I’ve had a lot of diversity in my career, and I recently took the biggest step of faith to date. On Nov. 1, 2013, I left the automotive industry, where I knew everyone, to start over in the multifamily industry.

Ever switch schools as I child? I did, and I still remember the feeling of walking into a school for the first time, not knowing a soul. I thought this transition was going to be much like that, but was I ever wrong!  I couldn't be more impressed with the people I’ve met—everyone has been more than nice to me and some have helped me on a weekly basis. My first experience was attending the brainstorming conference 2 weeks into the job. The first day I walked into a large room full of tables and a lot of unfamiliar faces. I left that day with people I now call friends.

Besides the warm welcome, I wanted to share a few things I’ve noticed as a relative newcomer to the industry. While there are a lot of differences between the automotive and multifamily industries, I’ve been more surprised by the similarities I see:

Both apartment and car shoppers start their searches online and transition to the business location. Both shoppers prefer to see the apartment/car in person before finalizing the purchase, but they almost always have questions before visiting in person. Both industries have seen a dramatic increase in mobile shoppers. Both have shoppers driving from one location to another while also shopping on their phone, so they want answers fast. And both markets’ shoppers buy because of trust, making the leasing agent or salesperson the single most important part of the sales process.   

Isn’t it interesting to see that, in today’s world, people shop for diverse products in similar ways—they’re online, they’re mobile and they’re impatient. I guess it goes to show that the more things change, the more they do stay the same. Customers everywhere want fast responses, respect and relationships.  

As I’m closing in on the second month of my new career, I wanted to send a huge shout-out to everyone who has been so kind to me during this transition. There couldn’t have been a more warming welcome! I look forward to meeting and working with each of you!