How to Invest Through Market Fear: Austin Real Estate Opportunities with Christina Sok

Christina Sok (00:00)

But action cures all fear. And if you are underwriting correctly, you’re analyzing properly, you have the right partners, you have a realtor

that is going to advise you and guide you along the way, I think there should be a lot of that risk that is mitigated because you’re doing your due diligence from all different angles. And it’s markets like this where the majority of people that are afraid will lose out, but those that take action, they’re gonna win really big. And then everybody else two years later will be like, I should have bought then or I should have, developed then or I should have flipped more houses then. And that’s always what happens.

Issa Hanna (01:05)

Welcome back to another episode of the Real Estate Pros Show. I’m your host, Issa Hanna, and today we have Christina Sok with us to share our knowledge. Christina, welcome to the show.

Christina Sok (01:13)

Thank you for having me. Yes, I’m Christina Sok. I live in Austin, as do you, Issa. Great to meet you. Happy to be on the show. Thanks for having me.

Issa Hanna (01:21)

Super excited to have you. We have the ABOR, the Austin Board of Realtors, 2025 rookie of the year. and she’s not a normal rookie in real estate. so to my viewers at home, Christina, can you kind of break down a day-to-day in your world?

Christina Sok (01:36)

The day to day in my world. Gosh, it is pretty hectic. I’ve got two little kids, so three year old and an eight year old. So the morning kind of starts off in a frenzy, just getting the kids ready for school. I’ve gotta now pack my daughter lunch. So pretty much doing that, getting ready. And she goes to school not too far from my office. So we get in the car,

pretty early, like seven twenty is when we’re trying to get out the door so that I can get her to school on time. And then I head into my office down here in Keller Williams and I get my day started. And there’s pretty much consistency from day to day. it’s a lot of work in the office, connecting with people, calls, meetings, and then I do work with my

partner Jessica she works with a lot of our buyers, so she’ll schedule tours and take out our clients. But there is some diversity in the day in terms of, who I’m meeting, who I’m talking to. I could be going to a networking event. I could be invited to some sort of other type of event and there are calls like this. So there’s definitely no dull moment in the world of real estate.

I’m also an operator in the sense that there are some other types of real estate projects that I work with a couple of different partners. So it’s not just me as an agent, but I’m definitely an entrepreneur at heart. So there’s a lot of different aspects of real estate that I’m touching right now. But that’s basically my day, mom, obviously wife as well.

realtor and investor operator. So my days are consistent in terms of I’m working, but what I do and who I speak with and who I touch is different every day, which keeps things very exciting.

Issa Hanna (03:14)

percent. the kids will have your mornings every morning super hectic. shout out to the moms because you guys are super tough. I see my wife dealing with it in the morning and I’m like, I gotta get into the office. See you guys later. So shout out to you guys. You guys do your thing.

Christina Sok (03:30)

my husband holds down the fort as well ’cause he’s got her other one that he’s taking to school. So we kinda divide and conquer.

Issa Hanna (03:37)

nice teamwork makes a dream work. I love it. I wanted to also touch a little bit about a realtor and an investor, because I myself am one, so I can relate. We wear many hats. Our days are different kind of every day, but kind of the same. The one consistent thing when you do have all this stuff going on, you have to be a good time manager, right? So you’ve got to know how to delegate, like, hey, I’m doing this for this, I’m doing this for that.

You gotta know how to break down that day and make it organized, or it’s just gonna be super chaotic all day. and that’s what all the successful people do. and I wanted to rewind a little bit. we were talking earlier and he said, I’ve been an entrepreneur. You’re an investor now, you’re touching on multiple different things. So let’s go back to 2013 when you started your journey. Can you tell us about that?

Christina Sok (04:22)

Sure. Yeah. I graduated from college in two thousand nine in New York City. And you can remember that was like the last big recession, right? And there was the housing market crisis. but I was just a college student in New York City, graduating, coming out into the world. I had a degree in English and art history, which is probably the least practical degree you could ever imagine. But that’s what I enjoyed and I excelled in. And so

My first job out of college was in a big ad agency in New York. And my goal at the time was to just be in the art industry. And so being in an ad agency, it wasn’t quite what I was expecting. And so I worked really hard, I’ve always had some sort of side hustle. So when I was working at the ad agency on the weekends, I was helping out at a friend’s gallery down in the Lower East Side.

And so I kind of had that side hustle and eventually, the goal was to get back into the art industry. so I moved to Singapore in early twenty eleven and that’s how I got back into the art industry. I had gone to high school there, so there was a bit of a base, my parents lived there, and so got back into the art industry, eventually got my master’s in art history from London.

And I was working in the art industry. And at the time, we all know like our artists and people in the art industry who don’t really make any money and I had to do something. So I had some side businesses at the same time. Like I was doing my art hustle, I was an independent curator, I was writing for some art publications, and I had like a teaching assistant gig at a couple of the local universities.

So I was kind of making ends meet, but I was like, there needs to be more. And also, I don’t know if you feel this as an entrepreneur. I’m not diagnosed ADHD or anything, but my brain is always going, a million miles a minute and I’ve always got different ideas. and so just naturally an entrepreneur or creator, and so just doing that and then also not having the potential to really make money kind of

frustrated me. So that’s kind of how I got into business as well. so that’s how I got into entrepreneurship in 2013. it’s been a long winding journey to say the least. I feel like I’ve had three or four careers already and I’m turning 40 this year. but just like what Steve Jobs said, the dots connect looking back. And I’ve always ever since I heard that speech, was that from maybe 2009 or 10 as well? I kind of had this like

future pacing for myself knowing that, well, this is random and this is a weird kind of turn of events, but I’m gonna just have faith and basically like fail forward because I know somehow all of this is gonna link up and my stories, a little crazy and all over the place and taken risks and had to have some different levels of emotional, financial, whatever hardship.

To get to where I am now. And I’m not saying like by no means have I arrived anywhere. we know we’re gonna end up dying at one point. But from now till then, I know I’m like living my best life, giving it all I’ve got in every single part of life. And that’s what really energizes me and motivates me to wake up excited every day. And I know too, I have to be that.

example and role model for my children and just having them see that mommy’s going after it there’s nothing that I can’t accomplish when I set my mind to it and that’s the kind of person I want to show up every day for them.

Issa Hanna (07:40)

I love that. you set the example for the kids. They grow up seeing mom, dad working hard, seeing them creating things like that. They know it’s possible. you show them a different type of knowledge and it’s no knock on the people that work nine to five or whatever. As long as you get up and you instill that hard work in your kids, they’re gonna be just fine. And amazing that you have a master’s, and you were in the art

Industry, Entrepreneurs, we’re visionaries, right? We’re artists ourselves. You were saying that you’re kind of ADHD. Our ideas are constantly flying around. I have 10 different ideas right now, and I got to put them on the back burner so I can focus on one. So I can definitely relate to exactly what you said, but that makes the greatest entrepreneurs. When you have these ideas, when you can create something from scratch and you can really think it out and

Plan it out the right way, you’re gonna take over. And another thing I want to relate to with you is we’re exactly the same age. When we became adults, it was a very, very tough time. I remember coming out like, my god, is this how it is? Is this the real world? it’s very tough. So I feel like it instilled something in us to like go out there and get it,

Christina Sok (08:47)

the one common theme throughout my life now that I see it. And don’t get me wrong, I grew up pretty privileged really there was no like struggle in that sense growing up. But definitely going into young adulthood, that was a big surprise for me, having everything kind of taken care of as a college student, parents providing and then the rude awakening of the real world. And I will say like, we graduated at the same time.

I’ve definitely gotten the short end of the stick and gone into situations where the market is tough. not only back then getting into the job market in the real world where there were fewer options. I remember being in New York City, a lot of my college friends were going into finance and there were several people one year older than me that obviously got their offers rescinded from

Lehman Brothers, because that disappeared. So it was a really tumultuous time. You could really feel it in the atmosphere in New York City. So there was that, and I’ve definitely experienced other kind of market shifts and challenges, in different contexts. And then getting into Austin real estate in twenty twenty four. it’s like the hardest time to be doing real estate. And so I think maybe that

resilience and the ability to break through really challenging circumstances probably has been instilled in the fact that it was a grind. It was way harder to get anything accomplished at the time that we graduated, right? To make things happen. And there’s definitely no knock on anyone that does nine to five. as entrepreneurs, you and I know, it’s not nine to five. It’s more like five to eleven PM and that’s every day, seven days a week. And

That’s why I think we do have this, high respect and high regard for entrepreneurs because it is way more work. work doesn’t just shut off when you leave the office. And I work in an office every single day, at least on the weekday. and it doesn’t just end right there. that you have to be ruthless with your time. I think the time management piece is super important. I have, a lot of ideas and thoughts around that, how I manage to really control it for myself to be productive.

but you have to set some really strong boundaries for yourself as an entrepreneur with other people, with your family, for yourself. otherwise you really are gonna burn out. But I think part of the admiration and awe that society may have for entrepreneurs is that it doesn’t feel like work to us. if this was really like a grind and work for me, I couldn’t wake up every day, and I would just be exhausted all the time. But the reason why I have so much fuel and energy and, I’m

constantly on the go is because A, I’m building something for myself, I’m leaving a legacy. I’m building something for myself that’s mine. No one can take it that away from me. And I’m doing work that I think is meaningful and impactful. I’m helping other people and there’s the bigger why behind everything that I do, the amount of impact that I want to be able to create in this world. starting, within my own little community. And then, I have

other kind of ambitions in the future for other things that I’ll be building. But I think that’s really what drives us as entrepreneurs that there’s a bigger mission and vision behind what we do and it’s not just a job that you clock in and clock out.

Issa Hanna (11:48)

One hundred percent. You’re constantly thinking about it. You constantly have to, worry or think about making processes and making everything smoother. it’s a tough grind. And like you said, if you don’t love it because it’s yours, it’s your brain child, it’s something that you created, you would burn out really fast. So man, amazing points you’re bringing up. And then another thing I wanna pull out is how you said

It’s very rewarding being a real estate agent or just being in real estate, helping people out. As a former mainly buyers agent, I’ve closed over 250 first-time home buyers. I loved it when they would call me and say, Issa, thank you so much. We never thought we could buy a home. we love the house. that was more rewarding for me than any paycheck, any commission check I could get. and I want to relay that to the younger viewers.

Right, you new agents, you new loan officers. Don’t chase that commission check. That will come. I’m sure you can attest to it. Treat these people as if you’re buying the home for yourself. Care about them. it’s more than business. You are literally these people’s lifelines on buying or selling their home. A lot of times the biggest purchase or sale of their life. so amazing.

Christina Sok (13:31)

So That is so true. One of the leaders in our company, our group here in Austin, we’re partnered with this incredible real estate tech company called Place. It’s nationwide. We’re actually brokeragnostic and leaders in the industry in terms of sales volume of units sold. so really proud to be part of that network and platform. And one of our leaders in place actually,

did kind of like a poll this morning asking about what is the best advice that you have on relationships. And I think it kind of just aligned with what you were just sharing. it’s not just a transaction. I think that’s one of the reasons why I have been able to get a very fast start and have early success in this industry is having been an entrepreneur, a lot of the skill sets that I’ve built over the last decade plus has obviously translates

I’ve always kind of been B2C as well. So being able to establish connection and build that rapport and relationship. has definitely served me well. I think in real estate, especially like from an agent standpoint, what I shared with that leader today is that it’s important to have boundaries and you’re not needing to or wanting to be friends with everyone. Having that professional relationship and boundaries with clients, I think is important, especially if you are

positioned as that real estate advisor. You’re not there to be a friend. sometimes we’re the counselor and therapist, but we’re there to help them make one of the biggest investment decisions of their lives. Now, of course, a homestead is not really considered like an investment. but overall real estate we know is a long-term appreciating asset. And I don’t want people to, especially in today’s market, be overpaying. my job is to be that fiduciary and really guide people to make the

Best financial decision. we don’t want to leave money on the table, but we also don’t want to like get into a bad deal. But having said all that, going above and beyond with the extra mile and connecting on a human level, that is what builds trust. And I believe that’s the key to building long-term relationships and partnerships that will continue to feed the business for years. And that’s where I’ve been able to really like carve out my space because that human level and the relational level, being able to get in and

connect with someone no matter who they are, whether it’s their tenth home or they’re buying an investment property or it’s a first time home buyer. that’s kind of where my like secret weapon has been being able to connect. And I think part of that too is I grew up in an international multicultural environment. So to me, race, religion, nationality, whatever context is really no barrier because I’ve been in such different

situations all over the world where I’m like the only one that looks like me in a room full of, men that look totally different or, so many different contexts, right? I’ve lived in a village of like 3,000 people in France over the summer. so I’ve just kind of really adapted to different environments and different cultures. And I think that’s just allowed me to be able to connect with anyone. and that’s what we need to do in this business.

So yeah, I think relationships and connection is really, really important.

Issa Hanna (16:24)

Hundred percent. and it’s kind of a natural thing, right? you do learn it along the way, but it’s inside of you, that connection. You have to generally want to connect. You can’t just be like, Okay, I’m gonna connect with this guy because Christina said too, this has got to be genuine thing. You’re gonna learn how to do it quicker, but it’s actually inside of you. So if you’re somebody at home watching this and you’re a people person, you’re a natural connector.

You might want to look into becoming a real estate agent because you can make generational wealth if you do it the right way. Let’s pivot into your investing right now. I’m curious to see what you got going on with the investments you have cooking up. Can you give us more on that?

Christina Sok (17:00)

Yeah, that was a great segue and you mentioned generational wealth. Well, I think what’s so amazing about real estate, and like I said in the past, I’ve done some other businesses, right, in other industries and different types of businesses. I have to say, now that I am in real estate, I knew it before, but I can really attest to it now. There is no other vehicle, financial vehicle like real estate that can really change your life and

generational wealth going forward like real estate. And if you think about it, I was actually having a conversation with my dad last night. and I got a good foundation in investing and in real estate from my parents and grandparents. My dad’s mom back in the day in Korea was actually a real estate broker. I remember when I was little, like toddler, I remember going to her brokerage office. back then it’s like, you have a storefront.

And she eventually became hard of hearing because she was always on the phone. I remember like the stack of papers and that’s where she would like keep track of the buyers and sellers and do deals. And she was always on the phone. So she was a badass real estate woman, back in the day. And my dad, his profession, he was a stockbroker. And so

I remember hearing about like, investment properties, or we would always go and like see different developments. And it was just always around me that it was just kind of natural for me to hear about these. And I kind of like understood numbers really quickly and supply demand and what is a good deal, what is a bad deal. Like they always have made money in real estate. And that’s kind of like the way that you come

across like a bunch of money. Like you sell one property, there’s always been capital gain in the markets that they were investing in. So that was really cool. And I think there’s nothing better than real estate to do that. my dad and I are going back to that. We were talking about like landowners, right? Think about all the wealthy families in York. They’re never gonna sell that real estate. You own that land, you keep it in your family. Like look at the royal family. they own so much land.

That just gets passed on. And so I’m thinking about like all the rich landlowners in Korea. my dad and I were joking is real estate should never be sold. You gotta keep it. That’s the whole point. but so I’ve had this investor mindset for a really long time. And living in New York City and Singapore, I did not have the opportunity to invest in real estate over there because it was just so expensive.

the first time we looked at this was back in 2008, 2009. my husband then boyfriend, he’s from New York City, he grew up there. So we had this college friend who got his license, so we had him go show us some co-ops and condos in Center Harlem. And at that time it was like 300,000, 350,000. And his mom retired now, but she was a property manager in New York City.

And she said to us too, like, you should buy something, maybe I’ll help you guys. So we were touring some of those properties, but I think at that time in our early twenties, we were like scared, we didn’t have stability, we didn’t know we could, continue with a mortgage and we kind of didn’t want to feel locked down. And also Central Harlem now is way gentrified and those are probably million dollar condos, but we just didn’t really have enough foresight at that point. So it is what it is.

but I’ve always been interested in real estate. I truly became an investor in my 30s. I got into the stock market, started investing in like my businesses. and the biggest and greatest investment has always been in myself. I have probably spent six figures on my personal education, whether it’s, personal development leadership, I’ve been to Tony Robbins’ events.

a bunch of different things. So really my twenties into most of my 30s has been pouring into myself. And really it’s only the last couple of years that I think I’ve been able to show for anything myself, in terms of like material financial results. coming to Austin in 2022, I just saw so much opportunity here because first of all, the real estate is way more affordable

than New York or Singapore. So that’s where I really thought, okay, this is an opportunity that we just can’t miss. However, I will say I’m very thankful that I have the background that I do because I think there’s some sort of intuition that I had because when we came in 2022, my husband was like, we gotta buy a house. we saw lots of houses. We were going to open houses, talking to people

And I just felt like there was a little bit of a bubble. I was like, this does not seem right. We’re seeing these pretty terrible looking houses that are, needing a lot of work and they were almost a million dollars. And I said to my husband, we can’t buy a house right now. not only can we not afford to buy it at that time, but these prices seem really inflated. And thank goodness we didn’t, because now looking back, twenty-two was the peak. So we rented for a year and we did buy in twenty three.

And that was kind of like the beginning of our real estate journey. So he had found a realtor, an older gentleman who helped us buy our first house ever, here in Austin And it was an okay experience. Like he really was a lovely guy.

Not a full time realtor, right? So didn’t have his finger on the pulse as much as like someone like me right now doing this full time has. but I’m grateful for that experience and how gracious he was to show us all the houses that we did. and now the market is ten percent lower than even at that point, but it taught us a lot. And in twenty twenty-five, so last year is when I bought my first investment property.

I got into flipping as well with a partner. So just having to navigate all of that as the market is declining and shifting and even investors here in Austin don’t really know which way it’s going. and obviously now like the interest rates are back up again. So it’s been a pretty volatile time. but I’ve been able to navigate the market pretty successfully.

I would say about 60% of my business is with investors, flippers, developers. Like I have a couple of investors right now from out of state looking to buy multifamily in Austin. There’s really a great opportunity right now. Austin has probably over 130% sellers, more sellers than buyers. if you have the cash, if you have the capital and you’re willing to, hold through, there’s a lot of opportunity in Austin right now. So I have several people that are looking to buy investment properties.

I have several flippers that I work with. we’ve sold every single flip that has been done this year. So that’s been good. the majority of mine have been transacting in under two weeks, which is pretty exceptional in today’s market. I’ve got some commercial clients too that are all floating large assets. So helping them do that. I have some commercial buyers as well. So it’s a really interesting time.

People that need to sell, they need to sell and they know that they’re gonna take a loss and they’re willing to accept that. I’ve got flippers that are underwriting very strictly and I’m acquisition to exit. So I’m guiding them and helping them through the entire process. people are still able to make money as long as you’re controlling the timeline and construction and buying the deals right. and then of course have a partner agent that’s gonna be able to execute and sell it at the end. and then I’ve got some developers

That are, wanting to build and take down large projects all the way from multi-millions of dollars to, building, seven, eight hundred thousand dollar house. So kind of the big gamut, I really do specialize in the investment space. And I think that really is like I’m a very like, say do what you say, and you gotta walk the path. And so even though I did entertain being a real estate agent in New York back then and even in Singapore, I did sign up for the course.

Something in me just stopped me because I was like, Well, I don’t own a home. I’ve never been through this. It just didn’t feel congruent to do that. when I bought my house here, I was like, Well, I’ve been through it. I understand this journey. and really what was the impetus was that my husband’s mom was looking at some investment properties here and I just felt bad like bothering our old agent.

And so I just said to my husband, Well, I’m just gonna get my license. And at the time I was transitioning out of my ed tech startup that I started and had fund rate. I did an angel round of funding and it was starting to pick up a little bit, and then we made this big move from Singapore to Austin and it kind of just shifted everything. And I thought, I think real estate is what I’m gonna do.

And it’s really as an agent, you’re investing a couple of thousand dollars and, some hours of education, but I don’t really know too many other businesses that you can start for a couple of thousand dollars and pretty much as quickly as you want it, you could be turning around pure net profit. And that’s what I did. And so that was pretty powerful. and now with where

the market is. And as I’m doing all this research for all these investors that want to buy, I’m thinking by the end of the year I’ll probably pick up another investment property. So I’m pretty well versed in, different strategies, flipping the Burr method and looking at buy and hold for single family, multifamily. And then if I do anything in commercial, I have a trusted partner that I run everything through.

Issa Hanna (25:34)

I love that. and the one thing that stayed consistent through your whole response was running the numbers, right? When you know how to run the numbers, when you know how to look at the market. you always estimate low, your profits low, you always estimate your costs high. If it still makes dollars after that, guess what, guys? It makes sense. so you don’t have to be afraid if you’re lethal with those numbers. And if you don’t know the numbers well, get you somebody like Christina, because she’s lethal with the numbers, she can tell you.

Almost sometimes how much a property’s gonna profit and make.

Christina Sok (26:39)

And those numbers are so important. And I think having gone through like these different deals myself and I have invested in other people’s deals too. So when you put your money where your mouth is, you really understand it because you experience it in your body, right? And so when it comes to underwriting these deals that you’re flipping or building right now, yes, the acquisition price is really important. That’s one.

But you’re needing to be very, very conservative in the target ARV at the end. So if you think it’s gonna be this, you wanna definitely lower it 10, 20%, depending on which area, what you’re building. And then of course, you have to overestimate the construction timeline and the budget. The construction piece, I think, in Austin has been the biggest bottleneck. That’s what I’ve seen with my clients. That’s what I’ve experienced. And this is where it’s been a lot of trial and error and

moving through it this year to get to a point where we’re now course correcting, finding different construction partners and navigating this in a different way that, next year our deals are going to perform even better. So it’s a lot of, trial and error and being able to pivot and think quickly on your feet and just always finding a solution because there will be a million problems a day. And it’s just about, not getting bogged down with those problems, but working through those problems to find solutions. And

Things really don’t get easier. You just get better at facing bigger problems because you’ve been through it before. and there is a lot of fear, even with investors that may have done quite a bit. the market is so uncertain. There is fear. I think watching the news is the worst idea because they’ll instill so much fear. But action cures all fear. And if you are underwriting correctly, you’re analyzing properly, you have the right partners, you have a realtor

that is going to advise you and guide you along the way, I think there should be a lot of that risk that is mitigated because you’re doing your due diligence from all different angles. And it’s markets like this where the majority of people that are afraid will lose out, but those that take action, they’re gonna win really big. And then everybody else two years later will be like, I should have bought then or I should have, developed then or I should have flipped more houses then. And that’s always what happens.

It’s the confidence and results, it’s not absence of fear. It’s working through that. And it is scary. Sometimes I’m like, I don’t even know why I’m doing this. Sometimes it is really scary, but it just really depends on what you focus on. Do you want to focus on that fear and be paralyzed and go in a downward spiral? Or do you want to focus on what you can achieve? Because whatever the mind can conceive, it can achieve. it’s just the way that it is.

If you think you can, you’re gonna be able to do it because you’re gonna do everything that you can in your power and the universe will conspire to make that happen. And I’ve seen it over and over in my life. So it sounds sometimes a little airy fairy, but I’ve proven it so many times to myself that I can’t, I don’t believe that it’s not true.

Issa Hanna (29:25)

Hundred percent. and when you are an investor, right? When you’re in the real estate business, ask you about a real estate nightmare, just to make that point that you just made. So you deal with real estate nightmares a lot over your course, or business nightmares a lot. At the time you’re in that fire, it feels hot, it feels scary, you don’t know the way out. Like you said, you can either

Collapse and fail, or you can find a way out of that fire. But guess what? Once you made it out of that fire, now you know the process for it. If you, God forbid, encounter the same problem again, it’s not going to be a big deal because you know how to get through it. You’ve gone through it before. So it just makes you that much better. It levels you up. I always say, you never lose, you always learn, right?

Christina Sok (30:07)

Yeah, for sure. And these phrases, like out of context, or if you see it in one line, it just feels really like cliche, but it is so true. And you and I have lived it so we know. when you even just like talk to first time home buyers, it is a scary thing. It’s like it is the biggest purchase of most people’s lives. So having that large commitment,

Our nation’s credit card debt is huge right now, right? If you can’t even be responsible to pay your credit cards on time, like of course it’s a scary thing to pay a mortgage every single month on time. there is a lot of instability in some ways. that’s why for me, building my own business in entrepreneurship is gonna be always way more secure than relying on a W two to income. You never know when you’re gonna be, out of there.

And so not being able to control my destiny because it relies on the hands of somebody else that’s really scary. But I understand not everyone’s cut out for the entrepreneur life. It is really chaotic in many ways.

Issa Hanna (31:05)

You have to be a great organizer of chaos, when you’re an entrepreneur, right? you gotta be able to like stand in that fire and there’s a million things going on. You’re like, all right, I’m reining in. This is what I’m doing first, and knock it out. and the more you’re in it, the more your processes, your systems get better, the smoother it gets. and that’s what I’m getting from you right now. Let’s pivot into the future, right? I looked you up today.

I read your bio, great bio. You’ve accomplished so much already. Five years from now, what’s the five year plan? Where am I going to see you?

Christina Sok (31:36)

Gosh, I always lead with how old my kids are gonna be. Because at the end of the day, I feel like our core. Like why do we do all that we do? we really wanna create a legacy for them and show them a different path, right? That my husband and I had to figure out. I didn’t really come from a family of entrepreneurs and neither did he.

at least, my family, we did do sales, so there was some sort of controlling of your destiny in that sense, right? but my daughter will be, I guess, thirteen, my son will be eight years old. I did say to one of my partners recently, like, I’m not gonna go as hard in five years and he was like, No, you’re not, you’re never gonna not stop working. And he’s absolutely right. Like, obviously I’m never gonna stop because this is just a drive that I have inherently,

from a baby, like even as a toddler, my grandparents would be like, She’s so bossy, is what they would always say. But I think at that point the kids are gonna need us in a different way. now they’re like, needy in the sense that they want to always be with us physically. But, my daughter will be a teenager and there’s gonna be other needs that they have, and I wanna be able to have a lot more.

hours and time that I can dedicate for them. we’re like packing so much in and time blocking, everything is on this like regimen and schedule. And like, we’ll still be kind of dictated by the kids’ schedule five years from now, but I think we are building towards having a lot more flexibility. And from my early twenties when I

got into entrepreneurship, the big drive was this idea of freedom, being able to choose who you work with, choose when you work, where you work, what you do. That freedom is really important to me and I’m on my way there. And if that means like, okay, every summer we’re going to a different country.

Or, we’re gonna do a semester abroad and it be led by what the kids need at that moment, their interests, or my daughter goes to a Spanish immersion school. Maybe we need to go to South America for a year. So having that freedom of choice in how we live our life, but knowing that the business is still gonna run, that is what I’m striving for every single day. Knowing that, you have to make some investments and deposits right now.

Before you can make those withdrawals. So that kind of life also requires a very investor mindset and investor discipline because people that live that life didn’t get there by happenstance, right? They prepared and they worked hard in order for their life to be giving them the kind of results that they have now. So I’m excited about that. I think that everything is earned. And a lot of times people kind of see the end success story and think.

It was like this overnight success and it never ever is. So I think five years from now, I see myself as, continuing to be a super hands-on mom. I want to be able to help other people be the best version of themselves, create the life that they want, whether that’s through coaching or other methods and platforms that I can, touch other people’s lives.

especially want to help real estate agents and then I’ll obviously have a thriving business that is gonna be able to operate. and I think just having my multiple streams of income and investment portfolio. So I won’t stop building, but how I build and what I’m building may shift and evolve as the time goes on. But there’s a lot to accomplish in the next five years. So I’m really excited. just really making sure that I

Stay true to myself and also give myself grace and give myself time, to look after myself as well. having a daily workout regimen, time with family, personal care, like I love my massages, things like that is really important because if your body physically can’t carry you and give you that energy, then none of this is even possible. So think at the very

core of it is knowing yourself and looking after yourself.

Issa Hanna (35:23)

Hundred percent. And when you have that end goal in sight, one thing you can’t buy, they always say you can’t buy time. Real estate can buy you your time back, or at least, you’re gonna worry about the business, but you can worry about it from South America, you can worry about it from Europe. you’re not tied down to one place. so I love that you have that end goal in sight already. And then super important self-care, mentally, physically.

You can’t help people if you yourself are a wreck, right? Whether it’s physically or mentally or not in a good place. So for you to be successful, for you to deal with the general public, with clients and give them your best services, you do have to be in a good space. and I know a lot of real estate, successful real estate people that do start their mornings off by going to the gym. I just came from the gym about two hours ago. So I start the gym at 6 a.m.

Every morning, good hour and a half. I get my blood pump in, then I walk into the office. I’m already awake, I’m already ready to go. And I know you can attest to that. I want to talk about Keller Williams now, right? I’ve been in the game so long and I brushed shoulders with that brokerage so many times. almost joined them. I found myself, at Berkshire Hathaway and whatever. But they have such a great reputation and they take care of new agents so well. So

Can you tell us what makes Berkshire Hathaway stand out so much?

Christina Sok (36:39)

I’m sorry, Color Will. Well, I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. It was really interesting because I didn’t know anything really about the real estate industry in Texas and all of that. my exposure was, a couple of open house agents and the guy who sold us our house. but there was this event, we’re friends with our neighbors and people who have kids in the air in the neighborhood.

We somehow got put into this neighborhood group chat and someone on there said, like, we’re having a get together at the park and there’s gonna be a petting zoo. So we went and the family that was organizing that little event, the husband was a realtor, but I didn’t even know at that time that he was a realtor. They didn’t share anything, but that family had a baby similar age to my baby at the time, when my son was a baby.

And the mom and I decided to go for a walk and we were just chatting and she was saying how like her husband transitioned from corporate to being a realtor and that just kind of was a sign that I needed. I was kind of like in between things as my son wasn’t even one yet. It was that kind of first year of his life. So we were just chatting and I was like, do you mind connecting me with your husband? Because clearly I did not know that’s what he did when we were at the petting zoo event.

And so I had a call with him. He was a Keller Williams agent. And he was an investor first and started working with this Keller Williams agent who works with a lot of investors. And so I asked this guy to connect me with his like team lead. And, that’s kind of how it started. And he connected me with the team leaders here at KW. So I didn’t even know or think about any other brokerage. It was just what fell into my lap. And I’m so glad.

That it was KW not anything else, because I think everyone knows we have the best education in the industry. and I think brokerage size-wise, we’re one of the largest here in Austin. And the fact that it started in Austin, KWRI is just down the road. I think that’s super cool too. I haven’t met Gary Keller yet in person, but anyway, that’s how it started. And I just knew, having come from my background, that I wanted to join a team. I,

have two little kids, I’ve got a lot going on. I’m not trying to figure it all out. And the old adage of you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. and I knew this just inherently from my background before I even picked up the MREA book, but because MREA is all about, models, right? Pick a model, follow the model, don’t veer off the plan. I’m just very coachable in that sense. And that’s kind of how I succeeded in everything else I did.

So I was just really fortunate that it was a KW agent that kind of introduced me to the industry. They sponsored my real estate course. I told the team leader I wanted to join a team. So pretty much early on, they connected me with all these different teams. So I kind of got to pick and choose who I wanted to work with. And so when it came to choosing the team I’m on,

I did research on all of the teams and interviewed with several teams. And this is where I thought that it aligned most with the brand I wanted to build and the mentors I wanted to have. And I mentioned, Place earlier, that was a big selling point for the team that I joined because they have this partnership with Place and places like the operating system and all of the tools and systems and technology and leverage and career path, the career growth opportunity.

that an agent can go through, that was all offered at place. And coming from, tech and, platform businesses that I’d been part of before, place made a lot of sense to me because I could see like, I feel like right now in real estate, there’s really a lot of dividing and changing and evolving that’s happening in the industry for agents. there will always be that new shiny brokerage that will offer better splits or whatever,

Brokerages will come and go, agents will come and go. It’s always a revolving door. But I think that there’s gonna be a huge difference between a solo agent or like a small team or small brokerage that just doesn’t have the resources and leverage and technology and tools and systems that a larger team with resources like the place provides.

Because as an agent, there’s so many things that you need to do in a real estate transaction. You simply can’t be effective. Like I know what I’m good at, which is why I’m the agent. But I knew from the start, which is why I wanted to join a team. I didn’t want to do paperwork or operations or admin. And so I joined a team that has all of that backend support, which allows me to do way more business. And so I’m thinking about it as a business owner. I didn’t want to be an agent that just,

The last deal I do is the last deal I do. Like I wanna be able to build a real business. And so, a little over a year in I hired my husband, who is also on our team. he is kind of building his own separate business, but it’s our business. And then I hired a second agent who works with me. So just having that ability to have that and

knowing that I’m already in a system that’s working and flourishing. that was really what’s important to me. just being around the community and other agents, like a lot of deals are done here in the living room. someone will share, like, KW has a lot of inventory and we’ve got a lot of successful agents. So just being around those people and

At any point, if I wanted to drop into a class, there’s plenty of classes in education opportunities here as well. So I think especially for a new agent, KW is the brokerage you should go to because it’s just gonna give you the foundation. And I think the foundation is so important when you’re, starting out as a real estate agent.

Issa Hanna (42:00)

and Keller Williams KW, they do have the best program to start off as a new agent with. Then they also have a great program for you high grossing agents, right? Where you can get a hundred percent of your commission. if you sell a certain amount a year. it’s definitely a great brokerage, very well respected. I’ve done many deals with Keller Williams over the years and their agents are always top notch.

as you could see from the person sitting in front of me. Now,

Christina Sok (42:25)

thank you.

Issa Hanna (42:26)

if they did want to use top notch agent services in Austin, Texas with Keller Williams, where could they reach you at Christina?

Christina Sok (42:34)

Yeah, I’m sure you can just Google my name. I’ll pop up. But my Instagram is Christinasok.co. you can DM me there. I’m sure you can also contact me on my website. my number and my email is there too. definitely happy to connect. I’ve been creating a lot of content too, so you can see my videos on Instagram. but I’m on pretty much all the platforms, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram.

So I’d be more than happy to service you or your network, whoever is looking to buy, sell, or invest in Austin. I’d love to be that guide and advisor.

Issa Hanna (43:09)

Make sure you guys check Christina out, one of the top professionals in Austin, Texas. rocking the game right now. So much knowledge, such a great background she brings in. And the most important thing, the integrity, the honesty, that she brings to the game. So make sure you guys check out Christina. Christina, thank you so much for coming on the show. It was a true honor to have you on.

Christina Sok (43:28)

Thank you so much, Issa. I really enjoyed our conversation and I’m really happy to be here. Thank you.

Issa Hanna (43:33)

Thank you again for coming on and to the viewers at home. If you guys enjoyed my conversation with Christina and want to see more like it, make sure to hit like and subscribe. I talk to people every day that can bring us different knowledge on every aspect of the real estate industry. Until next time, the Real Estate Pros are out.