Arsenio Richardson is a realtor for Keller Williams.
Originally from Minneapolis, Richardson’s childhood was not without adversity.
“I got in trouble a lot,” he says, so his mom sent him to a school in Kansas for one year.
When he came back, he left Minneapolis and moved to St. Louis Park.
“It was a culture shock for me,” Richardson says of the shift out the urban environment and into the suburbs.
“I actually hated it at first.”
But eventually Richardson grew to enjoy the stability offered by the Twin Cities suburb.
“As much as I love North Minneapolis, it wasn’t the place for me to be forever,” he recalls.
In high school, Richardson stayed with his basketball coach, which back in the early 2000s, was less common than it is today.
A standout on the gridiron, after high school, Richardson immersed himself deeper in the Midwest, enrolling at the University of Nebraska Omaha.
“While I was in school, they discontinued our football program in order to move up to Division-I,” the former running back says.
Not wanting to wait to further showcase his ability to terrorize defenses, Richardson transferred to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
As a member of the Falcons, Richardson was coached by Kalen DeBoer, who is now the head coach at Alabama, perhaps the most prestigious football program in the country.
“We had a fantastic coaching staff in Sioux Falls,” Richardson mentions.
“They were hard on me, but they taught me so much. Looking back, I was very fortunate because I learned how much work was needed to achieve my goals.”
In addition to learning the importance of consistency and hard work, Richardson also met his future wife, a talented athlete in her own right.
After graduation, they moved to the Twin Cities, but it wasn’t until the COVID pandemic struck that Richardson even considered getting into real estate.
Amid the chaos and uncertainty of 2020, Richardson was furloughed, and he suddenly had an abundance of time on his hands.
“I wasn’t working, but I was getting paid, and it was weird because I was making more money than when I was working,” he explains.
“Being at home for so long, I was getting flooded with people telling me I should be a real estate agent. At first, I wasn’t interested, but then I decided to try it out.”
To get the process started, Richardson took online courses that inundated him with a wealth of industry knowledge, and soon he was a licensed real estate agent in Minnesota.
Taking classes online may have felt arduous, but that was only the first of many challenges the Minneapolis native would face.
“It wasn’t like anyone was going to hand me clients or business,” he says of those first few months in real estate.
“I had to go work for it.”
Cold calls, countless emails and texts, and after twelve months, Richardson didn’t have much to show for his efforts.
“That first year was tough because I was paying a lot of brokerage fees, putting in the time, door knocking, and handing out flyers, but I wasn’t really generating any money,” he notes.
Statistically, 75% of realtors would have quit after a year of minimal income, but Richardson endured, eventually landing a few deals that encouraged him to keep going, that occupational sustainability wasn’t as impossible as it might have once felt.
“Real estate is always going to require hard work though,” Richardson cautions.
“It’s rare that you’re just sitting at home and then someone contacts you and wants you to sell their house.”
That’s because it takes time for a realtor to ingratiate themselves to their market.
Few are going to trust an unproven realtor to transact their biggest asset, which simply means the onus is on the realtor to develop their expertise, even when opportunities aren’t readily available.
For Richardson, he understood the long game and never wavered from trusting the process, and over time his skills became more refined, more people learned his name, and then more prospective clients reached out.
“Once I saw that incremental progress, and that there was no ceiling or cap to how much money I can make, then I started to realize what was possible,” Richardson says, simultaneously making it clear that he has not yet ascended the proverbial mountain.
In many ways, he still has a long way to go before he will see the summit, but the path now is clearer, and less clouded with doubt and angst.
“Everyone knows a real estate agent,” Richardson says when asked to list the challenges with growing a real estate book of business.
“I’ve had to constantly showcase my value, and make it evident that I’m not just focused on getting deals done, but also on giving them a great service and experience.”
That desire to serve the denizens of the Twin Cities has also taught Richardson that even though he may want to help everyone, his energy is finite, and devoting too much of his time to the wrong clients can be detrimental.
“All deals are not deals that I want,” says Richardson, who understands the inherent value of a healthy partnership between agent/client.
“Sometimes it’s okay to pass on the deal if it is going to bring you a bunch of headaches, because contrary to what some might think, there are more important things than just money in this business.”
As mentioned, a positive dynamic between agent and client is crucial.
Not every transaction is over after a week, and sometimes homes sit on the market for months before a suitable buyer arrives ready to sign a contract.
Therefore, when you agree to work with a realtor, it’s wise to partner with one who has your best interests in mind.
“I’m a one-person team, so when a client works with me, they’re only working with me,” Richardson says, highlighting his unique value proposition.
“I’m taking all the calls, going to the showings, and doing the negotiations.”
For now, Richardson is that ace who can quickly assist his residential clients with just about anything.
Looking ahead, Richardson may delve deeper into commercial real estate, but one thing is certain:
He’s going to be around for a long time.
“I’m looking to make a move,” he says, perhaps something grandiose on the horizon.
“The more I get better as a real estate agent, the more realistic it becomes that I can do 40 deals in a year.” QS
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