Judy Moses: Blazing Her Own Path

By Karen M. Kroll
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When Judy Moses, ABR, CRS, GRI, PMN, SRES, took the real estate exam in 1986, “failure was not an option,” she says. Fortunately, she passed. Indeed, she has gone on to a very successful career in real estate, first as a top producer with several agencies, and then as broker/owner of her own firm, Pathway Home Realty Group in Chestnut Hill, MA. In 2007, she served as national president of Women’s Council of REALTORS®. 

Moses, who holds a degree in French and Russian comparative literature from Simmons College, took the exam as a way to get into sales. Previously, she had been working in the travel industry. While Moses remains an avid globe-trotter, having traversed Europe, Singapore and other parts of the world, her earning potential was limited. “It required tremendous knowledge and had a lot of red tape, but compensated poorly,” she says.

Even so, Moses remained at the travel agency after she began her real estate career. She was a REALTOR® on nights and weekends and a travel agent during the day. Fortunately, the two offices were located within a few blocks of each other, so Moses could walk to her real estate office during her lunch hour to make calls and catch up on paperwork.

She juggled the two positions for about six months, before plunging full-time into real estate at an independent firm of about 20 people. “The owners were very professional and willing to share their knowledge. I really loved the small business atmosphere and entrepreneurship,” she says.

To get her business off the ground, Moses “did what it took to make a living.” That meant going to other REALTORS®’ open houses, hosting her own open houses and showing potential buyers homes that were for sale by owner – all steps that helped Moses enlarge her base of contacts.

By also looking for new ways to market the properties she represented, Moses became a top agent. For instance, her first listing was for a condominium unit in the Boston suburb of Brookline. The owner already had worked with five other REALTORS®, but the condo hadn’t moved.

As Moses considered the unit’s location, view and amenities, she considered a market that had been overlooked: young professionals eager to get more for their money than they could in Boston proper. Moses mailed flyers to about 100 agents who likely would be working with just such buyers, yet were not connected to the MLS and so wouldn’t know about the unit. Within several months, she had a buyer.

After about six years, and in light of growing competition in the industry, Moses decided to move on, and joined a local Coldwell Banker office. Moses was able to take advantage of the many programs offered by a national company. She particularly valued its extensive offering of training courses and the ease with which she could obtain market and sales data, which weren’t as freely accessible as they are now, given the growth of the Internet. “I have tremendous respect for the people there,” she says. “They were very knowledgeable."

Although she was a top performer at Coldwell, Moses’ goal was to start her own firm. “I like to be creative and grow things,” she says. “I’m not a Corporate America kind of girl.”

To lay the groundwork, Moses continually tracked the sources of her clients and sales. After a time, it became clear that many of her sales came from customers or referrals she had generated, and Moses was confident she could make a go of it on her own.

In January 2003, Moses opened Pathway in her home. The company remained there until late last year, when Moses and the staff of six moved to a commercial space in Newton, MA. Pathway also has two home-based agents in Cranston, RI.

To be sure, the shift from a big company to a small agency has had its ups and downs. Some potential clients assume “bigger is better,” Moses notes. They are swayed more by the number of yard signs they see around town than the expertise that competent, experienced agents can bring to their transactions. “If they want glossy brochures, they may go with a bigger company,” she notes.

Even so, the change has been successful and rewarding, Moses says. “I love it, because I love to be creative and figure out what we can do to be useful to our clientele and stay at the forefront of the industry.”

For instance, Moses is exploring ways to use social networking tools like LinkedIn and Facebook to connect with other REALTORS®. She’s also using the Internet to connect with twenty- and thirty-something clients and prospects. “They want to communicate through e-mail and check out things online,” she says. “We’re a different generation, but we have wisdom. We just have to know how to communicate that.”

Especially in a downturn, success comes down to service, Moses notes. “It’s getting people what they need,” she says. “When you help them reach their goals, the rest will come.”

Karen M. Kroll is a freelance writer from Chanhassen, MN.