About Jessica Flores

Jessica is a "military brat" who's lived all over the place, but eventually settled in San Antonio. Her experiences with moving all over the world helped shape her understanding of how she can assist families with the changes brought on by moving and she would love to find you and your family a new place right here in San Antonio. Give her a call at (210) 848-9445 or email her at jessica@kimberlyhowell.com.

You Passed Your Real Estate Exam – Now What?

June 17, 2019 by Jessica Flores Leave a Comment

Once upon a time, we all started at the beginning, with a fresh new real estate license in our hands and a ton of things to learn in front of us…being licensed is one thing, but becoming an incredible agent takes time. Jessica Flores remembers her days at the beginning and in this post, she speaks to those that are just wrapping up their licensing process and entering the world of real estate for the first time. We’ll step aside and let her do the rest…

Congratulations! You just passed your state and national real estate exam and you are ready to go sell houses. But where do you start?

Well, first off, you are now an independent contractor, but you are required to be sponsored by a broker. So how do you choose your brokerage?

This may seem like an easy answer, but in reality your choice can be the difference between making it or giving up.

There are many brokerages that you can choose to interview with. You should take the time to find out which is the right fit for you. Some questions you may want to ask include: Will training and education be offered? What are office fees, if any? What type of support system is included? What are the commission splits? The answers you receive can help you decide where you will thrive.

Once you have decided where you will hang your license it is time to get to work. This is the hardest part. What you learned in real estate school does not fully prepare you for what you will be doing. What you have seen on the cable TV network shows is even further from the reality of the amount of hard work, hours, and dedication that is needed to become a producing agent.
But don’t let that scare you. If it is something that you really want to achieve then it will require work and often anything of worth requires hard work.

Now, don’t fret, get to work. Go help people to sell their homes and help others make new memories by getting them into their dream home.

image courtesy of j.o.h.n. walker

Decorating a New Home and Saving Money

August 29, 2016 by Jessica Flores 1 Comment

Buying a home is expensive enough, but decorating a new home can be costly, especially if you have recently graduated to a bigger space. Join us in welcoming agent Jessica Flores for her second blog post on the website – we have a feeling she’s going to be putting out a lot of great content for years to come. You can read her first post, “There’s a New Kid in Town: Newly Licensed Agents” which garnered a lot of attention for its honest look at the life of a new Realtor and how you can benefit from their eagerness and willingness to learn and explore new ways of doing business to help you get the home you want or sell the home you have. In this post, Jessica looks at some of the thoughts that go through all of our heads when we realize now that we have bought it, we’re going to need to figure out how to decorate our new home. She has a lot of experience, having moved multiple times as part of a military family. Let’s turn it over to Jessica, shall we? – Kimberly Howell Properties

Congratulations! You just closed on your new home and are excited to add your own personality to it. The problem is those boxes that you have been holding onto (and paying a storage fee for) no longer reflect the person you are today. Instead, they are filled with Bon Jovi posters and inflatable plastic furniture. While this speaks volumes of the fun person you are, it also yells out that shopping is in your near future.

Wait…shopping? You just purchased a house, buying everything new is not necessarily in your best interest…right? But you don’t want to live in an empty house either. So how do you go about decorating a new home and save money?

Hang Onto Those Credit Cards

More than likely, your clever real estate agent advised you to avoid debt of any kind during the home buying process. New vehicles, TVs, and furniture are some examples of the things they told you not to buy. Your lender warned you about doing anything that would open up a new line of credit or even making credit inquiries as those small checks can ding your credit report.

Your agent didn’t inform you of this because he or she doesn’t want you to have nice things…quite the contrary. They not only help you buy your house, but they want to help you build a home.

The thing is, your Realtor knows that opening up new credit can interfere with obtaining a loan even if you have already qualified, been approved, and are in the process of getting a home loan after putting a home under contract.

You listened to your agent and all went well, so now you may be thinking that you have closed and can check out one of those awesome deals where you have no interest for 36 months. So now’s the time to go wild decorating your new home…right?

That’s an idea, but you quickly remember that you will have a house payment soon. Also, your tastes will change as the years pass and what seemed like a great idea in the 80s is probably not what you’re thinking today.

So, what do you do? Do you blow up that shiny, vinyl furniture to sit on while gazing lovingly at Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora? You certainly could, but that would only be fun for a little while.

Decorating a New Home…For Cheap

The old saying “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” holds true when decorating a new home. Think outside the box – it’s not hard to find beautiful home decor and sturdy furniture that someone else has grown tired of or needs to get rid of to make room for something new they have purchased. It’s recycling at its best.

You can find items like these on Craigslist (just promise you won’t do your house hunting on there!), the Nextdoor app, and my personal favorite, neighborhood yard sales. You can also check out the bigger stores like Goodwill or the Salvation Army and many communities have locally owned and operated consignment shops that can be a treasure trove of bargain finds.

Sometimes the treasures are vintage, but still classy and tasteful. Other items may just need to be cleaned well or touched up with a fresh coat of paint. A little love and some elbow grease go a long way.

One thing is for sure, you will get them for a very good price and will often find that you had a great time discovering your reclaimed furnishings while meeting some nice people.

However you decide to go about decorating a new home and adding accessories that reflect your style and taste is your choice. Keep in mind that you do have several options and if you’re willing you search for the bargains, they are out there.

As for me, I need to go cancel a storage unit and maybe have a yard sale of all the “treasures” I have been holding on to. It’s time to pack up the Bon Jovi posters for good. Ok, maybe I’ll just keep this one…

image courtesy of rhonogle

There’s a New Kid in Town: Newly Licensed Agents

August 1, 2016 by Jessica Flores Leave a Comment

There’s a new kid in town. In fact, there are always new kids in town. Lots of them. As agents enter the world of real estate, they are often faced with their biggest challenge: how do they get their business up and running, when the odds are not in their favor? Their newness weighs on them and clients sometimes don’t see them for what they truly are – ready and eager, willing to ask questions of their peers and themselves, and not afraid of a challenge. Sure, the common wisdom is that you need someone with experience, but that experience comes from doing and the only way to learn is to get your hands dirty and dive right in. Homebuyers and sellers may feel that they won’t get enough experience with a new agent and it might cost them, but we speak with confidence when we say that that lack of hands on experience is not the reason to hire a new agent. Agent Jessica Flores explains what it means to be a new agent and why you shouldn’t be afraid to work with one. – The Staff at Kimberly Howell Properties

There’s a New Kid in Town

Chances are that we have all had our oil changed, hair cut, car sold to us, or even a medical procedure done by a professional and we had no idea that we were their first client or patient. It’s probably safe to assume that things went well and we were pleased with the outcome. Still, I get it. It’s scary to think that you may be a doctor’s first patient or a stylist’s first hair cut. However, a lot of the time these first time professionals have to work harder than their experienced counterparts to prove themselves. They may be nervous, but more than anything they want to make sure things are done and they are done right.

Just like the professions mentioned above a Realtor has hurdles to jump and obstacles to overcome. They may be fresh out of school and newly licensed but the training is continuous and ongoing…and then it continues some more (it never truly ends). This is true especially if they work with an amazing brokerage that has a great reputation who provides training, support, and even expertise and advice to their “newbies.” There are many reasons why one should look past the negative idea of an real estate agent being new and “not experienced” enough. The new kid in town has a lot to prove and they’re going to do everything they can to make sure your experience is more than incredible.

New real estate agents have a lot more going for them than one can imagine. First, they are passionate and eager to help out new clients. Second, they are also aware that they will not know everything, so they take extra care to ensure that they are doing their best work. Communication will be prompt and if they are unsure of a question, they will be sure to find the answer. A new agent may be busy learning, but they are not as busy as those who are more experienced, so they often have more time for their clients. Lastly, new real estate agents can depend on and learn from experienced Realtors in their company. They often work together which gives a client the best of both worlds – the agent’s eagerness to do their best with less distraction and the incredible wealth of knowledge from the pros. So, when searching for a new tooth brush, go with a brand new one. If it’s a real estate agent then make sure they are a good fit regardless of experience. You’ll be spending a lot of time with them in the near future, so you want to ensure that you feel comfortable with them and can build a trust so that you can both work together to get things done. It would also benefit you to ensure that they work with a reputable company, so that you will feel at ease and have a great experience.

The new kid in town is here to stay and it will take some time to collect all that experience, but they will work twice as hard to get there. We’re determined, we’re ready, and we’re going to take on the world!

image courtesy of hlkljgk