Hidden Gems: Meet Nakia Reneau-Holland and Natasha Reneau-Jones of The Reneau Group

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nakia Reneau-Holland and Natasha Reneau-Jones.

Hi Nakia and Natasha, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Nakia: I was involved in credit repair and throughout the years, I had built a lot of trust with clients.

However, I wanted to provide more value. Additionally, I wanted to have my own individuality separate from my husband at the time, so that also prompted me to get my real estate license.

I was licensed in 2019 and worked with a few different brokerages as I didn’t truly know what I was seeking in a brokerage. That’s one thing I like to share with aspiring agents.

If you are thinking about getting licensed, you want to identify what is important to you in a brokerage.

I remember getting my first deal from a Facebook ad I posted, time went on & I was finding my way in real estate by working open houses, door knocking & cold calling but soon discovered cold calling wasn’t my strength. The majority of my business when I first started came from open houses, social media & referrals. That is when I discovered where to spend the majority of my time. I was big on top producing coaches Ricky Carruth & Tom Ferry, and listening to them helped sharpen my skills.

God has carried me through the highs and the lows and I’m forever thankful that He always comes through.

Natasha: I worked with investors years before getting licensed, so I had attained the knowledge. I had a good friend & mentor that encouraged me to get my license to be able to make money on multiple ends.

Three months before getting my license, I went through a separation which encouraged me to proceed with a new career path as a real estate agent. It was the biggest blessing in disguise. I knocked out the test and became licensed in 2019. I had no plan B and had a one-year-old at the time in my primary care.

I HAD to make it happen. I ended up being one of the top newly licensed agents in reference to volume at my office in my first year and similar to Nakia, my strength became open houses. I loved faced to face contact and connecting with people, so whenever I could host an open house, I would.

I began door-knocking, tried cold calling (wasn’t for me lol. I prefer face-to-face), made sure I attended all of the pertinent training in my office to elevate my skill, sought out mentorship from other agents, asked questions, and really sharpened my mindset. Most of all, I plugged into God and He has proved time and time again that He will never let me down.

How We Came Together:

In 2020, we formed The Reneau Group and decided to become one & it has been history since then!

We have been making a name for ourselves as LA County experts, forming long-term relationships, working towards setting the bar high, and achieving new heights for women that look like us. We have offices in Long Beach and Beverly Hills to accommodate a wide range of clients.

Our licenses are hung underneath Keller Williams Beverly Hills in the Sports & Entertainment Division. We decided on the Beverly Hills office because we felt confident that they had the tools that would support our clientele and vision.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
A smooth road would be nice, but not at all. Everywhere you turn, someone is a realtor® or they know a realtor®.

We never use this as an excuse, and it only pushes us, but the reality is we are young women and we are African American and a lot of the areas we service are predominately covered by agents that do not look like us. There’s one area we work that does, but we are still the young new girls on the block.

We constantly have to prove ourselves and work that much harder, be that much more knowledgeable, be much more multi-faceted and offer as much value as possible to be taken seriously. One thing that has helped us win over our older clients and high profile/high net worth clients is communication, consistency, accessibility, convenience to them in the process, and doing whatever it takes to help them reach their goals.

Our investment and market knowledge has a lot to do with it as well. Another challenge is that there have been times we have lost out on listings & buyers because we weren’t in communication with the decision-maker. We have since tightened up on our vetting process and no longer spend time working on those leads.

Additionally, there are some people that want to work with multiple realtors (especially in the sports and entertainment space), even though we have access to the same inventory. We work very hard for our clients, even seeking opportunities for them that may not be available to others, but doing that, takes more of our time.

Because of this, we do expect a level of loyalty, because we handle multiple clients, this is our livelihood, we have children to feed and a legacy to build. We think there is a misunderstanding that we get paid just to show properties. However, we only get paid, when a client closes escrow on their property, whether buying or selling.

Another struggle is men contacting us using the excuse of “buying” or “selling” to peak our interest. But we have to use discernment. We are thankful for all of these challenges because that’s where growth happens. It has given us wisdom and helped us develop into better businesswomen.

As you know, we’re big fans of The Reneau Group. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We specialize in luxury and investment properties. We pride ourselves on what we call the three C’s: Communication, Consistency & Convenience. We have a whatever it takes mentality. For example, we had one listing where a neighbor came over to us and said how impressed he was because he has never seen a realtor sweeping outside to make sure everything looked perfect for showings.

For another listing, Natasha spent her birthday cleaning and packing up probably the most filthy room we have ever seen because the entitled son of the seller did not want to leave and our client (who was much older) was nervous we would not have it done in time before the close of escrow which was in 2 days. We consult our clients with buying, selling, or investing in real estate, but we offer more than that; it is a whole experience working with the Reneau Group.

If you need a private chef, interior designer, or fitness trainer, we have someone for you. If you need a nanny or housing staff, we can connect you with a top-rated company we have a great relationship with. You need an exotic car, we’ve got you covered. We have cultivated many relationships with different vendors to be able to provide you with the convenience you desire.

We provide a level of excellence in everything that we do and we always lead with education.

Brand wise, we are proud to be sisters in business helping people achieve their real estate goals and are known as relationship realtors. All of our clients hear from us on their birthdays, holidays & in between. All of our clients have remained loyal to us and have sent over referrals.

We are forever grateful.

Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Yes, and this goes back to selecting the right brokerage. You want to be somewhere that has a solid training system and schedule for its agents. Also, we are so blessed to have access to the internet. We love YouTube academy. We have access to so many top-rated coaches that provide you with the skills that you need in order to be successful.

Some of our favorites are Ricky Carruth, Tom Ferry, Tim & Julie Harris among others. Once you are able to hire a personal coach, we recommend that as well. When seeking a mentor, work underneath someone who is where you want to be. So if you want to be in the luxury space, work underneath a luxury realtor or team.

In reference to networking, wearing clothing that echos that you are in real estate is a great conversation starter.
Become a real estate expert on your social media. Everyone you know is watching you. New people are watching you. It’s free marketing and you can reach people globally.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.TheReneauGrp.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/TheReneauGroup
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheReneauGroup
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCghOIIjSnhX2kpHZrDq1SXg
• Other: https://app.highnote.io/c/p/0bee3e59/why-the-reneau-group

Image Credits
Israel Quintanilla (Sky Media Photography)