When Remax Properties North Realtor Dawn O’Neil was 21, she moved from her home state of New Jersey to the Florida Keys to find herself. She found a man and a new life in Chattanooga instead. Real estate would come later. When O’Neil and her husband produced three additions to their family in the space of a few years, they decided she’d concentrate on being a mom.
“With three kids to put in daycare, we couldn’t have afforded for me to work,” O’Neil says. O’Neil says she was never interested in college, but preferred attending “the school of life.” So once all of her kids were in school, she took an office job at a Century 21 branch on Highway 58. She also immersed herself in community work. In addition to becoming an active member of the Parent Teacher’s Association at the elementary school her kids were attending, she took on the duties of a Girl Scout troop leader. Little did she know these things would combine to lead her down a new path.
“I was selling Girl Scout cookies at work one day when the broker came in. He’s a diabetic, and he can’t eat cookies, but I talked him into buying some anyway. He then asked me if I’d ever thought about going into real estate,” she says. O’Neil initially said no because she felt the timing wasn’t right. “I believe there’s a season for everything in your life, and at that point, my boys were only 5-years-old. They still needed me,” she says. While continuing to work at Century 21, O’Neil noticed how real estate moms would come and go. One minute, they’d be meeting with clients; the next, they’d be leaving to have lunch with their kids at school. That got her thinking.
“I thought real estate would be a great job for me. I could set my own hours, work as hard as I wanted, and get as much out of it as I wanted,” she says. By the time her youngest entered first grade, O’Neil was ready to test the waters. She was concerned about dropping her regular paycheck to work on commission, though, so she implemented a policy that helped her make the change. “You have to put money back. When you get a commission check, it’s easy to pay all of your bills or go out and be done with it. But since day one, I’ve put all of my money in the bank and paid myself weekly. That way, I always have money for marketing, even if I haven’t had a closing in three months. You don’t know what tomorrow will bring, so you have to be responsible,” she says.
O’Neil’s system has served her well, as she’s done more than survive in the current economy, she’s done well. She attributes her success to her tenacity and her desire to return to the basics. “The last three years have been my best three years in real estate. A lot of people got out of the business when the market turned, but I don’t throw in the towel when something gets hard. Adversity motivate me. I believe the last three years have made me a better Realtor,” she says. O’Neil cites her efforts to develop relationships with her clients as an example of how she’s improved her skills. For instance, she does more than list a house for a client, she also lends an ear when the person needs to vent about his reasons for having to sell.
“People want to be heard. When someone calls me to list a house that isn’t worth what they paid for it, they want to hear, ‘I know it stinks. I wish I could change things, but I can’t. However, there are things I can do to help you move forward,’” she says.
There was a time in O’Neil’s life when being a Realtor would have been impossible for her. She lived a sheltered life in New Jersey, and grew up shy and withdrawn. Moving to Florida sparked a change. “I grew up conservative. I didn’t smoke, drink or even date, and all of a sudden - woo hoo! - I’m dating and going to parties. My family swore I was addicted to drugs and doing awful things. I was just being 21,” she says.
It’s hard to imagine O’Neil being quiet and withdrawn. At 43, her free-spirited days are long behind her, but she hasn’t disappeared back into her shell. Rather, O’Neil has a cheerful, gregarious personality, goes down rabbit holes during a conversation with breathless excitement, and is aggressively devoted to her work. Her kids sometimes wish the latter wasn’t the case. “I talk about real estate all the time,” she says, lowering her voice. She picks up her iPhone, which is encased in a bright pink protector, and sighs. “Having this thing tied to me 24 hours a day, seven days a week stinks. I’ll answer it at 11 o’clock at night or get up in the middle of a movie if someone calls. But my kids know that it’s either this or something that requires me to be gone from eight to five. I have to work, but I also get to pick them up from school every day,” she says.
O’Neil’s children include her 15-year-old daughter, Madison, and Mitchell and Michael, 11-year-old twin boys. Although she says shutting off her phone is not an option, she has scheduled vacation time in December to take her kids to Disney World. “I have a small window of opportunity to be with them. My oldest goes to college in three years, which blows my mind. So I have make time for them,” O’Neil says.
O’Neil also sets aside time to be active at her church, St. John’s United Methodist, where she takes part in outreach activities and has served as children’s ministry director.
Maybe O’Neil did find herself in Florida. But she hasn’t stopped discovering new things about herself. Since that time, she’s learned she has an innate talent for real estate, she’s shown she has what it takes to be a good mother, and she’s developed a compelling desire to make a difference in her community. “Someone once told me to leave the world a better place than I found it. That’s stayed with me. It’s how I live my life.”