Realtor Ronald Wyers doesn’t want his clients to “have a home right now,” he wants them to “have a home right.”
“I want my clients to have a home, not the home to have them,” he says.
Wyers says the tougheset part of his job is keeping people encouraged when “right now” isn’t an option. “It’s not always easy convincing clients it can be done. I’m surprised by how fired up some people can be, and as soon as they see it’s going to take a while, they’re gone.”
If Wyers were able to impart to his clients a measure of his intense focus, they might better understand what purchasing a home in a challenging economy takes. He is, in a word, “driven” - driven to learn and to succeed, for starters.
Downtime is a foreign concept to Wyers. If he has a spare moment, he’s reading or watching instructive material online; and if he watches television, he picks an educational program.
“I deliver the magazines for Crye-Leike. While I’m doing that, I listen to books by Zig Ziglar, or Dave Ramsey, or Craig Rochelle, or a real estate podcast,” he says.
Wyers is also driven to serve and help people. It’s one of the things he likes about his still relatively new job.
“A lot of what I do for clients involves teaching them how to hunt for and buy a home. Doing that for someone feels good,” he says.
Helping someone doesn’t always involve a sale. Wyers says he didn’t make a dime off one of the most gratifying encounters he’s had since he got his license nearly one year ago and went to work at Crye-Leike on Gunbarrel.
“A man who was considering foreclosing on his home came in here. He was getting a divorce; life was beating him up, the bank was telling him to put the house on the market, and he thought he couldn’t handle it. It turned out he was behind only a couple of months, so an agent who had experience in short sales and I talked him out of foreclosing,” he says.
“Could I have told him to list the house, and would I have made money on the sale? Yeah, but my job as a Realtor is to serve people, and in that case, he was best served by me picking him up, patting him on his back, and telling him things were not as bad as they seemed. Giving someone hope was better than getting a check.”
Although Wyers was pleased to help the man, he’s also happy to put in the work needed to find a client a home. “Sometimes, you’re a transaction manager; sometimes, you’re a cheerleader; and sometimes, you’re a negotiator. I wear a lot of different hats. This is an exciting profession,” he says.
One hat Wyers doesn’t wear is that of the aggressive salesman. Rather, he’s always aware that the money being spent is not his. “Instead of telling people what to do, I tell them what I think would happen if they did this or that. If a client feels like you’re pushing them to buy, they’ll never deal with you again,” he says.
Wyers is so driven, some people might question if he knows how to have fun. His six months at Auburn University “learning to play pool” should settle questions about that.
Wyers grew up in Birmingham, Ala., had a dalliance with college, where he’d planned to study computer science, and then entered the trucking and transportation industry, where he found work as a lumper - someone who unloads cargo for trucking companies that bring product into a distribution center. As a contractor, he was self-employed.
Wyer’s dedication to his work cost him his first marriage. He remarried in 2011, so as he prepared to move to Chattanooga to be with his wife full-time, he resolved to not allow his work to interfere with his personal relationships again. Real estate looked like a good fit.
“I wanted to remain self-employed. I had worked for someone else before, and when you do that, you work for what they pay you, and you work in the manner they tell you. I didn’t want to be in that position again,” he says.
Wyers earned his real estate license, spoke with several real estate firms in Chattanooga, and chose Crye-Leike on Gunbarrel Road because he liked the business philosophies of the managing broker, Darlene Seay. “We shared a lot of the same beliefs and thought alike in many ways. I knew if I needed my broker to be there for me, she would be,” he says.
As Wyers approaches one year, he is pleased with his results. To date, he’s closed ten transactions and is looking at closing number 11 in September. “I was blessed to enter the market when it was on the upswing,” he says. Wyers is licensed to do business in Tennessee.
While Wyers might not leave much room in his schedule for leisurely activities, he does set aside time for family and community work. He treasures Saturday nights with his 17-month-old step-grandaughter, and Sunday mornings when he and his wife take the child to Silverdale Baptist Church, where they’re members.
He also enjoys soliciting donations for the Widow’s Harvest ministry, and he and his wife will be taking part in the Komen Walk in September. He’s glad it’s a walk, not a run. “I used to run quite a bit. I need to get back into it because I’ve gained a few pounds,” he says, placing a hand over a midsection that might have an extra pound or two - tops.
Wyers also teaches Ramsey’s Financial Peace University course as a way of helping others straighten out their finances. (See sidebar.) As a divorced man, the father of a 16-year-old boy, and someone who has been through a major career change, he’s aware of the importance of managing money wisely.
“These things have business dividends, but I do them because I’m a member of this community. I live here and I operate a business here, so I have a responsibility to the community,” he says.
At 41, Wyers has turned to a new chapter in life - a chapter that includes a new relationship, a new city, and a new job. With his drive, business acumen, and compassion for others, the pages ahead will likely tell the story of a man who not only succeeded in his work but also in life. How the book will end is anyone’s guess, but along the way, he hopes to help many, many people “have a home right.”