
I received an undergraduate degree in Psychology from C.S.U., Sacramento, and went on to earn my Ph.D. Minor in Psychology and Ph.D. in Education: Psychological Studies in Education & Child & Adolescent Development at Stanford.
During the last year of my studies, however, I was lecturing at San Jose State University, and I quickly realized that teaching and research was not what I wanted to do with my career.
I started scrambling to take other classes, studying the law of non-profits, program evaluation, and grant writing, in the hopes of finding a new way to put my degree to use. After graduation, I began working for Oakland Unified School District, as the Program Evaluator for the District’s State and Federally funded programs at 100 school sites. After a year of research, the district elected not to publish my somewhat negative findings, as it did not suit their current political climate. I started to get frustrated. What was all that work even for? I wanted to know that the work I do is going to make a difference and effect change in people’s lives, and I wasn’t finding that.
Securing a new position as a Child Development Specialist for eSCORE.com, I began training a bi-coastal team to educate parents on how to understand their child’s learning process and developmental behaviors. After six months, I continued on to the Fremont Unified School District to serve as a junior high teacher, instructing kids in English and math for a couple years, and later proceeded to work as a textbook rep for Houghton Mifflin.
I had been working in education for the better part of a decade, but no matter where I looked, I wasn’t finding the fulfillment I was seeking. I knew I needed to make a change, even if it meant switching fields completely. I had a hard time accepting the fact that I wouldn’t be using my doctorate. It took years of hard work to earn, and now it wasn’t even going to be necessary? I had to step back and take a look at what was truly valuable to me. I experienced a real epiphany, and I realized that I could meet my financial needs while using my creativity and doing something I really liked—even if the job didn’t require my Ph.D.
My parents, Anita and Bill, had been part-time real estate investors, and when I was younger, I helped them work on properties to prepare them for rent or sale. My mom and I also enjoyed going to open houses and model homes together “for fun.” Lorraine, “the real estate lady”, was a regular guest in our home, and part of me had always thought that being an agent would be a great job. My interest was reignited in late 2002, when I came across an open house near my condo. My wife encouraged me to become an agent so I could nurture that interest while helping others look at homes, and the following year, I earned my license.
My twins were born almost 2 months early and my singleton was almost 4 months early! We spent months in the NICU and Real Estate allowed me to be there for my babies. It also allows us to spend quality vacations with one another.
Real estate has really been a perfect fit for me. To begin with, it allows me the flexibility as a mom of three very active boys, twins and a singleton, all of whom were preemies, to be there when they need me, be involved in their lives and go on vacations with my family without having to ask for time off from a boss.
Real Estate has also allowed me to work with great people and help them to achieve their dreams of home ownership, which I love! But my work doesn’t stop there: I use my unique marketing experience to find the right buyers for my clients’ listings. I’m not content to just rely on the MLS and other agents to get those listings sold.
Instead, I’m constantly finding creative solutions and even marketing to people out of the area and those who may not even be in the market to purchase a home who would be a good fit for the properties I’m helping to sell. I’m committed to doing right by my clients and always maintaining a high level of integrity. As my mother has always instilled in me, when you’re honest and trustworthy, it will come back to you. So whether or not it’s good for me in the short term, I do what’s right for my clients, and my clients know that.
Because I am a forward thinker, in 2004, when the banks started doing some pretty outrageous loans and were lending to people I knew could not afford the house they were buying, I decided to start getting trained on the foreclosure and short sale processes. Because I would rather help people stay in their homes if that is what they want to do, than to help a back foreclose on them and sell-off their property (sometimes with them in it!), I became taking all the training I could find related to Short Sales. By the time short sales hit the market, most agents did not know how to handle short sales , and the ethical agents referred them to agents who did. I became one of the go-to agents for short sales in the bay area and eventually I successfully negotiated and closed so many short sales that I was Certified as a Short Sale Genius Elite Master!
Because I was so busy on the phones with banks trying to negotiate the short sales I had, I was having to refer people to other good short sale agents I knew. After a few referrals, I decided to create my own short sale processing company so I would not have to turn anyone away and I could train people to do the tedious paper pushing and phone call follow-ups so I could help more people. I always stepped in to do the negotiations if the bank was not giving us what we wanted and there was only one short sale I did not close and that was for a wonderful military reservist who had been laid off and he was able to get another job so no longer needed to sell his home!
To be honest, helping all the people who needed to do a short sale has been the highlight of my real estate career so far because it allowed me to not only help people, but also use my creative outside of the box thinking, strategic planning and negotiating skills to create the most positive outcomes possible for my clients. Should short sales come about again, and I think they will, I would be honored to list short sale properties and help people negotiate their short sales with their lenders.
In 2010, I began my Real Estate Franchise Ownership when I opened a Realty World-No Pressure Realty Office in Livermore. A few years later, I added a second franchise office in the Piedmont area of Oakland.
While owning my brokerages, I got certified as a Premiere Luxury Marketing Consultant. That training was an enormous help to me in adding to my creativity toolbox when it comes to marketing all properties, not just “luxury” homes.
Unlike many other agents and teams, my team does not discriminate against people in certain price point. We are happy to help people buy and sell mobile homes to mansions!
We love helping Veterans, First Time Buyers, Seniors, Empty Nesters, Move-up or Move-down Buyers and Sellers, and Real Estate Investors. VA, FHA, Conventional Loan, CalHFA, Special Down Payment Assistance or loan programs, Hero loan programs, Cash, etc. We work with them all.
I really enjoyed and was proud to be the Broker/Owner of my franchise offices because Realty World was always on the bleeding edge of technology that helped me and helped me help my clients achieve their real estate goals.
On January 31, 2020, Realty World Northern California Northern Nevada, the company I purchased my franchises from, was acquired by Realty World International. That meant that I had to transfer my systems and adjust to the new way of doing things or make a change. During the last two years of my brokerage ownership, the technology and the advertising relationships we had were no longer more advantageous than some other companies and I did not feel we were cutting edge anymore. Since the new mother company was planning to have the same offerings as my current Realty World franchises, I needed to decide if I wanted to stay or make a change.
Since I am always looking out for the best interest in my clients and team and want to be able to offer what I consider the best options for everyone, I decided to pay hefty fees to get out of the contracts I had with Realty World, officially close the doors to Realty World-No Pressure Realty, and to move on to a company that I felt would be better for my team and my clients.
In late January of 2020, I decided to make a move to eXp Realty, and all, but one, of my agents made the move with me.
eXp Realty is an International Real Estate Company and is the leader in online/cloud real estate brokerages,has been voted best place to work year after year, and provides tons of state of the art agent training daily in a virtual real estate world where we have meetings, can get any help we need, interact with agents from all over the world on a daily basis, have area or staff meetings, just relax, play and so much more. I heard about it a couple years before I made the move and I was not sure it was right for me. When I checked it out, I wondered what I was waiting for! We can work from anywhere while still having access to meeting rooms all over the world, can own stock in the company, earn 100% commission, earn money for building the company, and so much more! (If you are an agent who may be interested in learning more about eXp Realty, send me a message or give a call and I would be happy to discuss it with you.)
When the Coronavirus (Covid 19) created a pandemic where people needed to shelter in place to remain safe, real estate companies all over the world began scrambling to find a way to communicate with its agents and continue doing business. eXp was already set up to work that way, so besides changing the way I have to list and show property like all other agents are being required to in order to keep themselves, their families and clients safe, everything else was business as usual!
When I joined eXp, I gave up being the broker/owner of the company and became a broker-associate. That means that I do not have the headache of having to monitor other agent’s paperwork, deal with all the financials, negotiate insurance, leases, marketing, etc. I could just focus on what I loved doing; having my team help people make their real estate dreams come true!
The Robin Bird Team provides a true No Pressure Realty experience. We are dedicated to going above and beyond for our clients while remaining honest and ethical.
My team has been helping people make their Real Estate Dreams Come True in most of Alameda, Contra Costa & Parts of Solano, Napa, Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Joaquin, & Other Counties and providing Referrals to Great Agents in other counties and states since 2003.
I would love nothing more than to help you with your real estate endeavors, but I don’t expect your business—I only ask that you take the time to interview me and see if my team might be the best option for you.
Thank you for taking the time to learn about me. If you actually took the time to read all of this, you are definitely someone I would likely work well with! If you are a skimmer, the pictures were for you and I would love to possibly work with you as well.
When you or someone you know is in need of real estate related information or services, I hope you give me the opportunity to discuss your situation and my services with you to see if my team and I would be a good fit for the job.
Sincerely,
Robin
Robin Watson-Bird, Ph.D., Broker-Associate
The Robin Bird Team
Home Listing & Marketing Specialist
Premier Luxury Marketing Consultant
Short Sale Genius Elite Master
Expert Home Buyer Agent
CalBRE#01387964
Check out my BLOG at http//:RobinBirdTeam.com
Search for homes at: http://NoPressureRealty.com