From One Woman with a Vision to 3 Offices and 70+ Agents: The Tashia McGinn Story

My name is Tashia McGinn, and I am the Broker/Owner of EXIT Prestige Luxury Realty in Biloxi, MS. I’ve been in real estate for 14 years, starting my career with Coldwell Banker in 2005. I joined one of the first EXIT offices in my state in 2007 right before the downward spiral of the economy. Given the times, I left EXIT in 2008 and opened my own independent brokerage. At the time, it was really the only option to survive the market, especially since our area was still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. Although I was only with EXIT for a short period, I remember travelling to Alabama and Florida for training, and I always left feeling so charged and inspired. I really enjoyed being a part of the company.

I operated my brokerage as a one-woman show doing rental management, HOA property management, real estate sales, and interior design. I made great money running my own business and doing a little bit of everything. After eight years of being spread too thin, I found myself no longer serving people; I was working for them, and everything I did felt like a job and no longer a passion. I entered real estate with the goal that one day I would have a brokerage where I could teach and train and give back to people and my community. I always felt in my heart that there was a greater purpose for my life and for serving people, and I knew it was time to give up doing 20 jobs to start following my dream of running a fully-fledged brokerage.

In my area, our market is primarily comprised of large franchise real estate brokerages. For me to compete, it was essential that I join a franchise, so I researched the options. It was important that I find a company that shared my values. My history and experience with EXIT put them at the top of my list, but I wanted to be sure prior to making my decision.

After doing my research, it was clear there was not a single company that embodied everything I was looking for more than EXIT Realty. My passion has always centred around serving people and I built my career on doing just that. Sure, it’s important to be profitable, but I’ve never believed in putting transactions before relationships or money before people. Therefore, I chose EXIT Realty. EXIT is a people-based company, and I knew that I could not only build a business based on this principle, but I could put my name proudly behind it.

In July of 2016, I purchased my first territory and was scared to death of all the unknowns that came with owning and operating a franchise brokerage. The fear and intimidation that came with this new transition in my career were laid to rest almost immediately upon attending Broker/Owner Training in Mississauga, Canada, two weeks after purchasing my territory. I met brokers from all over North America during EXIT’s 5-day training, and the entire EXIT Corporate staff, including CEO, Tami Bonnell, and the Founder of EXIT Realty, Steve Morris. Every single person I met genuinely took the time to calm my fears and lend me a helping hand, not only then, but now as well.

I knew from being with EXIT in 2007 that I would develop great friendships with other EXIT brokers and agents, but I never expected to be welcomed with open arms by the entire company from the ground up. After returning home from Broker/Owner training I had a clear vision of what I was going to put in place to help grow my brokerage, how I was going to do it, and my “WHY” behind it. I left Canada with a large book of knowledge and five pillars of success.

One of the most valuable things I learned from EXIT is that office culture is one of the most fundamental and essential aspects of running a successful brokerage. I built my EXIT brokerage on this principle. I made sure that every person introduced into my brokerage understood and adopted the culture that EXIT embodies. There are very few brokerages that promote a family environment; many encourage a competitive environment, pitting agents against each other with a premise that it will boost production. In my eyes, this approach puts money over people, not the success of their agents over the closing of transactions.

Every agent introduced into my brokerage knows that the environment they are being exposed to is focused on their success and that we as a company believe in them. When joining my brokerage, agents are getting a family environment and the support they need, and everything else that EXIT Realty provides becomes icing on the cake. Under the leadership of EXIT Realty, I have been given everything I need to compete in my market and all the necessary tools to help my agents become successful. From the beginning, I hit the grown running, and in no time, I went from working by myself to leading a full team of agents.

In 2017, I lost my beautiful mother to cancer. This was an incredibly difficult time for me. Mom and I were so close, and I was completely devastated by her passing. I’m not sure that I could have found the strength to push through the pain and hurt that followed her passing without the support and compassion of my family, friends and my extended EXIT family. Looking back, I’m still in complete awe of all the letters, cards, flowers, messages and phone calls that I received from my EXIT family all over North America. It still brings tears to my eyes to think about the love and support I received.

Following the passing of my Mom, I was motivated more than ever to continue growing my brokerage, serving my agents and making my Mom proud! Prior to my mother’s passing, I was extremely impressed with EXIT Realty and everything that it represented, but it was during one of the most devastating times of my life that I truly saw the company’s empathy, humanity and heart.

I now own and operate three offices in three separate territories, spanning from state line to state line. I have gone from being a one-woman show to leading 70 agents and counting. Currently, our brokerage has the highest agent retention rate in my area, and we are ranked in the top 10 in production among 432 registered brokerages. To say I’m proud of my team would be an understatement.

Looking back, it’s hard to believe that I started this venture with just myself, a vision, and a whole lot of love and support from my EXIT family. My life is forever changed because of EXIT and I know emphatically that EXIT has developed me into becoming the best version of myself. I am forever honored and proud to be a part of the company and the EXIT family.