Brittany’s Story Continued-

Because living off a service industry minimum wage forever isn’t ideal, I studied accounting at Virginia Tech, graduated in 2013, and started my career as an auditor with Ernst & Young in Washington, D.C. I was a fresh, new graduate working the demanding 12-hour days I was supposed to, taking on the high-profile clients I was supposed to, studying for the CPA designation I was supposed to attain, and working toward a life I didn’t necessarily want for myself. The cost of living in Washington was so high that I converted an apartment sunroom into a bedroom in order to pay the cheaper rent in the 2-bedroom apartment I shared with two girlfriends. And after one year of working, even with a competitive salary for a new graduate, I had no savings to show for it. Something had to give.

At my core, I am an achiever and a wooer (a people pleaser). When I Iooked back at how I had ended up at this place in life, I realized that it was after an accounting professor told me that I was really good at accounting and should consider it as my major, and I never questioned that destination. But I quickly learned that what you’re good at in life isn’t necessarily going to make you happy or fulfilled. After a while, you start waking up drained, living for the weekend, and seeing burnout on the horizon. 

My college boyfriend (cough, cough, Jon Brooks) began pursuing an investment banking role in Jacksonville, Florida, and when he asked me if I would move with him I thought he was absolutely mad. Leave our family and everything we knew in Northern Virginia? Craziness! But here’s one thing you will learn about Jon Brooks: his passion is infectious. He knew I was in a tough spot with my then-current job and life situation, and helped me realize that I had nothing to lose. If everything failed in the sunshine state, we could always come back home to Virginia. My accounting firm was willing to transfer me to an office in Jax, and we had just endured a really bad Washington winter, so the Florida sun and beaches were calling my name. Jon’s vision won me over (this will be a trend to come), and in September 2014 I packed all my belongings into my 1996 Isuzu Rodeo and drove to a new life in Jacksonville, Florida. 

In February 2015, Jon and I purchased our first home together. After a tough transaction process, that we eventually took over ourselves, Jon decided to make the move to real estate. Once again, I thought he was mad. Leave a lucrative banking career to be self-employed as a real estate agent?! I gave him 6 months to make money or he would need to go back to Corporate. We had bills to pay, including a new mortgage, so, as they say, “Ain’t nobody got time for that.” I also made a career change and became an analyst at a local investment bank; I grew to love the job. After a fun year that included getting engaged; adding our rescue dog, Thunder, to the family; growing in our new job roles; and Jon changing brokerages, life was getting spicy. The real estate business grew beyond what we had imagined and Jon started tapping my shoulder to join him.

There was no way I was going to leave a stable job that I loved going to every day. I couldn’t imagine walking away from all of my hard work in school and abandoning the progress I had made in Corporate. I avoided the daily discussions about what it would look like for me on the real estate team and fought the vision. Plus, I knew there was no way the two of us, with our strong, opposite personalities, could work together without killing each other.

The breaking point came when Jon placed an online ad for a Buyer’s agent. The business had grown beyond his abilities to manage on his own, and he needed help. After reading the description and qualities that would make a successful agent, I knew he couldn’t hire anyone else -- the role was calling my name. I joined the team in July 2017, and in 2018, my first full year in real estate, I went on to help 66 families buy their homes. To add to the joy of 2018, we found out we were pregnant with our daughter, Evelyn.

We’ve never been strangers to hard work, but Evelyn’s birth on February 2, 2019, and the first year with her in our lives, tested us beyond imagine. We were naïve, first-time parents, and hadn’t planned appropriately… assuming anyone can plan for the impact of their first child. The lack of sleep, coupled with the demands of running our own business, drove us to a point where we had to pivot. For the first time, our personal priorities took precedence. Sure, Jon and I had a personal life before Evelyn came along, but our main priorities were business, business, and business. Since we had both committed to business as the priority, our personal lives were never at conflict with our professional lives. But once Evelyn was here, we started questioning whether real estate sales was still a possible path for us. Being on call and going on appointments in the evenings and weekends didn’t seem viable with a baby at home. We also had agents wanting to join our team, at a time when all we wanted to do was scale back and share this precious time with family.  

We never planned to open a brokerage. We spent a couple months figuring out what this season of life looked like for us. Do we go back to Corporate? Try to flip homes? Teach real estate at a local university? We broke out our handy-dandy whiteboard (everyone needs one) and began to sketch out a new vision. How could we continue in real estate, continue to serve Buyers and Sellers at a high level, and mentor agents to build their best lives and businesses? In addition, we realized that our then-current brokerage wasn’t providing much value anymore. So, we made our own.

At the inception of 2020, Momentum Realty was born.