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Meet Jaime and Mike Mattson of One Source Realty Solutions in Rancho Santa Margarita

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Jaime and Mike Mattson.

Jaime and Mike, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Mike and I have very different paths to how we got where we are today. Mike went straight into the Marines after high school, while I went and got an aerospace engineering degree. After the marines, Mike worked in various retail companies and started to pursue his B.A in Business, with a focus in Real Estate and Marketing. He was working full time while going to school. He started out in Real Estate 11 years ago, but had to leave and go back into retail when the housing market crashed as he was married with a baby at the time and needed to have a steady income. I went to work for Boeing and pursued a Masters in Systems Engineering and an MBA. I also got married and had a son, while working full time and going to school. I bought my first home in 2001 and proceeded to sell and buy 4 more before I met Mike in 2010. We met on Match.com after both being separated/divorced. about 5 years ago, the collapse of the retail world resulted in the division Mike working for dissolving, but he got a great severance package so we decided to let him try his dream of doing real estate again. We live a debt free life, and so we allocated $1000, bought a printer to make our own fliers and he started working for a major real estate brokerage. He started with walking around about 200 flyers to the local neighborhood. We agreed that a percentage of sales would go back into the business and that we would grow slow and steady. During this time, I got really involved as well and 3 years ago I got my license, we also decided at that time to become partners in the brokerage that is now One Source Realty Solutions.

During these 5 years, we doubled our business every two years, Mike has expanded his walking to 4000 homes a month and we have really refined our business to differentiate us. Unlike the average agent that gives up a large chunk of their commission, we work for ourselves and use a large portion of what would normally go to a broker and instead use it to get our clients homes ready. This can include staging (both empty homes and using a designer to stage with the homeowner’s items), making repairs (by hiring contractors or in some cases Mike doing the work himself), getting the best photos and advertising like crazy on social media. We actually limit our number of clients to ensure that we give each one personal service where they get responses to calls, emails and texts within seconds. Our long-term goal is that not only Mike can do real estate full time, but I can as well. We even include our kids by having them help us hand our flyers and get homes ready for showing. In the next month we are also taking over the brokerage entirely under our new Corporation, Semper Fi Real Estate Services, using the DBA One Source Realty Solutions

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Nothing is ever a smooth road in Real Estate. It is a high-risk business that is very cyclical and even once you got the deal, doesn’t stop being stressful until you close. Mike and I are both less social than your average agent and although we are very passionate about finding people the best home for them, we don’t push ourselves on clients. I am also very logical and buying a home is very emotional, which can drive me crazy! It can also be very stressful when you go months without the income, which is why I still have a full-time job. Probably the largest struggle is the current change in how to advertise both yourself and the homes. The future is video and we are not huge fans on being front and center.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
Many agents get the contract signed, pushes for a quick close and moves on to their next deal, not always at their client’s benefit. We always make the client come first, even when it hurts us. During a potential listing appointment, we don’t just tell a client what their house is worth now, but what it would be worth if some improvements were made in some cases, we even take care of the work itself. We have managed and paid for interiors to be painted, new grass sod, housecleaning, designers, and staging. We even personally spent 3 days installing a kitchen back splash for a client that was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer before she finished the remodel and had to sell for quality of life reasons. We always find out what motivates our clients and for sellers we will wait as long as they want to sell, and on the rare occasion we will underprice a home because they want to sell fast. For buyers, we listen to their wish list and after a day of showings we know what they want so well that we can preview new homes so that they are only shown ones that we know they will like. About 50% of our clients find their home in the first two sets of showings, and we have even had a few find it the first day! We also like to give back and are having our 2nd annual toys for tots drive in Dec. Last year we donated a few hundred toys donated by ourselves, friends and families. We host a BBQ at our house and have Marines join us.

What were you like growing up?
Mike was the youngest of 7 brothers/step-brothers and learned early on to take care of himself. I got my first job when I was 11 delivering newspapers to earn money for contacts that I wanted. We both were “latch-key” kids that grew up with spanking and strict rules, but also both came from fathers with addictions. I was the classic school nerd and Mike and I both tended to have very few close friends. Where we do differ is Mike tended to be the one accepting the entry fee for the house party, while I never knew what a party was until college. Mike was both in Nebraska, moved to El Monte, Ca at a young age and went back to Nebraska for high-school. He always says that moving back was the best thing that ever happened to him. I was born and raised in Santee, Ca and my mom even still lives in the house I grew up in. Overall, we were both shy kids, but Mike was definitely less so then me. Mike played football, while I was into soccer.

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