2. COVER STORY
20 LAS VEGAS AGENT MAGAZINE | September/October 2014
urrounded by vision boards,
child size furniture and a
plaque naming her Chief
Visionary Officer from
Who's Who, Brandy White
Elk, founder and owner of
Innovative Real Estate Strategies,
epitomizes what it means to have
“heart.” While she runs an extremely
successful business, Brandy knows
that family is the most important part
of life. Her parents divorced when she
was young and with circumstances
as they were, she had to grow up too
fast. Because of this, she wanted to
make sure that she was around for
her children to give them a stable
childhood. She makes sure that she
is out of the office by 6 pm every day
and doing something with her family.
She, along with wife and Director of
Operations Terri, are expecting their
second child this month, a little girl
who will be named Rainha. Their
first, a 4 year old son named Rohan, is
already showing signs of being quite
the little motivated and progressive
thinker. Spending time at the family
business often, Rohan gets lots of
attention from staff and work family
as well. “This child knows how well
he’s loved!” Brandy laughs.
Innovative Real Estate Strategies
opened its doors in 2008 and espouses
a culture of bringing back the human
element. “We are a big family. We
Family
IT’S ALL ABOUT
At home
or at work,
Brandy
White Elk
has a heart
for inspiring
others
S
3. September/October 2014 | LAS VEGAS AGENT MAGAZINE 21
do events together, charitable causes,
work on creating and achieving goals
together.” Brandy describes herself
as a compassionate, hands-on leader
who inspires her team to excel while
still upholding the highest morals.
She places a very strong focus on a
well-rounded life. “I care about their
families, spiritual development,
personal development, and business
development.” This being so integral
to the company culture, Brandy has
learned to “hire slow and fire fast,”
looking for agents and employees
who are all in alignment, do good
business and treat people well. White
Elk laughs, “It’s weird because I had
a truly difficult, yet humbling time
trying to find the right assistant.
This was a huge lesson for me, to
understand what I really needed in an
assistant. After hours spent dissecting
this with my Business Coach, I
have a much better direction. I've
been terrible at hiring an executive
assistant for myself. What they write
and what they say most often do not
match their actions.” She places “the
right fit” above a stellar sales record
when hiring agents. Most companies
look to see how many transactions
they’ve closed. “I can build that. It's
more important that they can handle
the culture, be happy and be nice;
we are all a part of the team.” There
are several individuals working for
Brandy who are the heartbeat to her
company. “If they chose a different
path, it would be like ripping an
umbilical cord out. They have the
same heart, drive and compassion.”
She is energetically sensitive to the
people she chooses to be around.
Says Brandy, “You are most like the
ones you surround yourself with and
it’s paramount to be around positive
people with the same goals and morals
as you.” Brandy has also consulted
with many Business Coaches & Feng
Shui practitioners to ensure that the
office is an optimal, positive and
abundant environment.
“Most brokers don’t reward agents
and push them up. They just do sales
meeting with, ‘these are numbers,
get out there and sell’.” While there
is a mandatory meeting for all staff
members Wednesday mornings
from 9 to 11 am, the goal is to foster
teamwork and inspire her employees
and agents to have full, abundant,
and inspiring lives. For the first 15
minutes of their sales meetings, she
plays Baroque music and “Team
IRES” writes down their family,
spiritual, personal and business
goals for the week. After that, it's
on to “Happy Things” to inspire the
team. She then teaches something
to improve their business such as
the art of negotiation or how to be
a Rainmaker before segueing into
required broker updates. Each team
member is then encouraged to share
their “Ah Hah!” moment for the day.
Borrowing from a Mastermind
Training she attended, Brandy shared
a video about Aaron Rallston, the
hiker who fell down a rock quarry
and had to cut off his own arm to
survive, in one of her meetings. The
video had both men and women
openly weeping and reminds her
team that nothing they did today
could be as bad as cutting off their
own arm to survive. It's become a bit
of a joke around the office. “When
something bad happens, I remind my
employees that they don’t have to cut
off their arm today; so it really isn’t
that bad.” She refuses to let them
dwell in a bad state of mind or to
create a negative environment. “Live
inspired. If you are in here, you don’t
have a choice.” Team members are
rewarded for their positive attitude
and their hard work. Brandy recently
paid for 6 staff members and agents
to go to Hawaii after winning a
contest they all worked very hard
to achieve.
Originally from Klamath Falls
Oregon, Brandy considers herself a
“very hardworking and authentically
compassionate woman.” She
attended college in Eugene, Or
and Sacramento, Ca, earning her
Associates degree and then moving
to Las Vegas in December of 2000.
“I felt my marriage coming to an
end and moved to Vegas because I
needed a fresh start far away from
the pain.” Thankfully, she earned a
great last name, White Elk, out of
the whole experience. She got an
inspiring start in Vegas, only to get
a severe knock down, like many, by
the real estate market, which spiraled
into losing practically everything.
“It’s a very cleansing lesson when
you lose the life you’re accustomed
to. I learned to live below my means,
appreciate, not overspend and save...
save… save for the future.”
Brandy got started as a Realtor in
2003 after a bad experience with her
own home purchase. She describes
driving around with 3 different
Realtors, one who was smoking in
the car, a woman who had her 4 kids
screaming in the back seat and a man,
“just being an ass.” “If you guys are
the representation of agents, I feel bad
for me as the client.” She asked each of
them how much they made in a year.
When the answers ranged from 100k
to 300k, she knew she’d found the
right industry. Completely disgusted
by their lack of professionalism and
education, Brandy vowed to enter the
business and outperform these so-
called professionals. So she got her
Real Estate license and started selling.
Her first real estate job was with
Coldwell Banker. “Bob and Molly
Hamrick’s amazing training helps
put newbie’s on the fast track to
success and helped me get my
brain where it needed to be. They’re
great brokers and mentors.” She
learned ways to be successful in
the business but felt as if she was
ready to make a change and learn
new lessons. She went from broker
to broker trying to find a business
culture that would inspire and lead
her in the right direction and the
kind of success she yearned for.
When short sales started stirring
in 2005, Brandy personally felt
the pain of owning a home that
was significantly upside down, but
gained the tough understanding of
what decisions she, and others were
now forced to make. After much
research, trial, error, and some
success with short sales, Brandy
began her quest to help as many
families as she could get through
this process with the least amount
of stress, and hopefully, the success
of a full release of the mortgage
deficiency and lien. She started
door knocking in neighborhoods
and reaching out to families in the
valley who needed this help. “I was
in the trenches with the families I
served day and night, fighting with
the banks to help these families.”
She started Innovative Real
Estate Strategies in 2008 and
became a crusader in short sales.
“I cared about the people and
[ Cover shoot done at Clark County Wetlands Park ]
4. 22 LAS VEGAS AGENT MAGAZINE | September/October 2014
about rebuilding their financial
wellness. I sat across kitchen
tables and shared their emotions
internally because I had personally
experienced their pain.” Brandy
and her team were relentless in
their daily fight for justice for
their clients. “It wasn't just about
putting a sign in the yard to get the
buyers.” Brandy developed a short
sale team, 2 transaction coordinators
and 3 people to do negotiations,
who approached these transactions
like she did, with compassion and
conviction. “So many agents would
just kick people out of their homes.
I got people cash for keys. I would
drive them to China and back to find
them a home. I just wanted to get
their short sale approved before the
bank foreclosed.” Her team would
work on BPO's and have 120 short
sales and 80 REO's at any given time
during the hay day.
Innovative Real Estate Strategies
(an LGBT and DBE certified
company) now handles property
management with over 250 accounts
and flip properties, a process that
Brandy is personally (and physically
involved in). She spends part of her
days inspecting auction properties
and managing the processes from
original acquisition through the
rehab process & to a successful
close of escrow. “I’m in the trenches,
getting my hands dirty and cleaning
up neighborhoods.” This gives her
the opportunity to give back to the
community and “pay it forward,”
donating hundreds of dollars worth
of furniture and fixtures each week
that she finds in these flip properties
that are purchased at auction. “So
many times, we try and donate items
to some local charities and they
won’t take them. It breaks my heart
because there are items that families
in hard times could really use, it’s
repurposing in the ultimate good.”
At times, other things are left behind
that aren’t appropriate for donation
like a family member’s ashes or old
pictures or coins. When that happens,
Brandy does her best to find a living
relative to give the legacy to.
The company culture calls for
connecting with people on a human
level. They create face to face
relationships with handwritten notes,
phone calls, and popping by to say
“Hello, How are you? We organize
client appreciation picnics and family
holiday parties as a company to show
our gratitude for their love, support and
referrals. We try to capture ’living the
good life’ during our events, by having
a photographer and videographer
present, recording our families coming
together.” Another purpose of these
events is to support charitable causes
such as Toys for Tots, AFAN, US
Veterans, and Three Square Food
Bank. “Often, we try to package up
these happy moments and give these
memories as gifts to remember the
good times,” says Brandy.
“I can’t see myself anywhere else,”
Brandy says of both her company
and wife Terri. The two met when
Brandy was 3 months pregnant
with Rohan. “The universe cleaned
the negative people out of my life
and brought Terri in. She brings
amazing balance to everything.”
Terri started as the receptionist
and took over the front office, then
took over REO accounts and all
operations. The personal relationship
evolved organically. “She became
my best friend on the planet.” They
were already running the business
together, then living together and
then, they became a couple. “Terri
is a force of nature. To be with
someone 24/7 and not want to kill
them is a big deal. She's an amazing
woman with a kind heart and the
yin to my yang.” Brandy describes
a scene from the movie Up. “I'm
the house with the balloons, she
keeps me grounded.” They’d been
talking about having another baby
for quite some time and Brandy
always wanted Terri to experience
the miracle of creating new life.
The pair believes strongly in the
power of manifesting, writing and
posting goals around the house and
office as a reminder of our “WHY.”
“Terri calls me her Florida Orange
Tree and a Master Manifestor.” So
what does Brandy want next? Now that
her property management and auction
platforms are running smoothly,
REO’s are picking up and short sales
are still trickling in, Brandy wants to
shift her focus. “After so much time
spent building a business, I want to
get back to having a connection with
the families I serve.”
In the next 5 years, Brandy’s goal
is to enhance the culture at IRES and
to grow the company and multiply
its production rate by 3. She is also
focusing on building her luxury,
traditional sales and investment
departments. By growing the
company in this capacity, it will give
Brandy the opportunity to step back
and spend more time inspiring and
leading Team IRES. Brandy hopes to
find an amazing assistant who has a
strength in marketing, and to recruit at
20 to 30 more agents whose goals are
to grow within a company of strong
core values, with a positive successful
culture and compassion for others.
This will free up her time to become
a bigger part of the community and
give more back to families in need.
However, the first order of business
is putting a crib in the office.
TOP: Client Appreciation & Three Square Food Bank Drive
Picnic. BOTTOM: Aids Walk.
‘‘After so much time spent building a business, I want to get back
to having a connection with the families I serve.
‘‘
Brandy and the whole Innovative Real Estate family can be reached at www.IRESVegas.com or call 702.478.2242