Affiliate Broker Ching-Ching Chow has developed a reputation as a miracle worker.
Since launching her real estate career in 2003, her clients, who are mostly Chinese living in the greater Chattanooga area, have thanked her for helping them to achieve peace and harmony in their homes, and success in their places of business. But nothing has topped the family that thanked her for helping them to have a boy.
“One couple had three girls, and they wanted a boy. That’s not something I can make happen, but I do know a little feng shui, so I helped them to find a house they would enjoy and that would fit their lifestyle. A year later, they called me, and when I visited them, they hugged me, and gave me a kiss, and told me they had a baby boy. They were so happy!” Chow says.
While Chow doesn’t believe she had a part in determining the gender of the couple’s child, she will take the credit for helping them to find the home that made them happy.
“I have a sharp eye. I can quickly see if a place has a good future or will give you an opportunity to grow your business. So, I have helped a lot of people find the right place in a short amount of time. People ask me how I can be so fast, and I tell them I am always thinking about what they want,” she says.
Chow goes to great lengths to meet the needs of her clients. For example, in one rare case she was unable to quickly find a suitable home for a client as she showed a woman close to 100 houses over a three-year period.
“Chinese look not just on the inside of a house, but on the outside, too. They look at the way from home to work. She didn’t want to see even one house she didn’t like on the drive to work. It was hard, but I stayed with her because I wanted to see what kind of house she would eventually buy,” Chow says.
In the end, the woman found a house to her liking. Although Chow earned a commission on the sale, she probably took a loss on the client, given the amount of money she’d spent on gas and other expenses. But you won’t hear Chow complain. Rather, she says her investment was worth the cost because the woman was pleased.
Chow also works around the clock, mainly because many of her clients are unable to call or meet during normal business hours – or when the sun is up. Her phone literally rings at all hours, and she once closed on a house at 1 a.m.
Having come from the same culture as her clients, Chow understands their particular needs and wants. She was born and grew up in Taiwan, where she became a pharmacist and worked in a hospital. In 1981, Chow moved to Los Angeles, where she lived for three years. She then relocated to Chattanooga to work in the restaurant business.
From time to time, people would ask her to help them look for a house, as they valued her opinion. She enjoyed assisting them, so when the rigors of the restaurant business began to wear her down, and when her children reached the age where they would be needing money for college, she decided to test the waters of real estate.
“I saw many Chinese people who could not speak English, and they were frustrated because it was hard for them to communicate. I knew I could help them,” Chow says.
Chow earned her real estate license but was not willing to leave the restaurant business until she knew she could earn a living in her new line of work. So, she interviewed a number of companies in the Chattanooga area and wound up at Crye-Leike, which agreed to allow her to work part-time.
Once Chow realized she could do well in real estate, she quit the restaurant business and became a full-time agent. Today, she works out of the Crye-Leike office in Hixson, serving clients there and in Ooltewah, Signal Mountain, Lookout Mountain, Cleveland, Chattanooga, and elsewhere.
Chow has also developed a reputation for being a human MLS. When a new listing hits the market, she learns everything she can about the property so she can promptly let clients know what’s available that will suit their preferences. And because she befriends her customers, she also becomes aware of the impending availability of the properties they will be putting up for sale. This allows her to give her other clients the first look at prime real estate before it hits the market.
Being available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and keeping up on new listings keeps Chow busy. As such, she has to make sacrifices in her personal life. Leisure time is almost nonexistent, and she rarely steals even a moment for herself. When she does, she enjoys listening to WSMC Classical 90.5.
She also keeps in touch with her two children. Her daughter is a lawyer practicing in Nashville, Tenn., while her son will be graduating from The University of Colorado at Boulder this spring. He wants to move to China and teach English.
Chow has no desire to return to her native country to live, although she does wish she were able to take time off to visit her mother, who still lives in Taiwan.
“I miss my mom, but she’s too far away for me to go see. I don’t have the time. My brother is there, but I am her only daughter, and she misses me, too,” Chow says.
Perhaps that’s the price for Chow’s success. The real estate business has been good to her, but it’s come with a cost. She counts the cost, though, and in the end, believes what she’s doing has value, as it brings joy to others.
“I want to see my clients be successful. I want them to be in a house that makes them happy. So when they are struggling, I pretend I am them so I can figure out what they need. And then when I help them buy what they want, I feel like I have done a good thing.”