Dani Blain Real Estate Team

Christmas in Central California

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‘Tis the season for all things merry and bright. This year it seems everyone has been eager and ready for the holidays earlier than ever. We asked our agents to tell us a bit about some of their holiday traditions as well as fun things to do here in the Central Valley and along the central coast. Let’s dig in to what they had to say: 

Must See Lights:

  • Everyone that has lived in the Central Valley for at least a year has certainly heard about Christmas Tree Lane – a Fresno Tradition since 1920. This is at the top of our “must see” list for Christmas light lovers. This year’s event is a drive-thru event only. Click here to get all of the details. 
  • Check out Fresno Chaffee Zoo Lights with live entertainment, and miles of lights to enjoy along with the animals of course
  • Holiday Fantasy of Lights Show at the Big Fresno Fair with special walking nights December 4th & 15th. Get full details here.
  • At Robbins Ranch in Exeter, there is a free drive-through light display that we can recommend taking a trip for. 
  • Davis Family Christmas light display in Fresno is musically animated and so much fun!
  • Check out these neighborhood light displays we think are worth checking out:
    • Neighborhood off of Court St. just north of Caldwell.   Blain Park
    • Eastoak Estates on Comstock and Houston and the surrounding area
    • Candy Cane Lane at Peach & Alluvial in Clovis

Must Do Events:

  • Vossler Farms is having their first ever Christmas Season at the farm with ice skating, lights, holiday hayrides, and more. 
  • Winter Wonderland in Downtown Hanford – another opportunity for ice skating! And more festive cheer to keep you in the holiday spirit! 
  • Ford Farms Country Christmas complete with photos of Santa and the Grinch, tractor rides, petting zoo, food vendors and crafts. Plan a trip for DEcember 4th, 11th, or 18th.
  • Merced’s Santa’s Workshop on 12/15
  • Mrs. Claus and You at the The Enchanted Corner in Selma
  • Doesn’t a horse drawn carriage ride sound ridiculously festive and Hallmark Movie-esque? Check it out  in Old Town Clovis on weekends in December
  • The Cambria Christmas Market is running now thru 12/23 and is such a fun and festive way to get some holiday shopping in with local vendors. 
  • The Columbia State Historic Park has A Miner’s Christmas running December 18th and 19th that looks like it will be a fun historic look back at Christmas during the gold rush days. 
  • Take a quick trip to the coast to Roaring Camp Railroad in Felton for their Holiday Lights Train
  • Jesus is the reason for the season and the best way to celebrate Jesus is to visit The Living Nativity in Riverdale December 22nd-25th

We also asked our agents about what they like to do year after year for the holidays. They told us a few ideas we think sound fun and encourage you to try out or incorporate into your holidays this year:

Fun traditions

  • Try making a new ornament for the tree and make sure to add the year to the back so it will be like a time capsule to un-earth every year
  • Lana, our Office Manager, tells us that every year the children in her family choose gifts to donate to other children.  She said that is warms her heart to see how happy it makes them when they are choosing a gift for another child
  • Raise your hand if you are on the matching Christmas Jammies train! We are and we love seeing everyone’s photos in matching family pjs
  • Have you ever had a Secret Santa? Such a fun thing to incorporate at the office or with siblings, friends, neighbors, etc…  
  • What about the classic White Elephant gift exchange? Can be so fun to see the wacky gifts people bring and then have to take home. 
  • Like the snow? Make a trip up to Shaver Lake and have that quintessential winter magic moment with a snow angel or snowman building.

The last thing we asked our DBRE family to weigh in with was some practical tips or advice to have a joyful holiday season… read through them – we think you will notice a theme:

Tips/Advice to enjoy the season

  • Take an hour or a day to catch up with family – no phones!
  • Turn on the Christmas music on your car radio ASAP
  • Spend as much time as possible with each other around the dining table eating, in the kitchen cooking, and in the living room fellowshipping. Don’t forget to give lots of hugs!!!! 
  • Slow down and enjoy your friends and family!
  • Always dress comfy, there’s always too much good food to pass, so wear those stretchy pants 😋😋
  • Enjoy the moments with your family, be present and Jesus loves you
  • Focus on people- NOT gifts, be present
  • Hurry up and get to the closest Dutch Bros to order Darian’s fav drink from their  holiday menu. He has some expert tips to make this the best drink of your life – he says you will thank him later 😉 
    • The Caramel Pumpkin Brule
      • You’ll want to add sweetener 
      • Lite pumpkin around the cup
      • And ask them to add  4 ounces of soft top

There you have it folks… lights to see, events to attend, traditions to implement and some reminders to make this the best holiday season ever. Did we miss anything? If you have a favorite neighborhood to visit for lights, or an event that you feel like everyone needs to do – let us know! 

The Real Estate Industry is Fueled by Coffee

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Here are the Best Places to Fuel Up in the Central Valley, According to the DBRE Family 

Something you may or may not know is that Real Estate Professionals drink 58% percent of all coffee consumed in the US. Hahaha… just kidding, just kidding! We do not have science backing our claim that we all have coffee coursing through our veins at every moment of everyday, only just some anecdotal evidence that would suggest we are coffee experts. So, since we are self proclaimed experts, we figured we would share with you our favorite local spots to grab a nice cup of joe. 

Our team here at Dani Blain Real Estate has a wide range of taste as it relates to their coffee shop of choice. From the neighborhood gas station, to making their own at home, and on to the old stand by of Starbucks – and more in between, we will take you through some of the responses we got when we asked about where they go to buy their favorite beverage. 

Starbucks is an easy place to love. They are easy to find, you always know that your order will taste the same from location to location, and there are plenty of options on the menu to be able to mix it up often. Lana, our Administrative Director, even has her own favorite Starbucks she likes best. The one on Caldwell and Demaree is her go-to… she loves that it has a drive-thru, its close to the office, and since everyone that works there knows her – they of course love her like we do! Her drink order is nice and simple, a hot Cafe Mocha – but when she is feeling like she needs an extra bit of some sweet goodness, she orders her Grande drink in a Venti cup, so she can ask for extra whipped cream. Genius! 

Some other teammates also called out Starbs as their favorite place to get coffee and they may have an order you can try – or shoot, you can even surprise them with their favorite drink, if you’d like! 🙂 

  • Daisy loves the Iced Shaken Brown Sugar Oatmilk Espresso (but be sure to ask them to hold the cinnamon and add an extra splash of oatmilk.) 
  • Before Steven Duck was a Realtor, he used to be a Starbucksf barista – so you can bet his order is not only good, but not too high maintenance for the crew member making the drink. He gets a Venti Cold Brew, Classic Syrup, and Light ice (another tip of the trade – less ice = more drink.) 
  • Jen, our Controller, likes the ever classic Iced Americano… plain and simple, just like she keeps things around the office for us. 
  • Lori is another oatmilk fan… she likes to get an Iced Brown Sugar Oatmilk coffee, shaken – not stirred. (We added the not stirred part, because it was screaming to be added.)

Stepping outside of Starbucks and big chains, there are some great small coffee places here in the Valley you must try if you haven’t yet. 

  • Reece loves to hit up Vali Coffee on his way to his office with The Shawn Team at The Downtown Dream in Tulare. He says right now is the perfect time of year to try the Pumpkin Pie Cold Brew – and guess what? It is about to get a whole lot easier for him to grab a coffee from them, because they are going to be opening up a shop at the Downtown Dream! Stay tuned on their socials for more details. 
  • Odalys is a big fan of the Nitro Bike because not only can she get an amazing cup of Nitro infused coffee, but she also loves that every cup is supporting a small, local, family owned business. Her order sounds delicious – she gets an Oat Milk Latte with honey syrup and lavender… mmmm! 
  • Ruben loves him a good cold brew, and according to him, The Human Bean in Visalia does it best (they also have another location in Tulare.) Apparently, he is the ultimate expert here, because he tells us that his blood type is COFFEE (lol.) He recommends not only the cold brew, but the Java Chips and the Granitas as well, and says that the customer service can’t be beat. Go give them a try and tell them Ruben sent you. 
  • Lily runs on Iced Oatmilk Lattes and loves that Component Coffee Lab in Visalia makes a great one and also provides the perfect atmosphere to get a little work done – you should check it out, it really does have great ambience. 

A few others on our team had favorites that aren’t Sbux and also aren’t one of the mom&pop shops either. 

  • You will see Leo with a coffee in his hand almost always – but what you will notice about this coffee in his hand, is that it is a to-go tumbler from his HOUSE. Can you believe it? He makes his own coffee and he is all about it… from saving money, to making it just the way he likes it, it is a home brew all the way for him. His mainstay is a Cafe Latte with extra half and half, but he also likes to change things up from season to season. So next time you see him, ask what he brewed for his daily coffee fix. 
  • Travis’s answer was one of our favorites, because it is so perfectly him. He told us that every morning on his way out of the neighborhood, to start his day with a nice classic cup of coffee, he likes to go to the Valero in Shannon Ranch. He loves the staff and the ease of stopping in to grab and go. 
  • Ever hear the slogan, “America runs on Dunkin’?” Well, so does Matthew and a classic Iced Vanilla Latte is his old stand by. We have a feeling if our brokerage was on the East Coast, there would be way more people that had this answer – everyone on the other side of the country seems to love this place.
  • Davian is a member of the Dutch Mafia, as Dutch Bros. fans like to call themselves. He loves the customer service they provide and goes there so often he even has become friends with a number of them. He respects the way they do business and run each franchise and the way they pour into (pun intended) their employees. He also can’t get enough of this super specific drink – he gets a medium Nitro Cold Brew, 3x sweet with 2 pumps hazelnut, 2 pumps vanilla, and 4 ounces of soft top with a caramel drizzle – only on the soft top (we told you, it was super specific.) He says if you are stopping to do a Starbucks run, he’ll take a water. Haha! 

We had so much fun documenting the DBRE crew’s fav brews! Did we miss any of your favorite local places? What about the best coffee shops on the Central Coast? Speaking of, did you know that our Brokerage also serves the entire Central Coast? We have agents who specialize in this area and we love taking a break from the Central Valley heat and popping over to cool off at the coast. 

Why Choose Us When You are Ready to Buy or Sell?

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A few blog posts back we talked about the Top Ten Reasons Real Estate Agents Should Hang Their License with Us, but we would not be in business if it weren’t for our clients. While we do pride ourselves on being a Real Estate Brokerage that agents seek out and help us create the culture we have set out to establish, we also are very passionate about serving our clients and making sure we have agents who are going to go the distance and work hard for them.

We always have agents who are ready and able to assist potential buyers and sellers with all of their Real Estate needs. There are so many choices and options with over 200,000 active real estate agents in California alone, we know that chances are you know someone, or know someone who knows someone who is a Real Estate Agent. Why should you choose one of our agents over an agent with a different brokerage? Let us count the ways 🙂 

  • Did you know that agents are independent contractors and choose a brokerage to work under? We have found that the agents we attract, choose us because they appreciate and value our vision. They know we strive to always put people and relationships over the numbers, serve our team and clients well, and always do what we say we will do. The glue and energy at DBRE comes from our faith, hard work, and loving our real estate family well – birds of a feather flock together, as they say. 
  • DBRE agents are well supported. With a full team of professionals backing them up in every step of the process there is always someone who they can reach out to to find the right vendor, answer a question, or get expert opinions or advice for those tricky situations we have found throughout this current (wild) real estate market. 
  • In addition to the marketing they will do when it comes to selling your house, they also reap the benefits of our brokerage having its own marketing team that additionally markets all of the homes our agents are listing.
  • Unmatched personality and charisma… We have salt of the earth agents who are just all around great people. We are so proud of each of them and know that they choose to work under DBRE because integrity is of utmost importance to them. 
  • They support the community they serve. With multiple opportunities offered to them throughout the year to give back to their community through the giving the brokerage participates in, by working with one of our agents, you are working with someone who understands the value in giving back to the community where they work. 
  • A portion of every bought and sold home, property, or commercial space goes directly from the brokerage, directly back into the Central Valley and the Central Coast. You can read more here about all of the ways we support and give back to this community we live in and love so much.

We know there are plenty of people out there right now that are either looking to buy or sell. We hope that you now feel confident to start and end your search for the perfect real estate agent, by selecting one of our amazing agents. You can read all about each of them here or you can visit our Instagram to see some of their reviews from previous clients. We look forward to hearing from you and working with you soon – please be sure to get in touch if you would like us to help match you with one of our excellent agents. 

Top 10 Reason why Dani Blain Real Estate is the BEST Brokerage to “Hang Your License”

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In the state of California, there are currently more than 200,000 active real estate agents, according to First Tuesday Journal. All of these Real Estate Agents have many things in common, and today we are focusing on one of the fundamental commonalities: They all need to operate under a Real Estate Broker. As a small or “boutique brokerage” we really pride ourselves on being a great place for agents to “hang their license.” With over 90,000 real estate brokerages just in California, there is clearly no shortage of options, and although we may be biased, we think our brokerage is the best place in Central California for Real Estate Agents to operate.

Since we opened our doors in September of 2019 we have been working hard to create a brokerage and culture within the brokerage that serves our community and our clients with integrity. We operate under a long standing vision to always put people and relationships over the numbers. We are fueled by our faith, hard-work, and loving our real estate family well. Once you become part of the DBRE family, you will never want to leave – let us tell you the top 10 reasons why:

10. Team & Solo Agent Options

Whether you are a seasoned pro or just joining the real estate industry, we have options to meet you where you are and help you succeed. Oftentimes if you just received your license, you may be looking for some mentorship and professional development to help fast track your business growth. The Shawn Team will be a great opportunity for you if you think joining a team would be an ideal first step into Real Estate. Blake Shawn is a top 1% agent in a number of transactions, started the team in 2016 and is a great mentor and motivator. 

For teams and individual agents alike, we offer limitless growth potential by providing you the resources and support you need to do your best. Keep reading more to see what we mean. Solo agents within our brokerage have been thriving and make us so proud everyday.

9. Our Values: Service, Culture, Integrity

Our focus has always been on relationships, growing our agents and giving back to the communities we serve – all while doing real estate. We believe that serving you is meeting your specific needs. By meeting your needs, we help you succeed. When you succeed, so do we. Here, it is normal to love and be loved, we uplift one another: agents, clients, and partners alike. Here, ‘you’ always goes before ‘me’. At Dani Bain Real Estate, we do what we say we are going to do, and we always strive to do what is right. These ideals form the basis of our core values: service, culture, and integrity.

8. Giving & Community First

We have a heart for the specific needs in our community and we believe we are blessed so that we can bless others. Dani Blain Real Estate believes in giving back, so we do!  On a monthly basis we give back to groups or individuals whose mission or endeavors help make our community a better place. As a real estate family, our agents participate in many of these giving opportunities and in some cases lead the charge!

7. ALC – Agent Leadership Council and Committees 

All agents at Dani Blain Real Estate are our business partners. The Agent Leadership Council (ALC) is a select group of our business partners set apart to be actively involved in the leadership of the brokerage. Their main goal is to ensure thriving business opportunities for all who call Dani Blain Real Estate (DBRE) home. They are the guardians of DBRE’s culture that fosters growth, opportunities, and holds paramount the ideal that ‘you’ always goes before ‘me’. 

For those agents who are not serving on the ALC, but still want to speak into the Brokerages business functions and develop their leadership skills they can join one of our standing committees: Marketing/Video, Growth, and Education and Training. At DBRE there are many options for growing and being supported!

6. Brokerage Meetings

Once a month we bring the entire brokerage together to celebrate our successes from the month prior and recognize agents and team members who are thriving in the real estate biz. These meetings are not only celebratory, but also inspiring and help fuel our mission of creating a culture that is the backbone of what we do. We love our Brokerage meetings and connecting the whole team on a regular basis. 

5. Training Opportunities & Mentored Support

For both our teams and our solo agents, we have a great training program where we focus on improving skills, learning new techniques, and staying up to date on market trends and best practices. Each week we offer regular  trainings and one-on-one opportunities to help you succeed or improve where you need it. Additionally, we are happy to partner seasoned agents with new agents or those who want some coaching to achieve their goals. Our office staff, support team, and both of our experienced, licensed brokers all provide a wealth of knowledge and support all of our agents.

4. Our Marketing Team

The days of simply door knocking have evolved… we have an internal team that meets regularly to keep up with our marketing plan. We work with industry experts and have a strategic and methodical approach to market not only our brokerage, but the homes our agents are selling. Marketing is a huge piece to being a successful agent and one that takes a lot of time and expertise. Let us help!

3. Our Loyalty Program

We care about your business and want your success recognized. We also want you to be rewarded for staying, achieving your goals  and choosing to grow with us over time. Our unique Loyalty Program has been designed with options you can personalize so you get the tools you need to continue to do your business well with perks to encourage and motivate you to keep going!

2. Our ISA Team

We are the only boutique, local brokerage with a full time ISA Team that works around the clock to find solid leads for our agents. What’s an ISA? Inside Sales Associates – we have a full team of them. Having a team dedicated to helping agents find pre-approved buyers and serious sellers takes a whole load off of the agent and allows them time to focus on what they do best – buying and selling properties, rather than only searching for viable leads. 

And the #1 Reason to Hang Your License at Dani Blain Real Estate: The Team and Sense of Belonging

We feel very confident in saying we have the best agents and support staff in all of Central California. We truly function as a family and all have each other’s best interests in mind. If you enjoy a strong sense of team and belonging, we know you will love being a part of the Dani Blain Real Estate Family.

Looking to Join the Team?

If this Top 10 List has you thinking that DBRE may be the right brokerage to hang your license, then you are in luck! We are looking for outgoing, driven, dynamic individuals looking to increase your business and live a big life. We are seeking decisive, self-motivated, consultative sales leaders. Candidates should be licensed, determined, committed and high performers. Must be thoughtful, outgoing, and people-people. Only those who desire to be a super-achiever need apply. The sky’s the limit with no ceiling on your income.

Individuals who apply must:
– Have a huge heart, be happy and positive and want to help homeowners or investors have an amazing selling
and/or buying experience. We don’t tolerate negativity or gossip. We are servant leaders.
– Have strong verbal skills and love constant change in a fast paced environment that is self-reliant.
– Be results-oriented and seek an opportunity to thrive in the Real Estate Industry!

View this document to learn a little more about the kind of person who fits best with the DBRE family of agents or contact us if you have any questions.

Giving Feature: A Village of Hope

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Before Dani Blain Real Estate came to life, we knew we wanted to create a culture of agents and team members who truly understand that we are not here just to help people buy and sell houses, but rather truly lead with our servant hearts. We believe we are blessed so that we can bless others. Giving back is at the forefront of our brokerage and as a real estate family, our agents participate in many of the giving opportunities that are ongoing within the brokerage each month. We even have some cases where our agents are the ones leading the charge! 

For the month of June we have proudly supported a non-profit called Village of Hope International. We are so proud and eager to support our agents who are working hard to help here in the valley and in places people need it most. For years David Schlick, one of our newer agents, has been traveling south of the border to not only volunteer and lead teams of missionaries, but to truly sow the seeds of hope for the indigenous people of the Mixteco village in southern Mexico. 

When he saw the poverty and need that this village was in, he and some other friends knew they had to do more. They saw what the local community center, The Village of Hope was doing to provide hope to the working poor (most of whom are farm laborers who make $12 to $14 a day) and wanted to expand the great work already happening, so in 2017 they started a nonprofit called the Village of Hope International.

They raise about $200,000 a year which funds a feeding program that serves more than a 1,000 meals a week, has two youth soccer teams, two churches reaching more than 500 weekly, a seminary, after school tutoring, literacy program, career training and home building. To date, the Village has built more than 240 homes of hope. These homes have a cement foundation, a main living space, two bedrooms, a loft and electrical. For about $6,000 they are able to build a house and radically transform life for a hardworking family.

David has set his sights and has a goal to fund 10 homes this year. Slowly but surely he is making it happen. But he knows he can’t reach this goal of 10 homes alone. We are happy to report that several local agents have given generously to help with this lofty goal. One agent has committed to funding one home a year. Another agent gave him a prequalified client which led to a sale currently in escrow. He has a photographer who is a former student who shoots all of David’s listings for free. David also works with other partners in the industry who donate all or portions of their service fees to support this cause.

We are so inspired by David and all of those who have contributed to the Village of Hope. If you would like to give or go on a 5-day home build trip  you can contact him at dave.schlick@gmail.com or (559)679-5733. We encourage you to visit his website that has even more info on his goals and mission to provide as much as he can for this community in great need.

A Day in the Life of a Dani Blain Real Estate Agent

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What’s it like to work as a Real Estate Agent at Dani Blain Real Estate? To find out, we sat down with Jenifer Oliphant, one of our independent agents that has been with the Brokerage since we opened our doors and has been a Real Estate Agent for over six years. She has great insight into a Realtors typical day and why she loves what she does.

Jen is a member of our Agent Leadership Council (ALC) and is one of our top performing agents. She gives back to the Brokerage not only by participating in the ALC, but also by teaching regular classes in our headquarters office. She is a bright spot in our DBRE family, we are blessed to have her on our team representing us with her hard work in the community.

In her typical day, she specifically designs each one, as do all of our agents. She carves out a schedule to make sure she has time to tackle all of the different facets of her business and it often includes:

A well planned day

Real Estate Agents are entrepreneurs who can create a business that fits the lifestyle they want. The flexibility is what drew her into the career. She needed a job where she could craft her own hours ensuring she could take her kids to school, pick them up and be at their sporting events or extra curricular activities. 

Time management and mapping out each day is key to making sure she can fit it all in. She likes to kick her day off “with coffee and Jesus” so she gets up early to make time to ease into the morning. Then it is off to the gym before she heads home to get ready for the day and begin tackling the rest of her tasks.

Communications & Networking

Two of the most important things in this industry are good communication and solid networking. Making sure that everyone you know is well aware of the fact that you are a Real Estate Agent. How do you do that? You spend time within your own sphere of influence and work the connections you have. Whether it be through emails, social media, over the phone, or in person – communication and networking is key. 

With her long history in the industry, she is at a point in her career that she now has repeat clients and has clients sending her their friends and family because of the great experience they’ve had with her. She nurtures those contacts and relationships by being of service to them in any way that she can.

Appointments, Meetings, and Showings

Since agents represent both buyers and sellers and could be in the middle of multiple transactions at the same time, there are a lot of meetings and appointments to squeeze into the day. Jen likes to set her meetings with her clients at times that work well for them, making sure to not waste any time. 

With our service area encompassing all of Central California and the Central Coast, our agents are known to put some serious miles on their cars. They could be showing properties on the coast, in Fresno, and back to Visalia all in the same day. Coordinating all of these appointments is important and giving ample time for clients to look at properties and ask questions, before moving on to the next appointment is key. 

Studying Market Trends

Every good Real Estate Agent knows that in this market, you need to stay up to date with what kinds of closings are happening, what listings are going to be coming on the market, in addition to what’s going on in the lending world. There are many moving parts in Real Estate and agents are responsible for knowing everything about all of them. Part of everyday is spent catching up on the market around us, in this moment. 

We asked Jen what her favorite aspect of being a Realtor is and why she chose to be an agent here at DBRE. She told us that she loves how rewarding this profession is. She works hard and she loves to see that hard work pay off by seeing people find their dream homes. She loves doing it here at Dani Blain Real Estate because she appreciates the high and ethical standards we hold, as well as access to the mentorship and resources necessary to build a successful business. 

Jen is just one of our many hard-working agents here at DBRE. We really pride ourselves on having some of the most dedicated and ethical agents in the entire Central Valley and Central Coast. They love to serve their clients and their communities. They show up, they educate, they make you feel at ease throughout the entire process. As we have mentioned previously, the market we are in today can be a tricky one. Our agents are staying the course and helping dreams come true. It may not be overnight, but they aren’t going to give up. 

If you have questions about pursuing a Real Estate career with us, or would like to work with Jen or one of our other agents, please be sure to reach out to us so we can connect you to the right team member. 

The Agent Leadership Council at Dani Blain Real Estate

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Here at DBRE, we pride ourselves on intentionally spending time cultivating a team of dedicated Real Estate Professionals who align with our vision of serving our community and our clients with integrity, always putting people above the numbers. It is important that we have a brokerage with a culture that makes it possible to meet this goal and we have been blessed with the best. 

Today, we are going to chat a bit about one of the behind the scenes things to stay steadfast in our commitment to our Agents, team members, partners, clients, and the community at large – and that is our Agent Leadership Council. In our experience, we have seen the benefit of having a team that acts as the glue among all teams and agents for our brokerage. 

Our Agent Leadership Council, or the ALC – are the servant-leaders that meet regularly to lead and speak into the initiatives and direction of our brokerage. They give their expertise, their time and their hearts for our teams, our community and the DBRE family. As business partners, they can help assure that brokerage is being run in a way that aligns with their own personal business goals and those of all our agents. They help us structure a solid path forward as the market is ever evolving. 

Having this core group of internal experts has been instrumental in building our brand from the ground up and we are so proud of the work and dedication of the ALC team. Please take a moment to get to know who is on our ALC to get a feel for these amazing professionals.

(Profiles below are listed in order as they are pictured above from left to right)

Lori Anderson

I am the Broker Assistant here at Dani Blain Real Estate and am pursuing my Broker’s License to continue to help our Brokerage grow! Sometimes I wear many hats supporting our agents, working with our internal staff team, and working with our Broker, Dani – but I love it all. This is the best place to work and I get to be on the best team ever!

Lori Parks

Originally from Southern California, my family and I moved to Visalia in 2001 to be near family. I entered real estate as a Transaction Coordinator, assisting Realtors and mentoring with some of the best in the business. I have found my passion in Real Estate. I have the privilege to help people pursue their dreams of becoming a homeowner.

Justin Hite

I’ve grown up in the Central Valley since the age of 5. Married to my wife for 14 years, we have 4 kids and see ourselves living in Central Valley CA for the long haul.  Real Estate, business and entrepreneurship is a passion that stems from a wanting to see people achieve big dreams and be the best versions of themselves. 

Dani Blain

While I have a true passion for all things Real Estate, my first passion is Jesus. He is my Lord and Savior and in all that I do personally and professionally, I seek to glorify Him. I am blessed to have three wonderful children and four beautiful grandbabies right in the Central Valley to do life with. 

Blake Shawn

I am a relationship-driven community leader who loves God, his Family, Team, and Clients. I love mentoring newer and experienced agents to be their best selves for their families and clients. My favorite thing in the world is being a husband to Mia and a dad to our daughter Mykah Joy and son Asher James. 

Jenifer Oliphant

I am the proud mother of two, daughter Riley, son Kyle, and my doggie Posey. I love real estate, helping people, meeting people, and serving my community. It’s also very important to me to give back to my community in any way that I can.

Steven Duck

I am a dedicated Real Estate Agent who is committed to helping my clients achieve their dream through Real Estate, whether that be buying, selling or investing. When I’m not immersed in Real Estate, you can find me spending time with family, watching sports, or obsessing over my lawn.

April Martin

am the founder and Manager of the ISA (Inside Sales Associates) team and pride myself on working hard to find leads for our agents and Brokerage. We have built a bullet-proof team of ISA’s and we love fueling our agents with business. I believe people can sense deep care, even over the phone. There is a chance if you are shopping on Zillow, Realtor.com or our site YourCentralValleyHome.com , you will wind up in our care. In my free time, I am a Pastor and have a wonderful husband who cares for me and my three ‘bonus-sons’.

Being a newer brokerage, having our Agent Leadership Council help us with building the foundation of everything we do has been instrumental in our success. We are so grateful for them and their willingness to invest in our team members and agents to help everyone be successful in their business endeavors. If you are a Real Estate Agent looking for a place to hang your hat, Dani Blain Real Estate is always looking to expand our team with like-minded individuals that will fit in with the culture we have created. If you are interested in exploring the idea of joining the team, please reach out to us today. 

Dreaming Big with Bob Goff

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If you follow us on Instagram, you may have seen that we had a very special Brokerage Meeting last week with the one and only Bob Goff. While the original plan was for the brokerage to head down to his amazing retreat center in San Diego – COVID had different plans. Instead, we had this best selling author and encourager speak to us (via Zoom) and deliver a strong and powerful message!

If you aren’t familiar with Bob Goff, you are missing out! He’s  an amazing person who has done so much with his time on Earth. He began his career as a lawyer, then quit to begin writing and speaking full time. He has written some of our favorite books Love Does, Everybody Always, and most recently, Dream Big. Bob is someone Dani has always been motivated and inspired by. She knew after learning about his retreat center she had to connect her team with the opportunity to learn from him. 

Dani believes strongly, and says regularly, that “we are blessed so that we can bless others.”  Giving back is something she does in our communities and also with our agents. To have a successful brokerage, you need successful agents. At Dani Blain Real Estate there is a huge emphasis on growing and supporting our agents to help them be successful in their businesses. It is a cyclical effect in motion every day at DBRE… we support our agents’ success and in turn  agents support their clients’ success. Happy clients share their experience with their circle who hopefully come back to DBRE to manage their next real estate project… and so the cycle goes. A ‘better-together’ kind of relationship.

In the spirit of blessing others, Dani knew that blessing her agents and team with the gift of Bob Goff was exactly what she wanted to do to kick off 2021. Bob’s message of dreaming big was the perfect way to shape our goals and motivations for the year ahead. Bob’s message was somewhat simple but also profound:

“What do you want? Why do you want it? What are you going to do about it?”

Bob inspired us to stop and ask ourselves these questions. Once we know what we want, and why we want it – it is time for us to figure out what we are going to do about it. He shared that progress looks like putting yourself adjacent to the next best step, especially if the step you really want or need isn’t attainable quite yet. Keep moving in the direction of what you want, one action at a time, keeping yourself adjacent to things and people that can help make your dream a reality. We love this actionable way to work towards our goals! 

We also really loved a little secret he let us in on. Did you know that he cuts the left pocket out of all of his pants? Listen to what a cool idea this is… he believes you should always be careful about what you put in your pockets. Only keep things in there you really need (keys, wallet, etc… as the actual/tangible things in our pockets, i.e. metaphor for life.) And then each day, imagine that right pocket filled with some of the stuff you may be holding on to – some of the hurts and setbacks, the things that didn’t go your way… and move them on over to the  left pocket. A physical act of letting them go. Because the bottom line is, you’re never going to be a newer creation or the current,  most recent and best version of you, if you’re hanging on to all of that stuff you don’t need anymore. Boom! Isn’t that such a great exercise? We hope you will give it a try with us. 

Lastly, we will leave you with the message Bob left us with… he said “be a norm breaker – you don’t have to be what everyone else tells you you are.” Isn’t that so motivating and a bit of a relief? What are you going to do that is going to break the norm and break out of what people have told you you are? We encourage you to dream big and remember us if you need help getting that dream accomplished. 

What Every Agent Wishes You Knew

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Whether you’ve never bought or sold a house or have done both, there are a handful of things every Real Estate Agent wishes you knew. Today, we bring you our agents’ top four! It’s our insider’s info on the reality of being a Real Estate Agent. 

An Agent will rarely sit you down to tell you the things we are about to give you the scoop on. They will chug forward, working long, demanding hours with friendly smiles on their faces because they love what they do. However, we suspect if you knew these few important tidbits things would be ever more smooth for both you and your agent! So, with the hopes of shining light into the lesser known parts of our industry (and to help you, help us the next time we work together) here are the top four things Agents wish you knew: 


#1 Choose Your Agent Wisely

We’ve said it before and we will say it again… especially in today’s market, you need a Real Estate Agent. Ideally one of our DBRE Agents. Because now more than ever, we need you to truly consider who will represent you in this monumental life decision. Don’t just pick your aunt’s, neighbor’s, son’s, wife who just got her license and is eager for a client. Now is not the time to let Uncle Ned dust off his old Real Estate license. 

This current market is nothing like any of us have ever seen before. Working with a trusted DBRE Agent means that you are working with someone who has been navigating this market the whole time ‘this market’ has morphed into what we now know it to be. Our Agents will serve you with integrity and deliver their expertise and knowledge. They also have the support of our entire DBRE team behind them.


#2 Just Because “Zillow Says” – Doesn’t Mean It’s So…

Isn’t it fun to look on Zillow and see what your home is worth? Well… unfortunately, Zestimates are kind of just that – for fun. They are often completely off base and make it hard for us to convince our clients that our expertise and actual MLS listing comps are a lot more accurate than what you see on Zillow, Trullia, etc. Zillow is not a property valuation site. Period. It works off of algorithms and online data that may be out of date or inaccurate. We hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we do feel this is important for our clients to be in the know about.


#3 We Don’t Make as Much Money as You Think

This is not to say that Real Estate is not a lucrative industry, it absolutely has the potential to be, but there seems to be a bit of a misconception that all Real Estate Agents make great money. There are so many variables to what an Agents annual salary looks like, not to mention that in this industry, you’ve got to spend money to make money. 

In a 100% commission based field, Agents don’t get paid until every paper is signed, sealed, and delivered. It can be after months and months of working every weekend showing homes, writing multiple offers that don’t materialize, paying for marketing of your home upfront, and… so.much.gas. Each transaction could be 100s of hours of work that agents don’t get paid for unless, and until, the transaction is finally closed. 

Things fall through, people switch Agents (this is the ultimate heart breaker for most Agents), and people change their mind. A common mindset in real estate goes something like this: a client is like a bet the Agent makes, taking a risk on you. They work hard for you to ensure their gamble pays off in the end. At DBRE we are more than this. DBRE’s Agents our servant-leaders. While each new client involves risk we believe the risk is worth it since relationships and people are so important to us. Most times we are successful because we know that when the client succeeds we do, regardless of what that looks like in the end.


#4 Trust Us… We Got You! 

We feel confident in saying that all of the Agents at Dani Blain Real Estate are salt of the earth people who know that we value putting people over numbers and taking care of our clients is of utmost priority. Plus, all our agents are backed by our entire family of agents. 

Like all industries, Real Estate can have some bad apples in the bunch, but when you choose to work with a DBRE Agent, you can trust this person has your best interests in mind and will work hard to meet your needs. 

The process could be difficult (especially in today’s market…) and it could feel like a roller coaster ride. The good thing? Your agent knows this ride well. They will brace you for the twists and turns and help you when you need to pause the ride – or ask to move on to a new one. 

And there ya have it… what every Agent wishes you knew. We hope you learned a few things and we hope all your future transactions or current ones are just that much smoother!

This post is to “pull back the curtain” on parts of the Real Estate industry you may not have known about. All of our Agents have picked this profession because they love to serve others and they are good at what they do. They value and appreciate all of their clients and gladly do all of the fun and not so fun parts of their job.

We look forward to connecting with you, working with you, and hopefully finding you the home or property of your dreams. If you have any questions about the process, about a property, or even about our brokerage, please reach out so we can help.

Dani Blain Real Estate’s “Dreamers”

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All it takes is a couple of visionaries to invoke change and Dani Blain Real Estate happens to have two agents on our team who are doing just that. Our agents, Blake Shawn and Jacob Fraga are on a mission to transform downtown Tulare one building at a time. While some of us are passing the time in our new pandemic lives to learn how to make bread or raise a new puppy, Blake and Jacob (or Blacob, as we affectionately call them ?) have used the past four months, while selling real estate full-time, to launch a new project and make their dreams a reality – and we could not be more proud of what they are doing for our community. 

  • Blake Shawn and Jacob Fraga at their new co-working building
  • Jenifer Oliphant and Dani Blain enjoying coffee in the event area of The DowntownDream

As Tulare locals, these two have always wanted to see downtown become a desirable location for new businesses and the community to connect. With their first project, The Downtown Dream – they have officially gotten the ball rolling on this vision. They purchased a vacant building on the corner of L and Kern that will be home to Tulare’s first co-working space and they will use the enormous parking lot (that used to be the old greyhound station) for an outdoor event space. 

With so many changes to the office space landscape as we all knew it, Blake and Jacob think (and lots of experts agree) that the new era of telecommuting/working from home is not something that will disappear once the coronavirus is curbed. With the pandemic literally upending every industry and forcing companies to figure out new telecommuting policies, now more than ever, we have a workforce who has the flexibility to work from anywhere. For some that means home, for others it means a coffee shop with free Wi-Fi – and soon, for central valley residents, it could mean The Downtown Dream. 

The Downtown Dream is the perfect place to get into the zone… with ambiance in spades and work space options for every type of telecommuter; from creatives and entrepreneurs to students needing study group space, they have got you covered. Blake and Jacob, along with wives Mia Shawn and Miranda Fraga, have thought of everything and taken the Old Lewis Insurance Building and transformed it into an incredibly hip and “good vibes only” space. The coolest part? For less than the price of a Cold Brew a day, you can call it your home office! The Downtown Dream has many membership pricing options available to fit your needs and even has a photography studio with professional lighting and backdrops. 

Blake and Jacob’s ‘Downtown Dream’ is poised to be the start of something truly great in downtown Tulare. It’s not just about the co-working space, or only about planning community oriented events in their outdoor space, The Downtown Dream – it’s much bigger than that. They hope to be the proverbial pebble that creates the ripple effect of many new businesses who join them in their goal of creating a better community. The duo said they know they can’t do it alone… “it’s going to take a village to get downtown revitalized.” 

We encourage everyone to check out this incredible space while joining them for a fun-filled day at their Grand Opening on Saturday, October 10th from 5-8pm. In addition to a DJ-hosted celebration, they have everyone’s favorite food trucks lined up including Tacos San Marcos, Que Concha, Quesadilla Gorilla and many others planned. There will be some great specials running for people who are interested in monthly memberships or for event space. This event will be a way to celebrate the opening of this exciting new business, but also to kick-off the beginning of the revitalization of downtown Tulare.

When we asked “Blacob” what else they wished our readers could know about their new venture, they wanted everyone to know how thankful they were to work for “a brokerage that supports [their] vision to expand – a brokerage that thinks of community over sales.” This is foundational at Dani Blain Real Estate, growing a community for people to love living in and to feel connected. We feel equally grateful to have Blake and Jacob on our team and truly applaud them for taking this leap. We cannot wait to see what the future holds for Downtown Tulare! We are sure these two are going to continue to do great things, one building at a time. 

Be sure to keep up with all of the great things The Downtown Dream will be planning in their outdoor event space by following their Instagram and Facebook accounts, as well as their website. You can also read more about the Pre-Grand Opening event they hosted in September and additional specifics about the project in this article in the Sun Gazette.