Melissa Loyd was 21 years old when a real estate agent encouraged her to buy a home. Loyd was touring an open house, and the woman said she could facilitate the purchase – both sides of it.
This was 1996, when buying a house was a breeze, so no one blinked at Loyd becoming a first-time homebuyer at her age. However, Loyd has since become a Realtor herself, and whenever she thinks back on the sale, she feels as though the agent took advantage of her, she says.
“She was running both sides of the deal,” she says. “We discourage that because you’re not doing your client a service when you’re representing each side of a transaction. But I didn’t know any better and I did what she told me to do. I signed my name where she pointed.”
Loyd encountered no issues following the sale, but the memory still unnerves her enough that when she became a Realtor (a licensed real estate professional who’s a member of the National Association of Realtors and must adhere to a high standard of conduct) in 2024, she decided the hallmark of her business would be the ethical manner in which she treated her clients.
“My experience is driving the agent I want to be,” Loyd says. “For me, helping people and providing a service is more important than making money. I’d like to make money, but my bottom line is feeling good about what I’m doing.”
As such, Loyd’s business plan is short on the projections that motivate some other Realtors. While she could do the math, she says, she doesn’t want to set monetary goals for herself.
“I’m not doing this to make $500,000 a year,” she continues. “I’d like to do one closing every month, but at the end of the day, I’d rather know I’m helping people. That’s not something you can calculate in a spreadsheet, but it’s my goal.”
Loyd has another objective she says is as important to her as her top one: When another Realtor sees her name on their phone, she wants them to be pleased it’s her.
“I want other agents to think of me as someone who’s easy to work with,” she clarifies. “Even though I’m competing with other agents, I need to have a good relationship with them because we’re going to see each other at some point on a deal. And even though we’ll be representing different people, we’ll be trying to get to the same place. So, when someone sees my name on their phone, I want them to say, ‘Great! I love working with her.’”
Cooperation with other agents has been vital to her development as a Realtor, Loyd says. As she entered the profession last year, she hung her license at Real Estate Partners (REP) on West Main Street, where she found a surplus of seasoned agents who were willing to show her the ropes.
“When I first started coming here, someone pointed at the offices and said, ‘Any of the agents in any of those offices will be willing to help you.’ And everyone has been very supportive. I’ve never felt like I was bothering someone. If I even looked like I had a question, someone would wave me into their office. It’s been a great environment for learning.”
Loyd worked on her own for a few months before connecting with REP Realtor Paul Carter, who was contemplating launching a team. She’d met him in a sales training discussion group and found his knowledge and insight to be invaluable.
“I wanted to run my own show. But after a few months, I realized my plan wasn’t working. So, when Paul and I started talking about how busy he was and how he needed help, it felt like kismet.”
Loyd was grateful for Carter’s mentorship. A former elementary school teacher, she’d spent the last 20 years running a home and raising three daughters with her husband. When Loyd’s oldest crossed the threshold into adulthood, she decided to return to the workforce. However, teaching was out of the questions, partly because she had no desire to.
“I needed to do something with my life, but I didn’t want to go back to teaching. It was a lot of work,” Loyd explains. “I loved working with kids, but that wasn’t my life anymore.”
After working for a local nonprofit called Emily’s Power for a Cure, which raises awareness and funds to find a cure for neuroblastoma, a rare cancer that originates in immature nerve cells, she decided to make the foray into real estate.
“Real estate seemed interesting. I’d always wanted to become a Realtor, but the thought stayed in the back of my mind,” she notes.
Starting a new career at 50 wasn’t easy, however, and Loyd says she doubted herself at times.
“I’d think, ‘What was I thinking? Why did I start something new at an age when people are starting to look at retirement? If I’d stayed in teaching, I’d be close to retirement.’”
Carter’s guidance made all the difference, Loyd says.
“It’s been a confidence boost. Paul will say, ‘You’re good at this. You’re not giving yourself enough credit,’ and then I’ll feel like I did when I graduated college and became a teacher. I felt like I could take on the world.”
Loyd might not be taking on the world as she approaches 51, but she is experiencing as much of it as she can when she’s not working. She and her family enjoy traveling together, for starters, and when the mood strikes her, she’ll grab her kayak, cross the street from her house to North Chickamauga Creek, and slip into the rushing waters.
Loyd is also active with Emily’s Power for a Cure as a volunteer and contributes to the fundraising efforts at Northside Neighborhood House, which is gearing up for its annual Runway Remix fashion show in April.
And she’s beginning to see herself potentially serving as a mentor as she gains experience. For now, if someone were to ask her for her advice about becoming a Realtor, she knows precisely what she’d say.
“I’d say, ‘Look into it. I’ll help you get started.’ I wish I hadn’t waited this long to do this job. I’ve thought and thought and thought about becoming a Realtor, and I’m kicking myself that I didn’t do it when I was 21. Imagine where I’d be now.”