After a successful career sailing the seas as a professional mariner, Monet Yarnell pivoted to the real estate world where she now specializes in selling waterfront properties. The owner and founder of team Sell 207 is based in Maine and made $15M in sales volume and 35 transactions within the last 12 months. Her expertise in sailing has helped her guide her clients in picking out the right waterfront properties to fit their needs.
“When it comes to marketing the homes, I understand the unique features. I know the difference between having a dock that's tidal––where you can't necessarily have a deep draft boat at the dock––versus having a deep draft. Or, if you have a sailboat worth a quarter million dollars and you can't dock it at your house, that's a problem. These are all things that come into play.”
We sat down with Monet to learn about her real estate journey and what it means to her to make the switch to The Real Brokerage.
Q: How did you first get into real estate? What were you doing before that led you to start Sell 207?
I transitioned from being a full-time professional mariner in 2015. It's a very romantic career where you go out and sail the world. But after a number of years of doing that, you start to realize that your home life changes because your friends are getting married, they're having their babies, and there's only so much that you can do to manipulate your schedule to accommodate that. So it's not really as romantic as you think.
I was very fortunate that I worked for some wonderful families in private yachting who had a background in real estate. Just hearing those conversations onboard the boat at 22 years old I understood that what my boss was doing wasn't at Warren Buffett scale. It was just a scale above where I'm at. So I think that it made me recognize that if he can afford to pay me full-time year-round to take care of his boat––and he’s in real estate––then I could be doing that.
Q: How did you build your team?
I got to a point where being the solo agent was just not sustainable, and I started to understand that in order to do more sales, I had to delegate things out. I knew I just needed help, but I didn't really know what that was going to look like. I ended up working with someone to sell their house, and after I sold her home, she was going through a midlife crisis and was like, "I think I want to quit my job and work for you." She started working for me a month after I sold her house. And then from there, I hired a buyer's agent.
Q: What’s your favorite part about the job?
Marketing is my favorite part of my job. I love helping people market their homes. Most of the time I see listings that come up, and there's just nothing special about them. So whatever I can do to make something special, that's when I'm happiest.
It’s a really exciting time because I'm finally being able to create the space to dive into our marketing and really tell the story of who we are in order to better attract what the next version of our team is going to look like.
Q: What made you decide to join The Real Brokerage?
I realized that I needed to think bigger in so many different ways. And when I started to think bigger, that was when Real was the clear choice for me––mostly because of the independence that I could give other agents who join me. My passion for marketing has grown since I’ve been in this industry, and Real has offered so many tools in that area.
But above all, it’s all about surrounding yourself with people that are doing what you want to do, and then also giving back. I love seeing people give back and to host a Zoom and say, "Let me tell you about my struggles and what I went through so that you don't have to.” That's where the community part was amazing to me.
For more information about Sell 207, check out their corporate website here.
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