WINTER GARDEN, Fla. – For Tara Moore, choosing a career in real estate wasn’t a stretch. Her father was a RE/MAX broker for 40 years in New York state and she grew up in the business.
“I used to love going with him to show houses,” says Moore, a Realtor® with RE/MAX Select in Winter Garden who was recently named one of the National Association of Realtors®’ (NAR) 2015 “30 Under 30,” sponsored by Realtor Magazine. “He joked that I was his little sidekick,” she says.
However, despite that early exposure to the business, she wasn’t 100 percent sure that a real estate career was her calling. During college at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, she worked as a “do-it-all-girl” for a RE/MAX office near campus.
“I handled marketing and worked as an assistant for several agents,” she says. But, after graduating, she thought she’d try her hand at corporate sales where she stayed for four years.
“When I started a family, I desired to get back into real estate where I was more in control of my career,” she says. Now her children, Lainey June, age 3, and Grayson, age 5, are her “little sidekicks,” she laughs. Her husband, Matthew, is also licensed and will eventually work with her as the business expands.
Serving Today’s Customers
Having grown up in the business, the 29-year-old Moore has a unique perspective on the real estate transaction.
“We have a flood of information available to us but, ironically, we don’t have the information we need,” she explains. “Millennials are so tech savvy; however, they also bring with them a lot of misinformation about the market.” Moore says it’s up to real estate professionals to help them decipher the information and figure out what’s accurate.
She sees a lot of millennial buyers research homes online that end up being a lot more than they can afford. “Many younger buyers are uninformed about the preapproval process,” she says. Moore finds that some of the buyers will look online for months at $350,000 properties, only to find, once they work with an agent, that they can only get qualified for $150,000.
“I always sit down with buyers ahead of time and have an introductory consultation to ensure we’re going through the process the right way,” she says. “I want to educate buyers about what’s going on, not just go through the motions of a transaction.”
Hanging Out
In her spare time, Moore enjoys “watching my kids grow.” The family also loves to travel and spend time in Georgia where they boat. “We do a lot of DIY projects around the house,” she says.
She also volunteers for some local committees such as Winter Garden In Bloom and was co-chair of the Winter Garden Relay for Life. However, the charity that brings her the most joy is Distinguished Young Women in Florida, where she is a director of the Florida program.
“Each year we have 15 to 17 young girls who stay with host families in Winter Garden and we do fun things with them. At the end, we give out scholarships,” she says.
Hard Work and Honesty
When it comes down to it, Moore says, her goal in business and life is to be honest, genuine, hardworking and to care more for her client than for the commission.
She relays the story of a deal that was quickly unraveling.
“I was talking to the agent on the other side who saw how upset I was. He said that he understood. You work so hard, and the commission is gone, just like that,” she says. “That was an ‘aha’ moment for me. The commission hadn’t even entered my mind. I was upset because I had to tell my client that they weren’t going to get their dream house.”
That’s what makes it so easy for Moore to “operate at a level that is full of passion and excitement,” she says. “I want to be encouraging and continue helping people achieve that dream of homeownership.”
A member of the Orlando Regional Realtor®Association, Moore is dedicated to her profession and to her community. She was named as one of the National Association of Realtors’® (NAR)“30 Under 30” honorees for 2015. The “30 Under 30” program recognizes 30 rising young stars in the real estate industry – successful young Realtor professionals across the U.S. who exemplify ingenuity, dedication and leadership in their careers.
