There was a time when the idea of a woman juggling a career and a family was unthinkable. Today, no one blinks at the thought, as countless women have shown themselves to be capable of producing at home and on the job. What’s still surprising, though, is how easy Maryann Azambuja makes it look.
Azambuja is the area manager for First American Home Buyers Protection Corporation. Her job description is simple: Sell home warranties, agreements that cover the appliances and other working parts of a home. Whereas a home insurance policy covers the damage an unforeseen event, such as a wildfire, causes, a home warranty protects the air conditioner that’s working around the clock to keep a house cool.
“When you purchase a home, you want peace of mind. If a unit fails, you want to have a warranty that’s going to cover that expense,” Azambuja says.
That said, executing her mission involves more stamina than is generally possible, making Azambuja seem slightly superhuman.
Consider her territory, which stretches from Bristol, Va., down to Dalton, Ga. – a large swath of land for any salesperson, let alone one who sells a product few people realize they need.
“Home warranty usage in my market is the lowest in the nation; only 30 percent of real estate transactions include a home warranty compared to 60 percent in Memphis and 90 percent in California,” she says.
Azambuja has made headway in the nine years she’s been selling home warranties; when she started in the business, only 25 percent of real estate transactions included a warranty. But she has a long way to go.
To increase that number, Azambuja interacts tirelessly with Realtors and brokers. She attends their office meetings, does presentations and teaches continuing education classes, all in an effort to convince agents of the benefits of including a home warranty in their transactions.
“Home warranties give the seller a marketing tool. Most of the time, the seller purchases the warranty for the buyer. Then, if something comes up after closing, the seller is protected from liability. The buyer will call First American to take care of the issue rather than sue the seller for not disclosing it,” Azambuja says.
A home warranty also protects the agent from liability, she adds. For this reason, most Realtors are open to Azambuja teaching them how to talk with their clients about purchasing a home warranty.
However, in the fast paced and competitive world of real estate, sales can be hard to come by. Several warranty companies operate in the same region as Azambuja, and give her a run for the money. However, she claims she has an edge: accessibility.
“I try to be in each of my major metropolitan areas at least once a week, visiting with my agents and staying active in their associations,” she says. Azambuja is a member of five Realtor associations in East Tennessee, including the Greater Chattanooga Association of Realtors, and various other organizations, including the local chapter of the Women’s Council of Realtors.
Although Azambuja seems to have access to a source of perpetual energy, she’s unable to be in more than one place at a time. Fortunately, she lives in Knoxville, the middle of her territory, and Chattanooga, one of her most active markets, is less than 90 minutes away. As a result, she usually visits the Scenic City twice a week.
While she enjoys interacting with Realtors and brokers, Azambuja admits to being less than enthusiastic about another part of her job: helping with claims. But she muscles through it.
“I look at every claim as an opportunity to show the customer and the Realtor how our service is second to none. I’ll call the homeowner because if he’s not happy with our coverage, then he won’t renew his policy and Realtors won’t continue to sell our product,” she says.
Azambuja must possess considerable powers of persuasion because, despite the challenges, she sold more home warranties in July than she has during any month in her nine years in the business and she was First America’s top area manager.
“More buyers are purchasing properties as homes rather than as investments, so they’re inclined to look for a protection plan,” she says.
During the few hours a day when Azambuja is not tending to her home warranty customers, she covering her second territory: the 16 acres near Knoxville she and her family call home.
With five kids, Azambuja and her husband, Gil, need every bit of that acreage.
She laughs, knowing what people think when they learn how many children she has: Why? “Since starting with First American, I’ve had three babies, so when I walk into a real estate office, the people there make jokes and ask if I’m pregnant again. I tell them I’m done. I’m focusing on raising the kids I have,” she says.
Bringing up five kids under the age of 12 in a two-career household requires superhuman effort. However, even someone with Azambuja’s level of endurance is glad to have help. Most of the time, Gil, an actor, is available to handle the morning disbursement of children to school and daycare. Then Azambuja does her best to make it home by 4:30 to assist with the p.m. routine.
In spite of outward evidence to the contrary – her energetic aura, her beaming face and the smile that accompanies each word she says – Azambuja says working and rearing children at the same time is not easy. However, she won’t sacrifice either one.
“I’ve always wanted a big family, but I never thought I’d be driven enough to have a career. Balancing the two wouldn’t be difficult if I didn’t want to be visible, but I’m the face of First American here. The agents need to know they can call me if they have a problem,” she says.
Luckily, Azambuja has a secret weapon: her ability to cram the benefits of a full night’s sleep into a few hours. Her weekdays begin at 4 a.m. with emails and online marketing, and then she’s out the door by seven. Evenings consist of dinner, homework and getting the kids to bed, and then she works until 1 a.m. Three hours later, the circus begins again.
“Thank goodness I don’t need much sleep. My agents laugh because I send them emails at four in the morning. I work when most people are sleeping,” she says.
Azambuja gives credit where she feels it’s due, thanking God for allowing her to function without sleep and her family for being supportive. “My husband and kids are a big part of this operation.”
Although Azambuja didn’t plan on being a career woman, she earned a degree in communications at a Florida college, sold ads for a newspaper and then dabbled in real estate. Nothing stuck, however, until she went to work for First American.
“I didn’t know what I was getting into. I knocked on doors, I did cold calls and I built this territory from the ground up. I started out with ten orders a month, and over the years, that has grown to 400,” she says.
Azambuja has come full circle back to talking about work. But she’s more than a home warranty agent. While her job consumes the bulk of each day, her family is at the core of what she does. As a young person, all she wanted to be when she grew up was a stay-at-home mom. Although she dropped the “stay-at-home” part, she didn’t drop the “mom.”
Even if Azambuja is following in the footsteps of the women who blazed the trail for her and others, it’s not an easy path to walk. What’s surprising, though, is how easy she makes it look.