Top-producing Realtor Janell Bryans’ skill set includes dedication to a client’s goals above her own; excellent listening and communication ability; up-to-date market and financial knowledge; curiosity about people and the aptitude to find common ground with just about anyone; systematic and organized methodology; and honed negotiation skills. But houses – homes – are not widgets; there is an emotional element to the sale or purchase of a home that places the transaction outside the parameters of normal sales transactions. And that’s where Janell excels.
A Houstonian since 1972, Janell graduated from Houston Baptist University with a double major in accounting and finance, and later earned an MBA from St. Thomas University. Her prior career in energy industry tax and regulation equipped her very well for the business side of real estate: crunching, comprehending and explaining the numbers, and understanding, preparing and negotiating contracts. However, Janell places as much emphasis on the emotional element. “I work with first time buyers who do not have any idea how the process works and need a lot of hand-holding, to the more experienced buyer who just wants the transaction accomplished with minimal disruption to their life,” Janell says. “I have made wonderful friends while helping clients sell a home they have cherished or purchase a home they really love. I love it when we’ve closed and my clients say, ‘Can we still talk on the phone once in a while? I feel like we’ve become friends.’”
Janell understands that sometimes sellers may want or need to sell their home for excellent reasons but, emotionally, they are torn; she knows that a seller’s pride is often wrapped up in their home; and she knows how to explain to a seller that their home must look and be as perfect as they can make it in order to gain the best possible sales price in the shortest time. As for buyers, Janell understands that they are probably making the largest investment of their lives when they purchase a home; she ‘gets’ the stress of moving, whether it’s two miles or 2,000 miles, and is aware that the real estate transaction is only a part of the stress; and she works hard to make buyers comprehend that there is far more to a purchase than just a good deal.
When not working, Janell is very active within her community. She is a resident of Lazybrook and serves as membership chairman of the Lazybrook Civic Club. Although Janell confesses to” not being a very good gardener,” she also belongs to the Lazybrook Garden Club. “I love to read fiction and recently have learned to knit – and I’m trying to make more than just scarves,” says Janell. “I walk regularly in my neighborhood and am now taking piano lessons!”