Interview with Hannah Chan by WorldJournal.com (Chinese Newspaper)

Translation of the WorldJournal.com press article assisted by Google Translate:

“One of the main goals for the Triangle Business Journal (TBJ) is to promote the development of enterprises in the Triangle area of North Carolina. To that goal, every year TBJ select the top producers among the 9000 licensed real estate professionals and teams in the Triangle area and recognize those individuals and teams at the award ceremony held at the Prestonwood Country Club in Cary. This year, Hannah Chan (Cary-Raleigh Realty, Inc.) originally from Hong Kong received the 2016 Triangle Business Journal Residential Real Estate Award (Individual) – Ranked by Transactions (# 1 in the number of transactions in 2015), the first Asian (Chinese) woman receiving such an honor.

Hannah and her husband moved from the Bay Area, CA to the Cary Raleigh area in North Carolina 11 years ago because “they wanted to find a nurturing and healthy environment to raise their daughter”. She says, “There are three reasons for selecting Cary Raleigh area as their home: first, affordable home prices – one can purchase a “mansion” in the Cary Raleigh area at a similar price for “an old cottage” in the Bay Area; second, the residents in the Research Triangle Park area are mostly professionals – family and education are their virtues; third, beautiful environment with plenty of trees and flowers, mild climate and low crime rate – “a paradise for the middle class”.

After deciding to settle in the Cary Raleigh area, Hannah started the home buying process. Through the process she was inspired to become the expert in real estate sales transactions and property investment by getting specialized designations and certifications through advanced studies such as the Graduate Realtor Institute and Triangle Relator Leadership Academy. She started her own company, and now has a team of seven including English, Chinese (Mandarin), Cantonese, Fuzhou and Hindi speaking real estate brokers.

Hannah Chan had 126 sales transactions in 2015, an average of 10 transactions per month. She says, “this high transaction rate is attributed to social media marketing, words of mouth, high client satisfaction, excellent client testimonials and more importantly referrals by friends and clients.”

Majoring in Accounting in college, she worked as an auditor in Deloitte accounting firm before turning her passion in the real estate business. She says, “I like to help people make money in real estate sales and property investment, and am most satisfying by seeing good return on investment in my client’s sales transaction and investment. I am not just someone who just handles the sales process but seeing myself as the gatekeeper for my clients – looking out for their best interests and providing them the honest analysis (advantages and disadvantages) and market insights to the property being considered — the key foundation of our company brand reputation.”

Hannah says, “with grateful and thankful heart in giving back to the Chinese community in the Triangle area, last year, she purchased the 901 Professional Center buildings in Cary with an architecture like an emperor courtyard in Beijing, named as “North Carolina Incubator”, to provide affordable office space to aspiring entrepreneurs, start ups and SMB (Small Medium Business) from the Chinese community in the Triangle area so they have an opportunity to build and nurture their fledging businesses into enterprises. Now there are many new businesses at the “North Carolina Incubator” including legal, insurance, mortgage, business consulting, venture capital, home inspection, mortgage and other services serving the Chinese community at large in the Triangle area.”

以促進北卡三角地區企業發展為宗旨的「三角商業雜誌」(Triangle Business Journal)，每年從該地區將近9000名持有執照的房地產經紀人中，選出成交次數最多的房地產經紀人，於普雷斯頓鄉村俱樂部頒獎表揚。今年該項榮譽由來自香港的陳海娜(Hannah Chan)獲得，是該獎有史以來第一位亞裔女性得主。

陳海娜於11年前和丈夫陳志光，因為「想為孩子找個適合成長的環境」，從加州灣區遷居至北卡三角地區。她說，他們考慮的理由有三，一是房價便宜，在灣區只能買到古舊小屋的價錢，在該地卻能購得嶄新豪宅；二是三角科學園區的居民多是高級知識分子，是培育孩子的好地方；三是環境優美、氣候溫和，犯罪率又低，是「中產階級的天堂」。

決定定居而著手購屋的過程，激發了陳海娜對房地產的求知欲，開始研究進修，拿到一般和進階的證照，也從附屬他人公司到自己創業，如今旗下擁有七名英、華、粵、福州、印度語的經紀人。

陳海娜去年的成交次數是126件，平均一個月賣出十棟房子。她說，會有這麼高的成交量主要是靠口碑，顧客滿意了，自然把親友、同事介紹過來。

大學時主修會計、曾在知名的德勤(Deloitte)會計事務所工作的陳海娜說，她喜歡幫人賺錢，看到別人的投資有回報，自己就好開心。她認為自己不僅買賣房子，也是客戶的把關人，誠實分析房子的優缺點，為顧客的利益著想，也是商譽建立的根基。

陳海娜說，因著感恩的心，她去年在凱瑞鎮買了一座類似北京四合院的建築物，取名「北卡創業園」，廉價租給華裔專業人士，希望能幫助有志創業的華人在美闖出一片天地。現在園內已有法律、保險、商務諮詢、房屋檢查、貸款等華人所開設的服務業務。

http://www.worldjournal.com/3837072/article-陳海娜-獲房屋成交次數最多經紀獎/?ref=亞特蘭大/佛州&ismobile=false