Michelle Stanley Takes Back Her Time  

Michelle Stanley knows it is about the people, not just the transaction. 

Michelle is a self-proclaimed boy mom and was a stay-at-home mom for several years. By the time her boys hit high school, Michelle knew they didn’t need her as much anymore. She decided she wanted to jump back into a career. Now she is a real estate agent in the Dallas-Fort Worth area with Ebby Halliday, a BHHS affiliate. She has also been recognized as a Texas Monthly Rising Star Agent in 2020, 2021, and 2022.  

Although she had previously worked in the corporate world, Michelle knew that she didn’t want to go back. She wanted the flexibility to continue to go to her boys’ sporting events and volunteer in her community. But while she liked the flexible schedule that comes with being an agent, that wasn’t what sealed the deal for her. She explains, “I know a lot of people say, ‘Oh, I like houses. I like showings.’ but really that wasn’t the thing that turned me to real estate. It was more helping people find the right places to live.”  

Unlike many, Michelle and her family found a long-time home pretty early on. She explains, “We were fortunate enough that we moved into our little neighborhood in 2010, and we’ve stayed in the same house ever since, which most people don’t.” Since her family was able to find the home that was the right fit, one of her main goals is to help others do the same.  

Helping Sellers Adapt  

Along with helping her buyers find the right home, Michelle also likes to guide her sellers and help them get the best deal.  

During the days of the pandemic, listings were flying off the market at a record pace with offers well above asking prices. But times have changed. Michelle explains, “The market this year is a lot different than it was last year and really the year before. It started changing a lot in 2021. Currently, homes are staying on the market a little longer.”  

Although the market has changed substantially, the mindset of some sellers has not. Some still believe that they will get numerous offers over asking without any work, but Michelle knows better. “A lot of people are stuck on what the houses were going for last year and all the crazy multiple offers and things like that. But that’s really not the market now, even though we’re still low on inventory.” 

While many families want to get a good price, it is also important to sell quickly. A house that sits on the market may be subject to price drops. Also, an empty home can cost families thousands of dollars in mortgage payments and staging costs. To keep listings from sitting too long, Michelle knows that the price needs to be right. She explains, “It’s a lot about guiding your listing clients on what the right price is.” If your clients are pricing too high, you may need to bring them back down to earth. 

The other alternative is to make the home worth that high price. Michelle notes the importance of pre-sale updates saying, “People are not only wanting it priced right now, but they’re also wanting it to be move-in ready. They don’t want to have to do a lot of work, which is where Curbio comes in.”  

A Family in Need  

Michelle had one particular listing that was in need of some repairs and updates before hitting the market. While she already knew the home needed work, Michelle also knows that it is not just about the state of the home; it is about the people behind the home and their goals. 

Michelle explains, “It was a situation where the homeowners, the parents, we’re having to go into assisted living. And they had two grown daughters – one lived in Utah and one lived in Hawaii. And the house needed a lot of updating, and they had a water pipe break.”  

The daughters were in charge of selling the home, helping their parents make the transition to assisted living, and dealing with the insurance company regarding the broken pipe – all from afar. The two already had enough going on that adding a long list of home improvement projects to their plates seemed out of the question. But they needed the money from the home sale to go towards their parents’ care. Michelle explains, “To get top dollar, we had to have somebody come in and do all of the updating work because selling it as-is was going to get them 450,000 dollars.” 

Fortunately, Michelle had a secret weapon – Curbio. The Curbio Dallas-Fort Worth area team was able to come in and make the updates that the home needed so that it could sell for top dollar. The flooring was redone, the kitchen was upgraded, and the bathrooms were given some love. 

In the end, these updates were a big crowd-pleaser. “My first open house, I probably had twenty different groups of people through which is really good in this market. And we were only on the market for 13 days before we signed the contract which is also good in this market.” The home sold for $619,000. That is quite a bit more than the original $450,000 as-is price.  

Taking Back Her Time  

Although her stay-at-home days are behind her, Michelle still doesn’t want to miss out on anything. She still wants to be able to go to her boys’ sporting events, cook, and volunteer in her community. While real estate does allow for a more flexible schedule than the typical nine-to-five job, being a Realtor in 2023 is becoming more involved.  

Nowadays, clients expect more and more from their agents, and Michelle is dedicated to giving her clients a hassle-free experience as much as possible. Combined with pre-sale home updates becoming a necessity in the current market, many agents like Michelle find themselves tied up doing tasks that they didn’t sign up for. Fortunately, Michelle has found a solution to help free up her time – Curbio.  

Unlike working with traditional contractors, Curbio has a dedicated project manager for every project who oversees the work and gives regular progress reports. For an agent like Michelle who wants to be able to spend time with her family and be involved in her community, this is a huge plus. She explains, “It was great having somebody with boots on the ground here that could manage the project.” 

Along with managing all the project details, Curbio also schedules the workers and ensures they arrive when they are supposed to. As Michelle notes, “Will [the project manager] made sure that the contractors were showing up. That can be difficult right now in our market. People say, ‘Oh, I’ll be there.’ And three or four days later they actually show up.” 

For Michelle, there was also an extra hurdle in her recent Curbio project. She explains, “Will was locally here with me in McKinney, which was nice. But my other two clients were in two different time zones from us. And so having him there to schedule the calls, setting up the Zoom call, and taking care of all the changes and the product orders, and also going back and forth with the clients was really great.” 

With Will there to direct everything, Michelle was able to take back some of her time. She could continue to spend time with her family and give back to her community.  

If pre-sale updates are taking away your time, take action. Take the first step to free up some of your time with an project estimate from Curbio.