‘We’re listening’
New metro-area Realtor president stresses member collaboration
To hear Jennifer Arsenault tell it, she came to Keller Williams Elite for the training and stayed for the company culture.
“I think one of my philosophies is that if I’m going to err, I’m going to err in favor of someone else,” she said at a home she has listed in Mesta Park. “And the Keller Williams belief system is very near to my own belief system and values, so I knew I could thrive there.”
Thrive, she has. As the 2018 president of the Oklahoma City Metro Association of Realtors, the 39-year-old Arsenault is not only the youngest to serve in the position, but has brought back the association’s monthly membership luncheons with gusto.
The first one in January, which featured developer Blair Humphreys and the Wheeler District crew, sold out. She hopes the magic will strike again in February when the group welcomes Dino Lalli, of “Discover Oklahoma.”
It’s all part of Arsenault’s plan to pull together real estate professionals to take on a landscape being reshaped by technology and the behemoths such as Amazon and Netflix that come with it. It’s a platform she calls “We’re Listening.”
It’s a tall order for an organization of about 3,400 Realtor and affiliate members, along with more than 5,600 members in its Multiple Listing Service, MLSOK. But then, that’s the point.
“We need to be more collaborative with other association members,” she said, “pulling them together to look at that white space of what’s not being
done but that the clientele wants and to be able to come together as an association to provide it.”
This means turning technology to their advantage.
“We’re very much in a now society, and it’s difficult for one person to be all things to all people with technology the way that it is,” Arsenault said. “So we need to be leveraging technology as a membership, not being afraid of it — embracing it.”
Leveraging technology, however, doesn’t mean leaving everything else behind.
“It’s still a relationship business,” she said. “We’re still social beings, and we have that interaction, the real estate negotiations and the emotions that are all involved. There’s still certainly a place for the real estate professional, as well as embracing technology and cooperation.”
And then there’s the flip side of technology.
“It’s made it very easy for us to become isolated because we work from home, or some agencies work in a cloud,” Arsenault said. “So you lose that cohesiveness, that cooperation that you need in order to cooperate and come together to make things change on the real estate scene for the consumer.”
Consumers, she said, are looking for a very interactive, very engaging experience.
“It’s difficult when you’re doing it with just a computer or a Facebook group. So this makes it easier because we’re social beings,” she said.
‘Sound, reasonable voice’
Arsenault has been with Keller Williams Elite, 5629 N Classen Blvd., for 11 years, becoming vice president and managing broker in 2015. From the start, she said she’s tried to lead her team by example even if that means occasionally heading into new and unexpected territory.
“I got involved in (the Realtors), really, as an example for my associates,” she said.
“It wasn’t something I would have sought out on my own, probably, but everything I’ve done in my career has been for the good of the industry.”
Arsenault has served on the Realtors’ board since 2016 and also has been treasurer, “so that’s kind of prepared me for this job,” she said. “I’m familiar with the financials.”
Arsenault is Oklahoman down to her bones, descended from Land Run pioneers who still have that land in the family. She and her sons Ryan, 17, and Corbin, 7, live on the west side of Oklahoma City.
Before joining Keller Williams Elite, she worked in property management.
“I loved working with the tenants,” she said. “You have the regular clientele, and you’re taking care of them.”
She finds herself in a similar position as a Realtor.
“The thing that I love about real estate is helping the homebuyers, helping them absorb the shock of the whole experience,” Arsenault said. “You’re always going to have bumps in the road, and helping them through that, to be that sound, reasonable voice, can make the transition less emotional. I love it.”