One on One with Cynthia Ayers
By Gina Dostler
When Cynthia Ayers enrolled the youngest of her four children in school, she decided the time was right for her to start a new job. She knew the endeavor would involve the Laguna Beach community she had come to know and love. And Ayers realized most of her adult life involved real estate. She established Laguna Coast Real Estate, which thrives on cooperation with moms just like her.
Q: How did Laguna Coast Real Estate come into being?
A: Back in 2005 when I decided to dust off my broker’s license I wanted to create a boutique-style real estate company that would take advantage of the new digital frontier. Having become fully integrated in all aspects of the Laguna Beach community, my approach to growing the company would be one that reflected the unique character of the community itself. I soon found myself being supported by other dynamic women that also happened to be juggling kids, sports and active lifestyles, who found they could do much of their work for my company from home or on the go.
Q: Besides currently being an all women team, how does your brokerage differ from others?
A: Today, Laguna Coast Real Estate is sought after for its impressive Rolodex of long-term, high-net worth clientele and our proven ability to deliver on both sides of a transaction. One of the most notable differences is that we tend to personally sell many of our own listings, largely owing to our repeat clientele.
Q: Does each person have a role or do they work independently?
A: My agents function both independently and fluidly with the team, allowing us to take a more collective approach. This more organic structure tends to foster cooperation over competition and assures a more personalized experience for all concerned.
Q: How has cooperation over competition helped your company grow?
A: I think it starts with us as being a boutique real estate company. I originally came from larger companies, such as Remax and Fred Sands Real Estate, where basically everything is goal oriented and it’s all about the bottom line. The whole competition thing isn’t really our focus. We sell a lifestyle so I want our team members to also feel they have a life. They absolutely deserve to go on vacations, or work as many hours as needed for them. Because we are a team, we help each other out. Like last year, I went to New York on a theatre trip with my kid’s school. I was on the phone working, but had the girls back home helping me with the stuff I couldn’t do. It is about working together to introduce our clients into an amazing coastal community where we mainly focus on Laguna but certainly go up and down the coast.
Q: What type of lifestyle do you sell?
A: We provide a service to the community, help customers find their home where they can raise a family in a wonderful community. We live and are involved in the city of Laguna. We introduce people to the schools, take them to the festival, and introduce them to friends and neighbors. We don’t just shut the door after we finished a transaction. It’s our goal to integrate them successfully into the community. It’s so successful that most end up as our long-time clients, and some have even become friends.
Q: How did you start?
A: I started in real estate development when I was 19 years old, working for the Tannenbaum family in Toronto (one of the largest commercial development companies in Canada). A few years later, I found myself working for the Konheim Brothers in Beverly Hills. I soon realized I preferred residential real estate and joined Fred Sands, where I worked primarily in administration and corporate, learning a great deal about real estate from Sands, training new recruits.
Q: What prompted you to become an agent?
A: I watched the new recruits I trained go out in the field and pull down up to triple the salary I was making, which motivated me to secure my own license. Then I specialized in high-end, short-term leases that catered to celebrity clientele. While working with film stars and producers, I became intimately familiar with Hollywood’s iconic history-rich estates, which lead to my tenure at the American Film Location Company. This brought me to Laguna Beach looking for ocean front real estate for a film location and I knew this is the place I wanted to retire. Soon after getting my broker’s license, I met my husband, settled down to raise a family and we both decided Laguna would be a great location to live.
Q: How is real estate the perfect job for moms?
A: Real estate can be the perfect job for self-motivated moms because we are accustomed to multi-tasking and adapt to demanding hours and circumstances. Working moms have also been shown to be highly successful due to their resilience and can-do attitudes. Despite the real estate market collapse in 2008, when many other real estate agents were forced to look into another line of work, my small team persevered and was honored for top agent for luxury sales in the Laguna Beach area.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Cynthia Ayers, Broker
Laguna Coast Real Estate
Phone: 949.494.0490
Email: CynthiaAyers@cox.net
www.lagunacoastrealestate.com
