Welcome to the second installment of our Day In The Life Of… series. This week highlights seasoned Realtor Dale Loftis. We’ll begin as we always do with a little background into Dale’s life, pulled directly from his bio on our website.
Dale and his family (wife Christi, sons Grayson & Tanner) have been proud Fort Mill residents since 2001. Dale himself was born in Washington DC and lived there until the age of five, when his family moved to Lexington, NC – self-proclaimed BBQ capital of the South. He attended college at Appalachian State University and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications and Marketing. Married soon after college, he and Christi made the move to Charlotte and shortly thereafter chose to finally settle in Fort Mill.
Licensed in both North and South Carolina, Dale frequently hops the border lending his market expertise to buyers and sellers throughout the greater Charlotte region.
The following are excerpts in real time as Dale documents a “typical” day in the life of a Stephen Cooley Real Estate Group Realtor.
Dale’s Day 8/19/2016
2:33 AM – Middle of the night – restlessness has me up watching Wall Street on TV. #MiddleAgedIssues. Great 30 year old movie from Charlie Sheen’s better days. Get through about half before it does the trick and gets me back to sleep mode.
6:30 AM – Up for a bit, catch up on news, breakfast with Tanner. Clean up emails on phone – delete 64 that have been handled.
7:20 AM – Christi (AKA Better Half) leaves with Tanner for school. Help pick up, get myself ready, and at the last minute remember to take trash to curb – just barely beating the garbage truck.
Head to our Fort Mill office.
8:30 AM – We have 2 offices, I generally report in at our Gold Hill Rd location in Fort Mill. Spend a few minutes checking in with team members and dive in.
8:47 AM – This summer has been busy for Real Estate in the Charlotte Area. Very, VERY busy. Structure my morning to focus first on Homes Under Contract. Review with Closing Department and back office team that every deal is moving smoothly towards its closing date.
9:45 AM – Contract Negotiation. Working with a younger family; First time buyers. Hoping to have offer on Rock Hill townhouse accepted. Goal is to make the deal a “win-win” for all parties involved. Stay tuned…
10:18 AM – You’ll see this in every agent’s journal. I hope anyway. Most important part of the day: calling, emailing, texting, Facebook messaging – past clients, home owners trying to sell FSBO (For Sale By Owner), owners of expired listings. A huge part of the job is talking to people that I can help. Reaching out and making a connection. Lead generation. Cold calling. Whatever it takes to find people that need us to assist in buying or selling a home. 3 hours a day – Everyday – so I can connect clients to their goals and feed my family by doing so.
12:30 PM – Team lunch provided for us by one of our preferred vendors. Thank you Tracey Reynolds!
1:00 PM – Final prep for a 2PM closing. Everything looks good, buyers are EXCITED to say the least. Sidenote, townhome deal still being negotiated. Pushed back on the listing agent during counter and buyers’ are nervous. Being a Realtor means navigating a lot of different emotions.
1:50 PM – Closing with clients Jeremy and Kim. Everything goes smoothly. Working as a professional, with other professionals (In this case Movement Mortgage and the aforementioned Tracey Reynolds) makes all the difference. Lucky to be on a team that has great relationships with amazing partners!
Buyers are happy – moving in today! By far one of the best parts of my job is getting my clients to their goal!
3:12 PM – Drive to Rock Hill office 
to drop off closing book, then to bank to deposit check (family has to eat, remember?), then back to Fort Mill. Negotiating back and forth on townhouse deal the entire time.
4:18 PM – We have a deal! Get the buyers on the phone and tell them the good news. Understatement of the day – they’re happy. It’s been an exceptionally long road for these guys. They stuck with it, kept their goal in view and now we’re almost there. Have to write up new paperwork on offer and get it out ASAP. Not taking any chances.
4:58 PM – New documents sent to buyer for signing.
5:12 PM – Buyer signed docs out to listing agent. Wrapping up work day for now.
6:00 PM – Work/life balance at it’s finest. Grayson off to NAFO Football game, 
bottle of wine is popped, prep steaks, start charcoal – get grilling. My absolute favorite!!
6:30 PM – Signed contract back from listing agent on townhouse. Re-connect with my buyers and confirm we are solidly under contract. Have some emails to look at later, but for now…all good 🙂
Unlike our last example in this series, Dale represents a family life combined with a real estate career. Wife, kids, family + clients, co-workers and real estate. He paints a different picture as he details his day and yet common threads emerge out of both. You’ll find that to be the case in each of these moving forward. There is a balance to life within The Stephen Cooley Real Estate Group. We lean on each other and work as a team in order to make that balance happen. As a result, every member maintains a love for what we do, exhibited in the zealousness with which we represent our clients’ interests. We hit each day hard, energized to make a difference.
And when that difference is realized – then we can’t wait to come back and do it again.
John Kotrides
