CHERYL SMITH
Real Estate Exec: Premier Desert
Properties
 There
are a lot of designations behind her name—CRB, CRS,
GRI, LTG, PMN, RRG—but that’s because continuing
education is a fundamental part of her life. With more than
30 years in Real Estate, Cheryl Smith has had plenty of time
to earn each meaningful set of letters, and her career has
benefited from all of them. “You don’t just get
designations for designations’ sake; you want to make
sure you’re learning from it,” she says. Each
one has helped her to keep on top of the ever-evolving market,
where the proverbial sands are always shifting. “This
isn’t the same Real Estate business I entered,”
she says. “It’s a changing industry in so many
ways. But I love the challenges and the nuances of our business.”
Staying on the ball may
be trying at times, but it’s nothing new to Cheryl,
who has the art mastered. Up until last year, she worked as
a corporate broker at Realty Executives, juggling the issues
faced by over 600 agents. “I was the troubleshooter,”
she says. “It was my job to try and prevent problems
before they escalated.” This was during a time when
the market was booming, which meant that Cheryl was required
to keep a level head in order to stay on task. “You
have to be able to be patient and stay calm in the eye of
the storm,” she says, “and speak to people with
respect.”
It doesn’t hurt
that she has some valuable personal experience, too—motherhood.
“Being a broker is like being a mom,” she says.
“If you’re a good mom, you’ll be a good
broker, always on top of things.” Her son Mitch graduated
from Green Valley High School and has since gone on to earn
his Ph.D., teaching at George Mason University in Northern
Virginia. His move from Nevada after high school prompted
Cheryl and her husband Tom to purchase a Realty Executives
franchise in Atlanta, in order to be a little closer to him.
But it became evident to Cheryl that Green Valley was still
home, and she eventually made the decision to cut the apron
strings and move back West. “My son was going to succeed
just fine without his mom moving across the country,”
she laughs. It was after their move back that she took the
job as corporate broker, spending five years in that demanding
position.
 These
days, Cheryl and Tom are the proprietors of their own company,
Premier Desert Properties—a small brokerage with only
a handful of agents and a “quality over quantity”
philosophy. Tom started it himself in late 2000 while Cheryl
was working with Realty Executives. “We’re like
a boutique company, geared toward experienced agents only,”
Cheryl says of the family business. “There aren’t
a lot of agents, but they have lots of experience—over
a hundred years combined.” Premier Desert Properties
doesn’t recruit agents. The agents approach them, and
must demonstrate an impressive knowledge of the market and
plenty of practice; no new-agent training, thanks. The goal
of Premier Desert Properties is not to become a big company,
says Cheryl, but to provide extraordinary service and hands-on
support from people who are familiar with each transaction,
rather than a horde of assistants and “middle men.”
Cheryl works as an agent
at the company. Despite the fact that Premier Desert Properties
has no inexperienced agents, Cheryl admits that she sometimes
feels brand new; after all, it has been five years since she
sold properties last. “I’m getting back in there,
out pounding the pavement, building a client base,”
she says. “I’m having to start from scratch in
the worst kind of market.” It would be a challenge for
anyone, even an agent with years of home sales under her belt
like Cheryl. But like riding a bike, she’s quickly falling
back into the swing of things, and overcoming the inevitable
obstacles with her trademark cool-headedness.
 In
the meantime, she continues to further her education—something
that, as long as those sands keep shifting, she will continue
to do. “One of the best things you can do for a client
is to be knowledgeable about the market,” she says.
At some point, she would like to work toward her CIPS (Certified
International Property Specialist) certification. Cheryl is
also eager to learn all she can about environmentally friendly
“green” homes, which she feels are going to become
increasingly more popular. “If I can learn about the
construction of a ‘green’ house, I can point those
things out to a client,” she says. And she keeps herself
in the loop by sharing knowledge and information with other
agents and brokers through her active positions in various
organizations such as GLVAR (Greater Las Vegas Association
of REALTORS®) and WCR (Women’s Council
of REALTORS®, for which she is the 2008 state
president).
Cheryl
Smith has worn many hats in the Real Estate profession—from
business owner to agent to broker to office-holder—and
each of them has contributed to the wealth of experience that
has made her a paragon of the industry. Still, she strives
for continued improvement, and urges others to do the same.
“Each of us should do what we can to better our profession,”
Cheryl says, and offers up a shining example.
Photography: Elisabeth
Libby
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