In the Winner’s Circle with Nickie Jordan
From athlete, phys-ed teacher, VIP personal trainer and fitness consultant to investment property purveyor, broker, and Sotheby’s “concierge agent”, D.C.'s Nickie Jordan plays to win.
Though she’s only officially been an agent in the real estate game since 2014—subsequently earning her license in four different states afterwards (and still maintains those in DC, Maryland, and Virginia)—Jordan first splashed onto the scene some 20 years ago, gaining first-hand knowledge and “street cred” through her own investment deals and her extensive network of training clientele. Then and now, clients continue to rely on her sales expertise, tireless energy, and the cosmopolitan knowledge she brings to the playing field.
And it’s not hard to see why: this Real Pride Network member is a forthcoming, vivacious, quick-witted, superstar multitasker who’s ready to roll with the punches, play the offensive, and persevere like failure isn’t an option.
We caught up with Nickie to chat about her career path, character, and the quirks that keep her in a league of her own.
Nickie Jordan’s foray into the housing market began when she graduated college, started her over-a-decade-long teaching career, and promptly purchased her first place. A few years into her roles as phy-ed teacher and lacrosse coach, Jordan purchased an additional investment property, had a son (donor insemination before it was cool), and eventually transitioned from being a teacher to a full-time corporate personal trainer/fitness consultant who did real estate on the side.
Doing this all from Washington, DC. meant that Nickie Jordan’s clientele consisted of many international VIPs and esteemed individuals. As she puts it: “if you were a who’s who coming to DC interested in fitness/wellness, I was your point of contact”. Such connections “catapulted” her into her current network and drove her to make more ambitious moves in the market.
“I started buying and selling a lot of properties everywhere from the DC area all the way down to South Miami and along the coastline. Then 2008 hit and scared the hell out of me! Thank God I still had my “day job", because real estate became very precarious...I saw the bubble coming, that was fortunate, but scary nonetheless.”
A little shaken but ultimately undeterred, Jordan would continue to build up her name and credibility through both property investments and her RecFit fitness brand until the summer of 2014, when a dash of good-spirited competition between her and her son would officially pave the way for a third career changeover.
What led you to get your license?
I was living in Baton Rouge and doing the back-and-forth thing between Louisiana and Washington. Chase was a junior in college and he took a summer course so that he could have fun his senior year. When he finished that semester he said, “Mom, I'm gonna look like a loser, I don't have anything on my resume for this part of a summer!”. If you're from the DC area, you understand that everybody has to have this intense schedule. That’s also when I had been thinking about getting my license—as a lot of people do just for your own properties—and I knew that it could give Chase something productive to do.
I said, “Well, let's do that 30 day online class, and let's compete.” He went to William & Mary in Virginia, a highly academic school. Meanwhile I’m old and my brain is tired, so it was fun to compete against him. For 12 days we studied for this test together, I with my life knowledge and him with his fresh brain, and we ended up scoring exactly the same! We bonded with the proctor to tell us our scores, because I was going to take out a billboard saying I won and he was too, so they were quite entertained…it really became a competition. So we both got licensed. I was born for sales, so I immediately started making deals and was like, “Well, hell, maybe I could do this seriously!”. I then relaunched a brokerage firm down [in Louisiana] that a friend of mine held, and we combined to create Amelia Fine Properties. For the next two years I basically started from scratch and developed a brokerage firm in Baton Rouge, LA and then my license in DC was just held by a local small broker. At that point I started doing deals in DC, Maryland, and Virginia, doing real business in four states, and still running a training business...I left Louisiana a little over a year ago and signed with TTR Sotheby International Realty in Washington, and have since focused completely on the DC market—specifically the metro DC luxury market. It’s proven to be a very good choice for me because of the brand recognition of Sotheby's and working with international clients. It was a logical alignment.
I'm not surprised to be where I am. I wouldn’t have done it if I was going to be surprised. I knew who I had surrounding me, I knew the type of confidence people had in me, and that they were going to buy whatever I was selling because I deliver the type of service they expect.
Does your son still do it?
He’s a consultant and he lives in San Diego now. He held his license inactive for a year but never intended to do real estate, however he would be excellent in real estate because he’s smart, charismatic, and comparatively makes me look like a wallflower. He's brilliant. I remain hopeful that someday it'll be the “Jordan team!”
Tell me more about the crossover between your different careers and your business philosophy.
My network and my contacts came from my training business, I got the training clients because of my social circle. DC is in essence a small town, and you see the same people repetitively, everybody gets to know one another. I also had a real estate coach for my second, third year and part of year four. We concluded what really works for most agents—like flyers and all those traditional avenues for generating business—isn't something I've ever been comfortable doing, however real estate made me think differently. When I was training, every time people in Washington would see me they’d immediately feel guilty and say, “Nickie, I'm gonna call you”. I never did follow up calls; by the time you came to me, you were really serious about working out, but in real estate what I had to learn is you do have to follow up. Deals can happen with who's the most convenient at that moment, so staying present, dangling yourself in front of potential clients to me is incredibly important.
I don't cold call, I don't knock on doors, I don’t typically send flyers. I do social media advertising, but more importantly I give snapshots into my “real life” and my real world. People that follow me know I do real estate and I've gotten business that way, so that’s been effective. However the most effective, of course, is once you get in and you've done a great job for someone, they usually share you with their friends, and that's really been my focus: making sure people are very well taken care of, and knowing in turn they will refer you to their friends and network; it’s very organic and builds on relationships.
Real estate is so not what people think it is. We get asked every day, “Oh yeah, I want to get my real estate license...how do you break into a luxury market?”. Well, you don't break into a luxury market. You're either luxury or you're not, because it all comes down to how big your network is, and how much they are going to trust you with perhaps the largest investment they're ever going to make. When I got my license I'd already been doing real estate for ~20 years on the consuming end, so I knew what was involved and that it wasn't as glamorous as it looks from the outside. I was older when I started doing this full-time, so I already had a large network, .and people had watched what I had done in my own real estate investments.
What differentiates you from others in the business?
I would say access. I have spent a lot of time traveling: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Saudi, Jordan, and I’m fortunate to have access to that world differently than other people generally would.
What is your proudest moment?
Having my son. I was in my late 20s and did donor insemination before I had ever heard of anybody doing it—I just happened to have a great gynaecologist at the time that I had an open conversation with about the desire to have a child. He also happened to be a fertility specialist. It was meant to be! It wasn't without some test, but it was the best thing I ever did, he's remarkable. So my “proudest anything” will always come back to Chase, because he's turned out to be so compassionate. He's straight; when he was younger he was (apologetically straight). [Laughing] I was like, “That's okay! I want you to do you!”. But because of his life and his exposure, he’s very sensitive to differences, and as much as “we” have become more mainstream, we’re still not fully accepted.
When asked whether she’s confronted prejudicial behaviour and stigma herself, Jordan reports that as someone who came out at the age of fifteen, she knows what it’s like to be bullied for being gay. Though she tries her best not to alienate others (as she doesn’t believe in intersecting one's personal matters with their professional lives unnecessarily), she has seen a major deal fall through because of it.
Jordan took it in stride, and while it’s still a bothersome memory, she didn’t let the upset affect the way she does business.
Have you run into discrimination or prejudice because of your sexual orientation?
In Washington we live in this bubble up here of acceptance, but when I went to Louisiana everything was different. I had this pretty big property [I was listing there]. This couple was very Catholic and we had bonded—and again, I don’t always discuss my personal life. I’d poured a lot into the marketing, hired a woman that was a famous local photographer to do their house shots...we did this amazing artistic photoshoot and hosted this big party for an open house. Two weeks into it I got a call from her...she didn't say it was because I was gay, she just said they were changing their mind. I found out later that somebody told her I was gay, and not only was I gay, the photographer also was—but her photo of Mother Teresa hangs on the outside of the Vatican, that's why I even had this woman come do the photos, because they are both Catholic. It’s just one of them happens to be gay. The client signed with somebody else, (some straight person) a couple of weeks after ending my contract. I later found out that she found out I was gay and said she couldn't do business with me.
Is that a point of contention for you? How did you deal with that let down?
It makes me angry, but it also makes me sad. Especially because you form a relationship with your clients, and at that point we had become “friends”. I invested a lot more than a typical agent would invest into a project because I actually really liked them as people. I understood that they were Catholic, and I understood Catholicism... I was raised Baptist which is even more intense. It definitely takes you back to what it felt like in high school to feel that prejudice. In DC I've always been openly gay, I was the PTA president of my son's elementary school as an openly gay woman, so I had not felt an issue as a “grown-up” until that. I was very, very lucky—I think it's been easier for me. This is kind of where we talk about “privilege” and how people don’t always understand what that means. I don't fall into the typical stereotype of what somebody thinks of when they conjure up “lesbian”. Not that I hide it, I just am who I am, but it's not obvious to everyone initially, so I had not felt that type of discrimination and it brought back all those old feelings. I’ve lived a “big life” and am accepted in all social circles, but those moments take you right back to feeling what it felt like being bullied as a kid or denied something as a young person, which was uncomfortable.
After that I considered writing into my listing agreement (which some do) that If you break the listing contract, then you'll be liable for advertising costs...but that's not how I do business. It made me think differently for a second, but I ended up just continuing on my own path. It was just a blip on the radar screen. However that blip is always going to be a “blip”.
Do you have any advice for new queer agents?
My advice would be: if you can afford it, hire a real estate coach. They are great for accountability and making you think differently. Also align with somebody who you identify with and that you aspire to be. Most of us in the industry are more than happy to take somebody under our wing. I have mentored quite a few young people because I'm older in the industry even when I wasn’t officially licensed, but I've been in sales with my business for 27 years and that alone gave me a little more insight. Not to mention I started my own real estate business my second year in real estate...what the hell was that?! It definitely gave me a whole different perspective because I was now bringing in young agents and training them, and at that point I was only officially a year into it myself.
As Nickie Jordan recounts her journey, it becomes exceedingly apparent she knows how to handle pressure well: she readily juggles a multitude of tasks and time zones with the kind of confidence that comes from years of experience and personal insight into how she performs best.
“Needless to say, I don’t sleep...I didn't then. I don't now. I probably never will,” she admits.
“I have total ADHD. And I deal with several time zones, so right now I'm thinking in Middle East time, Singapore time, DC, and California. I never really know what time it is.”
It’s not that Jordan never takes time to relax. It’s just that she operates in a specific way because she knows where her strengths and weaknesses lie—something she recognizes as not always easy for everyone else to keep up with.
It’s also why the pandemic has provided an interesting opportunity to settle down in her home state with her two Bengals (Brinkley and Boca), take advantage of the captive market, kick back with some scary movies (her favourite genre), and cultivate new hobbies like painting, concocting craft cocktails, and planning colour-coordinated Croquet dates with her bubble.
What does a typical day look like for you?
Do as I say, not as I do! I literally sleep in two hour increments. If I get four hours collectively in a night, that's a big deal. For instance, I was on FaceTime with the Middle East at 3am this morning, and this client that I just had leave town is an American on the west coast, so I was sending emails back and forth with them and then following up with properties. Then I stopped everything and ate, did some art work and put on a movie at the same time. I'm not regimented in my schedule, I never really have been. Because I owned my own training business I would book on the hour, so I hate being subject to a timeframe...I might work for 24 hours straight, and then I might sleep a couple hours, and then do work for another eight hours. Not many people can get away with that.
I just roll with anything. I attribute that somewhat to my personality but also to athletics. I always played attack. I'm on offence. So when I know I need to bust a move, I'll make a move to goal and then everything else will fall in place around it. I'm always going to shoot, that's very much how I’ve run my life. It’s seemingly off-the-cuff, but I don't really have a schedule. I'm an all-or-nothing kind of chick...a loose planner. I know what the end goal is, I just don't really need to know the process. This is frustrating for my son who knows his next 40 moves. When we play chess, I win 30% of the time, but have 70% more fun. You can't predict the movement of somebody who doesn't know what their movement is!
I can understand how that would be good in real estate because things change on the fly so much
Yes, and nothing in real estate is guaranteed until that money has hit the account...don’t count your chickens before they hatch, because there are no guarantees. It’s not easy to get a property to closing, that's why the necessity for realtors will always be significant. I tell people all the time in training: anybody can lose weight, but can you keep it off? Therein lies the difference. Anybody can probably sell their own house, but can they get it to closing?
What are your goals for 2021?
To not get COVID. And I want to do a million this year in gross earnings.
How has the pandemic affected you?
This is the longest I've gone in my life without traveling! It gave me access to the same network I had, but a different vein of that network in a very intense way because we were all sequestered together. The pandemic actually brought some very big business to me that wouldn’t have happened had we not been forced to stay in. It's been really great because I had a captive audience, and they had me as a captive audience... so while it's been stressful as far as all the death and disaster that has surrounded us, it's also launched tremendous opportunities and time for self-reflection. Now I do art classes! I'm filling up those quiet moments with learning a new skill.
What kind of art have you been doing?
I’m doing oil painting and drawing. It’s a teacher out of London—Clae Eastgate, this adorable gay girl, which has been very motivating! It’s all on zoom, and she is adorable but also happens to be an excellent teacher, because I'm not artistic at all. For somebody that's not an artist, it has worked a different side of my brain, and I'm now producing things where you can tell who they are. When you're really painting or you're really drawing, you're not thinking about anything else except “Is that eye really there? How far is the mouth away?” So that's been great for me because anything can burn you out, and real estate is intense. When you're dealing with the high net-worth client, they really believe that you only belong to them and that their deal is the only deal you're doing, which can be nerve wracking. I'm a former athlete and a former runner, and I don't exercise as much as I should now, so the art has been a nice outlet. At the end of the day you're producing something.
Do you have any specific travel plans for when things are more back to normal? Or any specific plans you've been holding off on?
Yes! Depending on how I feel after the vaccine, the following day I’m going to fly to the Middle East for a couple of weeks.
Business or Pleasure?
I have friends that are there, and this is the longest I've gone without seeing them because they've been stuck there and I'm stuck here. I've been there several times now—it's an awesome place to go. I’m just going to go be with them, go be with their family, and Sotheby's is there…I may have some referrals for there. When you're in real estate, and sales in general, everything is business. So it's pleasure, but my pleasure is my business and my business is my pleasure. Your personal and business world really overlap a lot.
What are your favorite spots/hidden gems in Washington?
We have a lot of green space in Washington and hiking trails...some are off the beaten path that people don't necessarily know about. Georgetown, which is where I live, is very historic. It has this cool waterfront with all these fun restaurants—you can eat in 85 different countries’ cuisines here. You could eat in a different country for a few months and not repeat the same country. And because we have all the embassies, if somebody is in town I would say: take time to set up a tour through some of them. There’s so much to do in Washington, and because it's federally funded, it’s free. Like museums. That's what I would do: go to happy hours at the museum and stuff like that.
My favorite thing to do is to go down to the mall, which is where the monuments and all the memorials are, and just walk. I do it almost on a regular basis. Now we're about three weeks out from cherry blossom season, so this city turns pink. If you ever have a chance to be in DC at the end of March/early April, definitely do it. I've traveled most sections of the world, and DC is still my favorite place.
Finally, when it comes to the change makers and charities she feels most passionate about, Jordan discusses the importance of having strong women role models and supporting those in your own community through mentorship opportunities. Though the last year has made it tough to connect with others, she’s excited to get the ball rolling again once some degree of normalcy returns.
And until then, Nickie Jordan will continue to keep her head up and keep going for gold.
RPN has a focus on philanthropy. What cause is close to your heart and/or deserves more attention?
I’m most passionate about children's organizations and the humane societies—I’ve done a lot with humane societies in general as far as donating time and money, as well as human rights with a focus on women and young girls. I’m involved with several organizations here that do mentor programs, and I look forward to restarting that in the next six months. Animals, children, and women and girls are really what gets my donating dollars.
Who do you look up to?
I am a big fan of Hillary Clinton, I think she’s lived a life of public service and she really got shafted. Kamala Harris is on my radar screen. But if you ask me to look at somebody right now that I really admire, there’s this female ambassador…she’s actually younger than I am so it may sound weird to say, but I look up to her. She’s an old soul with a lot of intelligence and compassion. She does a lot for empowering and educating women to be fiscally responsible, and she does a lot of philanthropic endeavours that people don't even know about, so if I have to think of somebody I admire presently, it would be her.
2020 was an extremely challenging year for reasons spanning from economic anxieties and uncertainty about the future to sociopolitical relations and injustices. What gives you hope moving forward?
Joe Biden has given me hope. He would not have been my first democratic choice, but Biden in this administration has given me some hope as far as optimism for our country. He’s kind of like the grandfather that's coming in to clean up a little bit of a mess, and of course picking Kamala Harris and other diverse people for his team is great. Our current interest rates give me hope for a strong real estate market, I think we're going to continue with these kinds of low rates for at least a couple of years. People that weren't even thinking about buying something are buying things because it makes financial sense to do it.
Having a vaccine gives me great hope, although the variants have me concerned, but I think there's some light at the end of the tunnel. I really do just roll with everything from second to second. I live blindly optimistically, without even needing a reason to, because failure is not an option, so even any negativity is not really an option. Just breathing gives me reason to be optimistic.
Any last thoughts?
My advice to people is just don't get in your own way. Put one foot in front of the other, and just go for it. And again, know that failure is not an option. It's really about believing in yourself and knowing that if you're passionate about something, there's somebody willing to pay for it. I sold “time” with me for a long time, at a very high price, and people were willing to pay it, so if you really believe in your product—whatever that product is—somebody else will want it. Value what your product is and everybody else will, and surround yourself with people that remind you. I have a core group of friends, most are international, but we're tight. We've been together for a long time and do crazy shit together, and all of us support one another. So surround yourself with people that are positive and remind you how good you are and make you feel your value.
And just enjoy everything—give yourself permission to be DECADENT!
