EVERY YEAR, the National Association of Realtors® features 30 young, rising real estate professionals in its Realtor® Magazine as the “30 under 30.” Out of 300 applicants this year, the 2018 class of 30 Under 30 was selected for their customer service, community involvement, business acumen and motivational energy.

Janice Spearbeck, NVAR member and a Realtor® with RE/MAX Gateway, is one of this year’s honorees. In 2017, Spearbeck completed an impressive 91 transactions with an individual sales volume of $26.1 million. Spearbeck said her success is due in large part to her team’s commitment to being active in the community and keeping in touch with clients.

One of the ways Spearbeck’s team stays in touch is with cookies. With a cookie machine in their office, they bake almost 500 cookies each month and distribute them to clients, vendors or others they meet.

After graduating from college and living in Australia for a brief time, Spearbeck returned to the U.S. looking for a new career. Her family friend and now-broker, Scott MacDonald, helped her launch a career in real estate, and she has enjoyed it since.

“I love helping people, and most people’s goal in life is to own a home,” she said. “It’s exciting to help people achieve that.”

Spearbeck spends a majority of her free time volunteering in her community. She is an active member of several local organizations, including the Junior League, her local country club and the Leadership Arlington Young Professionals Program.

Her advice to new agents is to take classes, soak up as much information as possible, and ask questions. She also suggests talking to agents about budgeting, as this can be a challenge when just starting out as a Realtor®.

Above all, she recommends learning from and working with other agents and real estate professionals to achieve success.

“Nobody can do it alone,” Spearbeck said. “Ninety-one transactions in a year is a lot, and I couldn’t have done it without my team.”