Today we’d like to introduce you to Marc Johnson.
Hi Marc, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Honestly, it starts when I was in college in Troy, AL at Troy University. I worked in student housing apartment leasing at a complex called The Pointe at Troy as a way to help put myself through college. That’s where I first got the idea that one day I wanted to get into Real Estate. I wasn’t quite sure at the time of when that day would be but I knew that eventually would happen. While in college though I was pursuing a degree in Theatre & Dance with a minor in Broadcast Journalism and knew that is where my primary focus would be until such a time came where I felt ready to take that step into Real Estate. The story of how I got involved in Theatre & Dance is quite funny in its own right and I’d be happy to tell that to you but I’ll try and stay focused on how I got ultimately got to where I am today, which is Real Estate.
So, I graduated from college in the fall of 2015 and after that, I was trying to determine the next best step for me. I contemplated grad school for theatre, as I had auditioned for several schools. I thought about moving to Atlanta to pursue a career in film and television there. Ultimately, I took a different route, I was offered a seasonal position at Universal Studios in Entertainment and moved down here in the Fall of 2016. I’d like to give a shoutout to Phil and Joanna Crooms. They took me in when I first moved down here and treated me like a part of their family. I went to college with their daughter and they had an extra room at their house that they allowed me to rent from them. Which I wound up renting a little longer than any of us anticipated but who knows how my life here would have turned out without their kindness and generosity. Now as I previously said, it was a seasonal position, so I was going to fulfill my contract here while a buddy of mine got things situated in Atlanta for us so that he could pursue dance and I could pursue a career in film and television. Unfortunately, or fortunately for me, depending on how you look at it, Things in Atlanta didn’t pan out so when my contract with Universal was up, I had the choice to make of what to do next. Strangely enough, I had an audition for SeaWorld to do help open their Christmas event Rudolph and Friends, and the day of the audition I got a phone call from my old boss at The Pointe who was offering me a position in management to return to the company in Alabama. I vividly remember this to this day. I told her about the audition and said, “I want to see how this plays out. I put a lot of time and money into my degree and I don’t want to give up on that so quickly. So, if I get this job here at SeaWorld then I know I’m supposed to stay here in Orlando and pursue this career here but, if I don’t get the job then I will happily accept the leasing manager position and return.”
I wound up getting the job and I helped open Rudolph and Friends with Bumble and Yukon Cornelius in the Fall of 2016 followed by another twist of fate because about a month later I went on to meet my now wife at a movie-watching party held by some of our mutual friends at the time. So after that contract ended, I auditioned and started working in Entertainment at Universal Studios in 2017 as a Character Performer. Eventually leading me to audition for Disney and Royal Caribbean in 2017. I was offered Character Performer positions by both and was forced to choose between the 2. Again, I weighed my options. I felt that I had a built a good life here, I had an amazing relationship going, and 9 months away on a ship would be difficult for me because my grandparent’s health was declining and I didn’t want to take the possibility of something happening to them and me not be able to get home quick enough. So again, I choose to stay here in Orlando and this time to go work at Disney.
I worked for Disney from November of 2017 until the pandemic struck in 2020 ultimately leading to me choosing to take the lay off from the company at the end of the year. During my time with Disney, I was blessed to be able to do some truly amazing things thanks to my time in Entertainment. I was able to help open Galaxy’s Edge as well as Toy Story Land. I also got to be a part of shows such as Jedi Training: Trials of the Temple, Star Wars: A Galaxy Far Far Away, Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire, and Mickey’s Most Merriest Celebration.
In 2020 though, prior to the pandemic, I had started working on obtaining my Real Estate license. It wasn’t a snap decision for me or something I jumped into because I had too much time on my hands. I started seriously contemplating it around the end of 2019. I just wasn’t finding myself completely fulfilled in my work at Disney. I still loved what I was doing but there was just a part that was missing. I loved interacting with people, helping making their vacations as magical as possible, and being able to perform. Ultimately though, the part that was missing was the fact that it wasn’t “me” doing all of this. It was the character I was portraying at that given time. I saw Real Estate as that missing piece. The ability to me for people to truly see me as the person they were interacting with. To look at me and see Marc. I could interact with people as myself and do something that I had been wanting to do for years. I’ve always been a people person. I love making people happy. What better way of doing than helping people achieve the dream of home ownership.
Because of the pandemic, I was forced to wait to finish obtaining my license until the fall of 2020. I passed my class in March of that year, the week everything came to a stop. I was finally able to take my state license test in July of 2020 and I hung my license with EXP Realty in August. I was still employed by Disney during this time. They sent out an email to the cast members from Entertainment who were furloughed letting us know that we could come back to the company but that we would have to come back in a different department and wait until the company decided to bring entertainment back. If you were not interested in working in a different department then you would just be laid off at the end of the year. Naturally, I weighed the options and came to the decision that this was the best time for me to jump full-time into Real Estate. I’m very blessed to say that I’ve never done something that I didn’t want to do. To me, if I was being forced into a job I didn’t want and didn’t choose then where was the benefit in that for me. Money and job security sure but I wouldn’t have been happy and we only get so much time on this planet so why spend any of it doing something that doesn’t make you happy. So, I took the layoff at the end of the year and haven’t looked back since.
In February of 2021, I joined The Orlando Home Squad, a team within EXP Realty run by Mark and Sarah Raumaker, and that’s still where I am as of today. Since that point, I’ve helped countless people achieve their dream of homeownership. Some that I’ve known for a long time and others that I’ve only known a short while. I’ve met some amazing people and created lasting relationships through this business whether that’s fellow agents, my clients, or people that help the engine run like mortgage brokers, inspectors, title companies, etc.
It’s a long story but it’s my story. The story of betting on yourself, choosing to do what you feel is right. Trust yourself when your gut tells you to do something. I can only speak from my own experience but as you can see every time, I’ve made one of those decisions it led to great things in my life. The choice to move to Orlando led to the choice of returning to Alabama or staying. The choice to stay led me to my wife and the opportunity to work for some amazing companies and do some amazing things. The choice of Disney or Royal Caribbean again led me to the choice of staying which led to me getting to experience things in my life that some people only dream of. Now, it’s been the choice of leaving my comfortable 9-5 job to go full-time in Real Estate with the hope and dream that that choice will also lead to me being able to experience things in my life that people only dream of.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Haha no, certainly not. I wish I could say that it has. The pandemic being one key road block just because it stopped me from being able to get my license for so long. Then of course you have the regular roadblocks that starting any business has. Especially in regards to Real Estate over the last 2 years with construction delays, material costs, the insanely competitive market we have here in Central Florida, rising interest rates as of recent, the constant fear people have of 2008 happening all over again, and of course, there are just times where things don’t go right.
There are some not-so-obvious struggles as well like this year my grandfather, who was honestly my best friend, passed away in April at 88 and I had to travel back home to Alabama for the funeral and everything. It was so mentally hard to put myself back to work and to physically come back to Florida after feeling like I needed to be there with my family longer. That’s a personal struggle and people don’t really see those. I will say the clients I was working with at the time that happened couldn’t have possibly been more understanding and they’ll probably never fully understand the gratitude I have for them. Also, my teammates with The Orlando Home Squad were amazing and helped step in for me while I was gone.
I would honestly say though the biggest struggle/roadblock is just getting started in this industry. 87% of people fail within the first 5 years. There are roughly 30,000 agents within the Orlando metro area with more getting licensed by the day. Some that have been doing this for longer than I’ve been alive. So, to get people to put their trust in you to use you as their agent and then refer their friends and family to you afterwards when you are just starting out is a big hurdle. Making sure people know that you are all in on Real Estate. This is your full-time job and you take the responsibility of being the one to help them buy or sell a home seriously because as I said previously it is likely to be the largest purchase any person makes in their lifetime and that’s not to be taken lightly.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about The Orlando Home Squad?
As I mentioned before I’m currently with The Orlando Home Squad at EXP Realty! We’re known as the Superheroes of Real Estate and we specialize in Residential Real Estate whether that be buying, selling, or investing. The thing that I love most about our team is that over 95% of us used to be performers in some way, shape, or form. We have professional equity actors, equity singers, equity dancers, people who used to be on Broadway or do national tours, and people like myself who worked for the various theme parks. So, if there’s one thing you know you’re gonna get out of us, it’s a good time! We also each have our own little avatar, which is something that sets us apart from other agents. Mine is the Real Estate Rebel but we also have The Ninja, The Genie, The A-Lister, The Princess of Real Estate, and the list keeps going.
The team is based out of Central Florida but that doesn’t mean we can’t help you if you’re located elsewhere. We also have The New York Home Squad, The Louisville Home Squad, The Jacksonville Home Squad, and The Nashville Home Squad. If you are looking to buy or sell some other place though we have contacts we can refer you to all throughout the U.S. and I also have contacts in Canada, Mexico, Dominican Republic, and several other countries if you are looking to move abroad.
Our team had an amazing year last year and we are on pace for another amazing one this year! Here in Orlando, we helped families buy and sell over 180 homes last year and our goal is to help even more than that this year! For me something that I feel sets me apart from other agents is just my outlook on Real Estate. I personally believe that it doesn’t matter if it’s your first time buying a home or your 5th time buying a home. It should be special no matter what. You never know how hard someone worked to get where they are, how long it took them to achieve this milestone, maybe they grew up in an apartment their whole life and now they’ll be the first person in their family to own a home. You just never know people’s backgrounds or what they’ve been through up to this point. If they’ve bought multiple homes before then it’s my job to give them a better experience than they had previously. Buying or selling a home is a BIG DEAL and it can be stressful but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun and you can’t have a good time while doing it!
Things that we do that I believe others don’t is just the level of service we provide.
From the buying side – I’m there for every showing, and every open house, if you are an out-of-state buyer, I personally go do video tours upload them to YouTube and allow you to see the house from the comfort of wherever you are on your own time. I’m there for inspection, closing, you name it I’m there for it. I’ve assisted with things like water bills after closing or letting in a closet contractor to finish work on a client’s custom walk-in closets because they were in a different state.
From the selling side – We invest a lot of money and time into our listings which is why we’ve been able to get our clients the results we have. We take professional photography of all our listings with our amazing videography team at DeVore Design. We also do a custom video for every listing which is not something most people do. We’ve embraced social media completely, that video gets uploaded to our YouTube channel that has over 1000 subscribers. Then we run ads on social media advertising the listing video. We also have a highly effective pricing strategy when combined with our open house strategy and all of these things together provide results that make our clients quite happy. We welcome everyone to check out our reviews on any platform. Also, from a title standpoint, we have one of the best title teams in the business to see the deal through to closing.
Buying or Selling – We also have in my opinion, which could be biased haha, the best Transaction Coordinator in the business. She makes sure that nothing gets missed from contract to close. She stays on top of everyone and everything with constant communication and making sure everyone is on the same page when it comes to deadlines so that we can all reach the same goal. Helping the seller to sell their home and helping the buyer purchase that home.
Regardless of buying or selling though, I’m there for you from the moment we meet until forever. I personally get frustrated from the perception some people have that Realtors are like a used car salesmen where it’s just all about the sale. Just because I sold you a home or helped sell your home doesn’t mean we never talk again. I want to build a lasting relationship and if you need me, I’m there for you. So, if I can help you in any way, please reach out to me because I love meeting new people!
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
Outside of real estate, I’m an avid sports fan. Golfing and business meetings should always go together haha. I’m a huge fan of the Alabama Crimson Tide, the Baltimore Ravens, the Atlanta Braves, the Chicago Blackhawks, and the Boston Celtics. Fantasy sports are a big passion of mine. I play in several fantasy football leagues every year and have branched out into fantasy baseball and basketball in recent years. I consider myself to be a film and television buff. One of the things my wife and I enjoy doing most is driving out to Lakeland to go to the Silver Moon Drive-In. If you’ve never been I HIGHLY recommend it! I also enjoy making fun educational real estate videos for social media and spending time with my amazing wife Saylor and our adorable corgi Rufio. I’m always on the search for the best food in Central Florida! I particularly love trying different food trucks! The food is good and it’s an awesome way to support small local businesses! So if you have a recommendation, I would love to hear it
Contact Info:
- Website: www.marc.orlandohomesquad.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marcjohnson_realtor/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marc.johnson.336/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheHomeSquad
Image Credits
Real Estate Rebel Logo
Heath O’Brien
SMO Photography
