Why Real Estate Agents Need to Show More of Themselves Online
Nicole Reber: If you talk about what your interests are, you love fashion, you love historic homes, Porsche colors-I mean, you're giving people all these different frame references for you, and it just makes your content just effervescent, it makes it lively. Back in the day when we did social media, you'd think like, "I'm a real estate agent, I just got to post houses." Now, you should post anything that you're into, even if it's not just real estate. Show your personality, because you can connect with other people in the other niches. Nobody's singled you out. People, especially real estate agents, you know, "Oh, I don't want to tell my personal business on my social media. I'm not like you, I don't want anybody to know anything about me." Well, when you do that, you're exactly right, you're one-dimensional. People connect with you on real estate, or they don't.
Glennda Baker: Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Glennda Baker, I'm a real estate agent in Atlanta, Georgia, and welcome to this episode of Glennda's Guru. I am so excited today to have on my friend Nicole Reber with Douglas Elliman in LA. And I feel like it has been a month of Sundays since I have seen you. I haven't seen you in person in quite some time.
Nicole Reber: I know, I know. I've been kind of cavorting around the world.
Glennda Baker: Today, you're reporting live from not Los Angeles, but London, which is kind of wild. I love it.
Nicole Reber: I love it here. It's so one of my happy places.
Glennda Baker: So, how long have you been hanging out in London?
Nicole Reber: Today is day two.
Glennda Baker: Okay. And have you gotten any World Cup excitement over there?
Nicole Reber: Gosh, I'm ready. I'm going to be here Saturday for the England-Belgium game-oh, no, Norway, sorry, it's Norway, what's-his-name? Yes, Erling!
Glennda Baker: I can't even get my hair to go the right way, I got so excited about Erling. You know who I'm really excited about is Jude Bellingham. My goodness gracious, that game is going to be crazy. This all occurred approximately four days ago that this trip became a reality. But I'm a lady that keeps my word, and so this is on my calendar, it's a big deal. So I was like, "I'm here!" So yeah, I'm really excited.
Nicole Reber: Well, I'm really happy that you're here. I wore this sweater-this is my pink sweater with pink stars-I remembered that pink was your favorite color, and I was like, "I got the perfect star sweater for her." So, thank you for being here with me. I am really excited to talk to you. We met many years ago, and I want to say through Tom Ferry, correct?
Nicole Reber: Exactly, yeah.
Glennda Baker: Well, and for my audience who isn't familiar with you, doesn't know you, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Nicole Reber: Yes, so Nicole Reber, I'm an agent with Douglas Elliman in Los Angeles. I've been in the real estate business for about seven, eight years now, but kind of was almost always raised in this. My mom's been an agent for 40 years, so I like to say I'm probably the youngest agent that remembers how to do this with a Thomas Guide, because I was reading my mom's Thomas Guide in the back seat when I was a kid.
Glennda Baker: Oh, wow.
Nicole Reber: Yeah, so it was not something I ever thought I was going to do. When I was seven, I went to an all-girls high school, and when I was 17, I moved from-I'm from the suburbs outside of Los Angeles, Camarillo, Thousand Oaks, Ventura County area-and I moved from there to New York City when I was 17, and I lived there for 10 years. And I was in art school and a visual artist, and I got a degree in poetry, which is a very lucrative career. And then when I was 27, I decided to go a different path and pursue real estate. I kind of filled in for my mom; she had a health scare-and fortunately didn't turn into anything too, too significant-but in that experience, when I was running her business for a while while she recovered, I kind of felt like I could bring something unique to the table in this industry. So yeah, that was how I got into it.
Glennda Baker: Well, I have always admired you, because you have such a sense of style, and you have this confidence about you. You just have this air, this confidence about yourself, and I just always remember every time I've ever seen you, anytime I've had the opportunity to chat with you, you always just have this air of confidence about you. How do you get that? Like, you're young, you get into real estate, how do you walk in the room and just own it like that?
Nicole Reber: I think I have a lot of respect for others, and I think that that allows me to kind of be myself, but maybe be different, but not be the center of attention in a way that's maybe like negative or odd or something like that. So, I love what I do and I love real estate, but I have a lot of different loves, and so I think my career isn't the place where like my... I don't have a lot of ego around this. I love helping others, and so I think that that allows me to be confident, because I'm not really coming at anything for any particular reason, but like, service.
Glennda Baker: Do you think that you're attracted to homes that aren't your, you know, five for a door? I don't even know if you have five for a door in LA, do you have that?
Nicole Reber: We do, yeah. In Ventura County we... you know, we have tracks and stuff like that, all sorts of things. And I love-and I do it all-but I think that especially in the last year, I've really gotten a little bit louder about communicating my knowledge of historic properties online, and I've started filming more about that and doing more intense tours, and I'm really interested in reaching the people that want to preserve these properties, because I think I was just getting upset by how much beauty was getting demolished, how much history wasn't being taken care of. And so, I want to connect with the people who may be in that moment to save something special and align with those people. So, I figure the best way to do it is put myself out there, put the houses out there, and see if we can find some magic on the internet.
Glennda Baker: And so, a lot of your social media is house tours?
Nicole Reber: Yeah, it's been really cool. It was something that I'd done a little bit during the pandemic, and I work with a great coach, Dave Worth, and we were looking at my business, and it was something that I loved doing, but I didn't really necessarily get consistent about the format. Or I was also trying to figure out, "How do I do this when I'm going into people's broker's opens, there's other people in the room, and not trying to take too much time off of other people's hands when I'm showing off houses that are my own listings?" And I have a great assistant-and she's one of my closest friends-and allows me to be super comfortable on camera, and we just started riffing this year, and it's been really fun. And it's allowed people to see my knowledge in a new way that's been really exciting.
Glennda Baker: I love that. You know, I think that when you pick a niche for, especially for like house tours-when you pick a niche for house tours-you really do almost present yourself as a market expert in that niche. And when it's something that you're super passionate about, like preservation and architectural significance, I think that that really sets you apart from everybody else. And probably because you speak so knowledgeable and so intelligently about these properties, how did you decide, like, "This is like my passion"?
Nicole Reber: Yeah, it's been a journey. It's actually funny to speak from Europe about that topic, because when I was 20, I lived for like a semester in Paris, and I had a-like, Versailles is just one of my happy places. I remember visiting there for the first time, and I was like, "This is the coolest: the gardens and the other palaces and the Hamlet." That inspired me so much. I was like, maybe I just wanted to be a princess in my heart. And then I backpacked with my best friend, we were like 19, 20, and I got to see the great palaces of Europe, and that was so cool to me. And I think in that experience, where I was seeing something new every single day, when I got into real estate, it allowed me to travel without traveling. And it's one of my favorite things about doing our job, is like sometimes I'll drive past a house and I'll be like, "I can map out the whole place because I went to it on a broker's tour. I can tell you what's in this bedroom or that bedroom," and it kind of fills in the gaps of the city that I live in, Los Angeles, and makes me love it again. So, in our job, I wish that we could travel a little bit more, but we have to be here for our clients. And so I think in specializing in these historically significant properties, we're so lucky. We have probably the most diverse architecture in the entire world being in Los Angeles. I really feel that way. Like, you can see a Spanish, you could see a mid-century, you could see a modern, you could see a Hollywood Regency, you could see an Adobe, all in a day and all on one broker's tour. And so I really started to see what was unique and valuable about where I live and wanted to share it with people.
Glennda Baker: I love that. And you mentioned a couple of times about going on broker's tour and how many agents just skip that or look at that like such a waste of time. And you were like-you just said-"Oh, I know everything about that house. I can lay out the entire floor plan of that house because I saw it on broker's tour." And I think that a lot of agents miss the opportunity, they miss the boat to become knowledgeable about what's on the market, become knowledgeable about how it's marketed, and then also how to leverage maybe what's not your listing.
Nicole Reber: 100%. 100%. I think it's an amazing way to start your business, get into a niche, and build your visibility. And I think, too, when I was thinking about my mom and her longevity in this business, it would always be like cool to hear her talk about a house that like, "Oh, 20 years ago, but that house has this, this, that feature." I think one of the most amazing things about real estate is it's actually a business where you don't have to get aged out of it. I think in a world that is so addicted to youth, it's actually so cool, because there's agents that can-sometimes the house only trades every 30, 40 years, and you could be the agent that, when you have a client and they hit you up for that house, you're like, "Well, I saw it, and it hasn't been for sale for 20 years, but I know about it." And I think I know the one for you, and you can leverage that market knowledge for sales, and also to, you know, create that happy moment for your client in finding something that nobody else could.
Glennda Baker: What's your favorite thing about the real estate business?
Nicole Reber: I love the stories. You know, I went to school and studied poetry, and I think like the storytelling in this job, whether it's the stories we tell other people or the stories that just we bear witness to that we kind of have to keep in the vault of our hearts-but sometimes I get to see things like-I'll never forget, Juliet Honen out of my office, she had the listing for Paul Reubens's house, Pee-wee Herman, and that was on tour. And I go into his room, and behind his bed was his makeup vanity with all of his lights. And he had kind of like a bed that was in the middle of the room, and so it was kind of like you walked around all of a sudden there with his vanity with all of the backstage passes from everything he did, like, you know, Madonna, Bowie, Joan Rivers. And I'm like, I got a picture and I was just like crying. I was like, "What is it in my life that like there would have been no world I would have ever experienced this?" Like, it was so intimate, where this person became the character that brought so much joy to other people. And I think like getting to be in these really intimate moments of people's lives, it just is so humbling and it just invigorates me. I love it.
Glennda Baker: Do you ever write poems about houses?
Nicole Reber: I do, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I did before I got into real estate. It's actually crazy, my senior thesis at Pratt, where I went to school in Brooklyn-so I went to an art school there, and so most of my friends were painters or graphic designers, so that kind of inspired the way that I market myself because they were all able to render; I can't render, so I have to write-but that's a superpower in real estate for sure. And yeah, I did like a poetry thesis where I dreamt a house and I drew the floor plan afterwards, and I wrote poems about this dream that I had because I could lucid dream, so I could the next night be like, "Hey, I want to go back in that house and explore it more," and it would let me go in there in my dreams. So sometimes, yeah, I feel like this job just helps with my sleep.
Glennda Baker: I think that they should be called like Notes by Nicole.
Nicole Reber: Yeah, I know. I haven't shared like that writing because what we do is so personal, but it's just maybe my way of diari-ing it out or having therapy around what we do for work. Yeah, it's really cool.
Glennda Baker: But you're right, people... I think people take for granted that we are invited in to where people celebrate moments and milestones and memories. The homes we sell are the backdrop of people's lives. And just like you saw those backstage passes, I mean, that is the backdrop of his life.
Nicole Reber: Yeah. It's really powerful. And yeah, sometimes you're just like, "How am I allowed to be here? How am I...?" And then I feel that way, like when there was a house that I had posted a couple months back that like I went there for the first time and then it went back on the market, and I did this video about this house called Casa Contenta. And this is like, if I won the lottery tomorrow, this would be where I'd spend my money, it's my dream house. It's in Bel Air. I will own this house one day, like I'm saying it here to manifest. Like I know one day this will be my house and I'm in love with this house. But what makes it really interesting is it's like a time capsule from like the '60s and '70s, down to like in the closet, the husband's cigarettes-he had cigarettes, Cool cigarettes with the presidential seal from Air Force One.
Glennda Baker: Like, it's crazy.
Nicole Reber: I think he was in the cigarette business. The lady-I did this video and her name was Copper Feldman, and some of her family had found a video and gave me more information about her. And anyways, that was like an experience where I saw a house on a broker tour once and it just stayed with me for months and months. And I had a second time to go to the house, and I told my assistant, I was like, "We're going to go there. I've researched so much about this house, I've learned about this lady now. They're so interesting." They had a... this house was in Architectural Digest in the '50s. They had another, actually, Dallas penthouse because they were from Dallas oil money that was also in Architectural Digest. I learned so much that when I was able to come back the second time, I was really able to tell the story of this special house and appreciate it and articulate it.
Glennda Baker: You had like behind-the-scenes information.
Nicole Reber: Yeah, because it had been shared with me from like family that had found my content. And I think like that's something that I feel like is a real opportunity for agents that want to storytell and also find their clientele, is the way that Instagram and social media is working now is that-I'm a dachshund lover; I don't have one, but I one day will-and like my whole phone will show me dachshunds even though I don't even have one. But I think like in that kind of like silliness, like of that metaphor, I think that that's something that we as agents have to start to think about when we're branding and marketing, is that you can go and put out a piece of content out there and it's going to find the exact people that are looking for that. So like if I'm into historic houses, it's going to align me right now with all the historic house people. I did a video about Porsche colors-I know you're a Porsche girl too-
Glennda Baker: I am.
Nicole Reber: -and I did a whole video. There's a website called Renbow, and it's all... it's a history of all, I think it's 800 colors that Porsche has ever made. And you can go on there and click the color swatch, and it has like a rarity scale, and then people submit their cars on there. And so that video went viral with the Porsche community. And so those people like-Jerry Seinfeld liking that video-like, that person's not getting my content normally, but like because that's a car person and it hit that community. And so I think back in the day when we did social media, you'd think like, "I'm a real estate agent, I just got to post houses." Now, you should post anything that you're into, even if it's not just real estate. Show your personality, because you can connect with other people in the other niches. Nobody's single-dimensional. I like to think about like Selena Gomez, she's an actress, a musician, and she's a billionaire beauty founder, and I don't think we...
Glennda Baker: Crazy, yeah.
Nicole Reber: We don't have to be one thing anymore. And so put yourself out there in a lot of different niches, and maybe you'll find your people.
Glennda Baker: I love that. And you know, I have a Mercedes, I have a Porsche, and it's Montego Bay Blue, which is a tier-one color.
Nicole Reber: Yes, that's a great color.
Glennda Baker: It was so funny. I went to the Porsche car club meeting, and all... and it's all guys, it's all men, yeah. And you know, they talk about the motor and the 911 and the GT and the turbo and 0 to 60 and a nanosecond, blah, blah, blah. And I stand up-it's my first meeting-and I stand up, I'm like, "My name is Glennda Baker, and I do not have a race car. I don't have anything that starts with a nine, but I do have a Montego Bay Blue Cayenne." And they were just like, "Oh, my god!" It's about the personalization. And I know you're a personalization person like me. I just... I want to be custom.
Nicole Reber: Exactly. I mean, I saw that car and I was like, "I have to have this car." I mean, I literally bought it because of the color. And you're exactly right, like, you people-especially real estate agents, you know, "Oh, I don't want to tell my personal business on my social media, I'm not like you, I don't want anybody to know anything about me"-well, when you do that, you're exactly right, you're one-dimensional. People connect with you on real estate, or they don't. If you talk about what your interests are-you love fashion, you love historic homes, Porsche colors-I mean, you're giving people all these different frame references for you, and it just makes your content just effervescent, it makes it lively. And I think that you got to do that if you want to be successful.
Nicole Reber: Yeah. And I think, too, you can't predict how people will find you. And I think you have to... I'm, you know, if I'm a real estate agent, yeah, my core pillar is going to be houses and my knowledge around houses, but really like the other things that allow you to maybe stay top of mind when if you don't have a listing that you're excited about, or maybe your current... the current houses on the market aren't matching the properties that might attract your ideal consumer. So in those moments, instead of not posting, instead of not marketing yourself, have stuff batched out, have content there that can align and attract, so you're not just posting something to post and feeling like not great about it, but you know, think about those different layers so that you're always showing up on brand. But on brand doesn't have to be just one thing.
Glennda Baker: Exactly, exactly. So you talked about that you take your assistant, you guys go to broker's open, do you carry some fancy camera or some fancy lighting? Like, it sounds like you are run-and-gun.
Nicole Reber: Yeah. I have... Dave got me the DJI mic in December, and he's like, "You need to have better audio quality." So those mics are 45 bucks, you can get them at Target. In fact, like, I just went to the Greenbrier for my bachelorette in April, and I'm like on the tarmac, and I'm like looking for like the attachment to the mic that goes inside of the phone. We had a layover in North Carolina, and I was like, "I can't find it, did I like pack it?" Like, there wasn't going to be a way for the mic to get there. I literally, from Uber-on Uber delivery-in the plane, I like ordered it, left for, during my 45-minute like layover, walked outside, like there was like an Uber delivery driver with a microphone, like that, just like you would your food, grabbed it, went back through security, and made sure I had the mic. I actually had packed it, I was just had misplaced it. But like, that's how easy you can get those mics, and they're literally like 45 bucks. So there's no reason to not be like... have good audio. And yeah, we just go in there.
Glennda Baker: If somebody comes with your phone?
Nicole Reber: Yeah, with my phone. I have my phone, she holds it, and I just riff. I'm like a gabber, as you can see, so I'm lucky that I can usually get like 60 seconds in one or two shots without having to edit it. But yeah, we just riff. And sometimes you go to a house and it looks great in a picture and it's not cool, but you can still find something to talk about.
Glennda Baker: Oh, yeah. I went to a house and it was not... it wasn't a great house, but it had these amazing gas lanterns. Oh, the house... and I posted on my social media, "Tell me you're rich without telling me you're rich: a gas lantern."
Nicole Reber: Oh, I can name the one house in like LA on Baroda that had it, across from Larry Gagosian's house that I know exactly the house. And they changed those gas lanterns recently, and I sometimes I just drive past it when I'm going to like the Larchmont and I'm like, "How dare they? That was my dream."
Glennda Baker: Are you engaged? Are you getting married?
Nicole Reber: I mean, yeah. That's... you know, the reason for London is being a custom girly. I had my dress getting made out here. So I had a fitting before that happens. I'm getting married in like a month, on August 15th.
Glennda Baker: So August 15th, that's a Saturday?
Nicole Reber: Yep, yep.
Glennda Baker: Oh, my gosh. And where are you... where are you going on a honeymoon after you get married?
Nicole Reber: Oh, my gosh. We... yes, I think so. I'm like figuring it out. I'm like, I've this whole year I've just been like on the boat. We want to go back and do Europe. I love Munich, and I think Bavaria is an underrated place, so I wanted to go to Baden-Baden, it's like one of the best spa towns in the world. And there's a great spa there, Friedrichsbad, that's a historic spa that I was like, "Well, maybe we could do like Friedrichsbad." And then there's like another place that I just want to visit for content and for relaxation, but it's La Colombe d'Or, it's a hotel in Saint-Paul-de-Vence in the south of France, kind of like 15 minutes from Nice, but they used to trade artists for art, so it's famous for having like a big Alexander Calder piece by the pool and Picassos in the restaurant because these artists would stay there and trade the hotelier for art. And so it's got a really cool art collection. So yeah, I'm going to go with the flow and just kind of hit those places, maybe make our way down to Sicily. I just want to be like... the wedding was so planned that I kind of want to almost be loose about the honeymoon.
Glennda Baker: That's awesome. That's amazing. So what's your... Casa Contenta is your favorite house, right? That's that's definitely like my-
Nicole Reber: How much... how much is it? 12 million 7, I think, right now. So it's not out of the range.
Glennda Baker: No, I mean, what people spend money on here in Los Angeles that are far less homes... I think it's a steal. It's almost like two acres in Bel Air. It's amazing.
Nicole Reber: Stars and stripes.
Glennda Baker: Well, I have something to live for and work for. Yeah. Well, you know, a real estate agent just bought a $9 million house in Austin, I think if that girl can buy a $9 million house in Austin, you could buy a $12 million house in Bel Air. Let me tell you, I got dreams.
Nicole Reber: Yeah. There's a house here in Atlanta, and when my kids were little, they were like, "Mommy, we love this house, we love this house." And I'm like, "If I ever win the lotto, I'm going to buy that house for you." And so every time we drive by that house-490 West Paces Ferry Road-every time we drive by that house, my kids go, "Mom, there's the lotto house! There's the lotto house!" I'm like, "Yeah, that's the... we still have on the lotto."
Nicole Reber: But maybe, you know, like I check in, I try to clock in every day, put in the hours. And I think that's what I love about this job, you kind of don't know who's watching, what's around the riverbend. I've had people reach out who are like, "Hey, I'm going to be looking," that I'm like, "I never knew you even knew I did this for a job, because you're like too famous to like know that I exist." And but like, cool, I'm like down. And so yeah, I never know what'll happen, but I think like putting yourself out there is step one.
Glennda Baker: Yeah, absolutely. And manifesting it. So what is... what is your favorite house that you've ever sold?
Nicole Reber: I sold Igor Stravinsky's old house. He was a composer that did the music for famously for the movie Fantasia for Walt Disney, and he lived there I think for like 30, 40 years. And actually, like speaking of trading people for Picassos, he had a ton of Picassos in the house. And I knew this because there's a famous like LA writer, Eve Babits, she's kind of like the bad girl cool writer of the '70s-I think she dated like Steve Martin in the '70s-and there's a famous photo of her playing chess topless with Marcel Duchamp, it's very like edgy, cool, surrealist photo. And her dad was... she's got these really cool short stories, essays about living in LA; her dad was a, I think, like a violinist or something like that, but he played with Stravinsky. So she wrote about visiting that house like in her teens and how that was like where all the hip, cool people hung out. And a couple years later, I got to sell that house to someone who's become a really dear friend, and she redid the house and it was published in like the New York Times and stuff like that. And she's got incredible taste, and so that was my favorite experience, because it was a... it aligned with like me having read about the house, the history, and then a really cool person making it their own. That was my favorite for sure.
Glennda Baker: Isn't it amazing that we get to help people with probably what is their largest single asset usually? We get to help them with the place where they'll probably spend the majority of their time.
Nicole Reber: Yeah, their life. And all... I mean, just think about all of the stories that you see, all of the stories that you hear, and all of the stories that happen in the homes that we sell.
Nicole Reber: Yeah, and there's a lot of energy with it. I mean, I've been in houses that are bad energy. You walk all of... I've been in houses where, you know, I'll be in there for two, three minutes and I'm like, "Nope, don't want to be here. I'm feeling unlucky, I'm feeling cursed." Like, that happens too. And so I tell clients, like, when we're out there looking for houses, if I get the bad vibes, I'm going to tell you instantly and take for that what you will. But you know, it isn't... it's really intimate and it's really important, and I do think like you can buy the wrong house and it can lead you down like unlucky eras of your life. So it requires a lot of serious thinking about what you're doing.
Glennda Baker: I think that that is so true. I... it's so funny because I... I buy investment properties and I know the minute I walk in the door, I typically don't even have to go through the house. Like, I can feel it when I walk in, "Okay, I can do something with this house." Like, I know immediately. And it's so funny because I've walked away from houses that people think are, you know, that they think they were good deals, and it never fails that, you know, somebody will call me and say, "Hey, I bought this house and I want to sell it." And I think to myself, "Oh yeah, I showed this house when it was for sale and it was a nightmare then, and it's even worse now." You know, it's so crazy. And people have energy.
icole Reber: Oh yeah, for sure. For sure. Yeah, sometimes I... I mean, I get it when people are buying a house and the other person on the opposite side is so negative, you don't want to inherit that. I know that's a little Californian, but I've seen it happen.
Glennda Baker: California, it's also very southern. Yeah, I'm not... I'm not for it. You know, I don't mind a friendly ghost, but I do mind bad vibes. That's true.
Glennda Baker: So, if you were starting today, if you were starting today, what would you do differently than you did when you started?
Nicole Reber: I think that I didn't share my journey getting started in this business enough, because I didn't want to share what I was doing until I felt qualified at this job. So, I think because I liked respecting how much work my mom had put into it and how, you know, it takes a lot of years to get to be a competent real estate agent, a lot of transactions. So, but you also do have to start somewhere, and there are people who are going to be willing to be there along your journey in the earlier years, and there's going to be mentors who are going to be willing to teach you. And I think that there was opportunities where I lost the option to maybe sell or help somebody buy a house because they weren't so familiar that that was what I was doing full-time, you know, because I had had a career transition. So I think that like you just don't claim to be something that you're not, but show that you're putting in work.
Glennda Baker: I love that. What did you do before real estate?
Nicole Reber: I was... I was in the art world. So, like I made... I had like a magazine for a couple years and I would interview artists and show their art. I made visual art myself. I would make these like... my poems would be like on these kind of letter boards, like those office boards with the little plastic letters, and I'd make these big giant poems and sell my art. I did like a little bit of tech, I worked at this company MoviePass for a second, that ended up being like a tech startup, and I was doing their social media. So all sorts of kind of random stuff. But the art thing was my big, big thing. You know, I worked at Burberry selling coats for a year like at 22, I was just like a kid in New York like figuring it out. And yeah, it would... but it all... it's like so funny because it all turned into like what became my secret sauce. Like I'd been an intern at Vogue and at Nylon when I was like 18, 19, and now when I'm talking to people in fashion, or like my fiance is like a hairdresser and he'll go to fashion week or he'll go on shoots, and I understand the culture from that time of my life. So it all kind of like worked out for whatever life that I've built for myself.
Glennda Baker: It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped. And I think that you never ever know what's around the next corner, but being willing to take the step, be curious about life, is a great thing.
Nicole Reber: Yeah. And I think sometimes things can be so predetermined that we don't allow ourselves to go with the flow. I mean, my moment here in London is totally that. I had a wedding dress chosen for the last two years, I tried on five things, I chose the first thing that I tried on, and something happened and I needed to come see the dress, and there was a better dress. And that dress didn't exist two years ago, and I'm 30 days out from my wedding, I'm switching dresses. And that was just like... that was my trip here. And I would have never thought I was in love with that thing, and I went with it. But you know, sometimes you plan so much that like life can make you think twice. So, you know, I just am kind of trying to always be present, but I'm also open to new chapters and I'm open to like new... just newness. Like, just go with it, like maybe you can't control it. And I think like we have so much we can't control in this industry and in this job that like it was a reminder for me this week.
Glennda Baker: I love that. Well, I am so happy for you. I'm thrilled that I had the opportunity to sit down with you. I will tell you, you are such an authentic and interesting person to me, and I have always loved your vibe. And I'm so excited for you, I'm so excited for your wedding. And I am going to... I am going to keep that Casa Contenta in my mind, I'm going to manifest that for you, girl, 'cause I can... I just know that that is your destiny. And she's pink, just like us!
Nicole Reber: Oh, I love it! I love it, I love it. Can't wait to see you. I'm going to... I'm going to go do some internet snooping, for sure. I think that house has like... the guest house, I think, has four bedrooms, so there will be plenty enough room for you. I think you'd be more than happy at that house.
Glennda Baker: I will... I will come visit. If this is an invitation, you don't have to ask me twice.
Nicole Reber: Oh, my gosh, you know, like this is LA, you can make a lot of money renting your house out for photo shoots, weddings, videos, music videos. I just was seeing that Shawn Mendes... there was a house that sold a couple months ago that was the house that-not Shawn Mendes, it was Sam Smith-the house that Miley Cyrus did her music video for "Flowers" in, he did his same music video at this house, it's out in the valley, this really killer mid-century house. But I was like, the amount of checks that they're making at that house for the photo shoots, that I noticed that are there-multiple huge artists doing music videos there-I was like, "I gotta, you know, buy one of these houses just so we have another place for these people to film, because apparently we don't have enough options right now."
Glennda Baker: That's right. You are double dipping for their major music videos.
Nicole Reber: I was like, it is your civic duty for the industry, we got to get a little more creative over here. So, yeah. And thank you, Glennda, for being you and always being like a role model to me for just having your own individuality. And you know, I was on Clubhouse in the early Clubhouse days of COVID, and I made so many friends from that, and that's I think how you came on my radar during that time. And you know, I think it's like there's an opportunity to maybe like inspire the next real estate agent, the next person that wants to, you know, do something different in life. Like, I ran a whole thing 10 years in New York, and I... you know, I put that on pause and I started a new life. And I think that there's never... you know, you're... it's never too late to try something new. So, hopefully like, if this finds somebody that's thought about real estate or thought about doing, putting themselves out there in a different way in this industry, it can inspire them. So thanks for that platform.
Glennda Baker: I love it. I love it. Nicole, thank you so much. Ladies and gentlemen, this episode of Glennda's Guru, I had the opportunity to sit down with Nicole Reber in Los Angeles, and boy, did she really inspire me to look at the things that are different in life that you may not realize the first time around. Nicole, thank you so much. Tell my audience, where can they find you?
Nicole Reber: Yeah. I'm on social media, my first name N-I-C-O-L-E, last name Reber, R-E-B-E-R-it's a palindrome, same way backwards and forwards, so you can't get it wrong. And find me over there. My DMs are always open, my cell phone is very public, you can call me, text me, I'm a real estate agent, I'm not anonymous. And if you are looking for something beautiful and historical, or something that inspires you in Los Angeles or outside of Los Angeles, this is a referral business. Be like, "Where's Nicole in my city?" And you can message me, and I probably know who that person is.
Glennda Baker: Well, thank you so much, ladies and gentlemen. As I always say, my name is Glennda Baker, I'm a real estate agent in Atlanta, Georgia. Send me a text, tag me in a post, give me a call, that's what I love the most, because I love the opportunity to talk real estate with you today. See ya!