Meet Jay Mattlin | REALTOR® & Agent Success Manager, Key Realty

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jay Mattlin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jay, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
Work life balance has not ever been a consideration in my life until the COVID-19 Pandemic. I grew up knowing that when I was an adult, work was the most important thing and all other things came next. So as an adult, I worked. All the time. With no breaks. At the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic, I was working as the Systems Administrator for Fairfield County, Ohio. I had also been building a successful real estate business. Being in charge of all of the technology for an entire government entity at the beginning of a pandemic was stressful to say the least. I was already working 50-60 hours a week and then add in the new need for 1,000+ employees to work from home. The burnout was creeping in and my mental health was taking a hit. I am typically a pretty social person but send me home by myself for two and a half years and being someone with the work ethic that I have, I worked non-stop. Monday through Saturday, at least 12-16 hours a day to keep the County running. And through all of this, I was also working as a real estate agent full time and helping my clients buy and sell properties. At the beginning of 2022, I was given an opportunity to work for Key Realty as not just an agent but as their Agent Success Manager. My husband and I talked it over and we decided that ultimately, accepting this position with Key Realty and leaving the County would be best for my mental health and the relationships around me. It was a large pay cut and I was giving up my benefits but my work-life balance and my mental health was more important. So in June of 2022, I made the cut. I quit my government job with Fairfield County and began working full time with Key Realty. After nearly a year and a half after this decision, I would not change it for the world. It gave my husband and I more time to visit with our friends and family, travel, and to live the life we ultimately want to live. It is very important to us that while we need to work to survive, that balance between work and everything is critical in maintaining a healthy life and healthy relationships. While I take a lot of pride in my work, setting boundaries for myself and the relationships around me has allowed us to live a more healthy life together and do the work to run our real estate business. Does it always work out? No. A lot of times, things for our clients or our business take precedence. Sometimes after a couple of weeks or just a lot of stuff going on, you realize you need to stop for a few hours and just have some time with no work. A lot of times, if one of us notices this, we will get in the car and go for a drive, take a long walk, or just sit down and catch up on the things that are not work related to kind of reset that balance connection.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
According to the National Association of REALTORS®, there are just over 1.5 million REALTOR® members. In my community of Lancaster, Ohio, where the majority of our business comes from, there are just over 300 real estate agents. So standing out is very important in this industry. I ask myself almost every day, what “above and beyond” items are we offering our customers and clients. The biggest thing that we do in our business that I believe sets us apart is the emphasis we put on educating our customers and clients – regardless of whether they are actually using us to buy or sell real estate. That are so many real estate agent stereotypes, myths, and just downright incorrect information so when I got my license, my biggest value to the public was that I am going to be better about being a resource – not just someone who shows houses, fills out paperwork, and collects a commission check. We run our business in a manner that ensures our clients are put first and not our incoming check. Money is not a motivator for me – seeing my clients happy at the closing table does motivate me. Knowing this, we go above and beyond to ensure our clients know what is going on in their transactions. We have systems in place that keep people informed and keeps communication flowing. With Dustin, my husband, getting his license, that has enabled us to add another value to our clients. There are now two of us so showing scheduling has gotten simpler, paperwork management has gotten simpler, and has definitely helped our business run more smoothly and consistently. All of this really helps us stand out from other agents in our area and provide a level of service to our customers and clients that they may not get with other agents and brokerages.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Being from Lancaster, Ohio, sometimes I forget what a wealth of really interesting things we have to do around here. Truthfully, a week may get you the good highlights but it isn’t going to get you everything. Lancaster was recently named by Ohio Magazine as one of Ohio’s Best Hometowns.

General William Tecumseh Sherman is from Lancaster so a visit to the Sherman Museum is a must. The Fairfield Heritage Association actually has two museums that are worth visiting. Lancaster has a rich history so there are several places to visit to learn all about Lancaster.

Amanda Everitt, Executive Director for Destination Downtown Lancaster, and her crew of amazing people have done a great job of revitalizing our downtown. area and encouraging business growth. You could spend a day or so exploring the shops, restaurants, and other sights in Downtown Lancaster. A stop for coffee at L City Coffee, lunch at Provisions, and dinner at O’Huid’s.

Lancaster is also just 30 minutes from the Hocking Hills which was recently named as one of the top bucket list destinations to visit in the United States. The Hocking Hills region was already very popular but this has increased the traffic and number of visitors to the region. If you are visiting Lancaster, you must take a day or so to visit Hocking Hills State Park and take a walk through Old Man’s Cave, Ash Cave, Cedar Falls, Rockhouse and so much more! If you are going to visit the Hocking Hills region, it’s even more fun to visit in the fall as the foliage changes or even in the winter to see all of the ice formations and the snow on the sandstone cliffs. Not only are there a ton of places to hike and check out, there are a lot of really neat shops and restaurants in the area. If it is canoeing or kayaking weather, be sure and rent a boat and take a ride down the Hocking River.

Lancaster and Fairfield County has also seen an uptick in wineries and breweries in the area so if that’s your jam, there are so many around here to visit. Rockside Winery and Vineyards, Double Edge Brewing, Brewery 33, Hocking Hills Winery, and so many more!

Maybe you visit and the weather is not the greatest, download the Visit Fairfield County app and check out the various trails they have. Each trail is themed and gives you a list of places or things to visit and check off. The Covered Bridge tour is a super nice trip through Fairfield County. The app also gives you a brewery tour, a winery tour, and seasonal tours like the Scarecrow Trail in the fall.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I like to give credit where credit is due and that’s exactly what I’ll do here. Fairfield County Auditor, Carri Brown, had and continues to have a big influence on my life. She taught me so many things over the years of working with her but the most important thing that she taught me and I use every day of my life – E+R=O. Event plus reaction equals outcome. The only part of that equation that you can control is your reaction. And even then, it may not have any effect on the eventual outcome. It has allowed me to truly evaluate every situation in my life, take a step back, and decide how I want to react versus just reacting immediately to everything with my first emotion. Learning this from Carri has allowed me to feel more in control with daily situations that happen in life and with our business. It has also allowed me to be better about setting boundaries and being more comfortable in situations where I may not have been in the past.

I would also like to give credit to my husband, Dustin. He came into my life in January of 2020 and meeting me, learning my business, dealing with the ups and downs of real estate transactions – he’s been a trooper. In fact, he saw me struggling in maintaining my business and he decided to get his real estate license. Now my real estate business is our real estate business – Key to Home Property Group. It’s been amazing having him by my side. He’s my biggest cheerleader but having him as an integral part of our business has made all the difference in building our business into something that we can both be proud of and can help us build a life that we want.

Website: https://www.keytohomepropertygroup.com

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