10-08-2021 9:52pm

Jessica Broomhead is here to help you choreograph your next move

Jessica Broomhead at Baxter Preserve in North Salem. (Benjamin Allen / HudValley Photo)

Content from North Salem Post Studios

At age 4, Jessica Broomhead declared to her parents that she would one day become a professional dancer. By age 10, she was dancing upwards of 40 hours per week. In her early 20s, she had achieved her dreams, and was performing on professional stages all over the world. Today Broomhead is a North Salem-based real estate agent, helping people buy and sell homes. At first glance, those may seem likely wildly divergent careers, but for Broomhead they are complementary professions with no small overlap of core skills.

Four years ago, Broomhead’s husband Mark, who she met while working on international cruise ships, received an offer to transfer to New York for work. At that point, the couple had been living in Las Vegas for close to a decade and were ready for a new adventure. Broomhead had been maintaining a grueling touring schedule and was starting to think about her next act. What could she do career-wise that would offer more longevity than dance?

“It’s really tough to retire from a career like dancing. A lot of people struggle with it,” Broomhead acknowledged. She strategized about how to apply the skills she had developed as a performer and entertainer—perseverance, hard work and dedication, the ability to work with a team to orchestrate many moving parts into a flawlessly executed whole—to a new career. She also considered her interests: she loved unique and historic homes. Broomhead decided she would take a real estate licensing course and see where it would lead. The path that course has since led her down exceeded even Broomhead’s own high expectations for herself. Homesnap recently honored her with their “Fastest Growing Agent” award for 2021.

Ensuring a positive experience for buyers and sellers is both the challenge and the core value for Broomhead, and where she draws on her previous experience in dance. “There’s a lot that happens to make the magic of buying or selling a house occur,” Broomhead explained. “Just like I saw in my performing career, which is why my tagline is ‘choreograph your next move’. If it looks easy, that’s great. But the reality is that a lot goes into it behind the scenes.”

The behind the scenes of the real estate world, Broomhead says, is a 7-day per week job in which no day looks like the one before. “Nothing is typical in our business,” she emphasized. “We have to pivot eight thousand times in a day because anything can happen. You have to be creative, problem solve and think outside the box.”

To prepare for the unpredictable, Broomhead tries to keep her days as structured as possible. “I wake up, work out, have the coffee and try to be at my desk to start my day with follow-ups.” She answers emails that have come through overnight, checks out new listings and sends anything new and notable to her clients. From there, she may need to schedule a photo shoot for a new listing or begin work on any of the various marketing efforts that are necessary to build her brand and keep her name top of mind for potential buyers and sellers.

By midday, Broomhead is usually on the road to meet with a seller. She allots significant time for these appointments. “I really value spending time with the person to understand their motivations and what they need. That’s the only way to build the right experience for them.”

At the end of the typical workday, the second shift kicks in. Between 4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. – hours when office workers are typically off work and before the sun goes down – Broomhead is often taking buyers out to view homes or to accompany them on a home inspection.

By nightfall, the calls come in. Clients may be reaching out to Broomhead seeking assurances about their transaction. Buying or selling a home is one of the biggest transactions most people will make in their lifetimes. It’s a stressful period, and realtors often play the role of therapist, holding their client’s hands through the process and providing emotional support.

When Broomhead needs to recharge, she finds comfort in the home she shares with her husband and their two Chiweenies (Chihuaha-Dachshund mixes). The couple purchased an A-frame fixer upper in North Salem and have been working steadily to put their own stamp on it. “We’ve spent a lot of time with paintbrush in hand,” she said with a laugh.

Working as a real estate agent in a county in which the number of new listings has increased by 41% year over year while the average number of days on the market has dropped by 28% over the same period is frenetic, to say the least. Broomhead, though, is embracing the chaos as an opportunity to grow and learn. “Dancers especially know how to be put through the ringer and come out of it ok,” she said.

This content is paid for by an advertiser and published by North Salem Post Studios.