Growing a business in real estate – The Montague way Loop Jamaica

Black Immigrant Daily News

Joseph and Tara Montague have the distinction of being the first husband and wife real estate team in Jamaica and have won several awards while learning the real estate business from the ground up.

Married for five years and with two small children, the Montagues have managed to not only carve out a place for their brand in the industry but have been doing so while also holding down their regular 9-5 jobs.

The couple met over 10 years ago while on a night out with friends and struck up a friendship. But, it was not until they decided to acquire a property and had a “not all good but not all bad” experience, that they realized they were being groomed by life to venture into the business themselves.

“It was a mixed experience. There were some times when we felt like we weren’t being advocated for. But, in retrospect, we recognize that it all worked out for our good,” Tare shared with Loop News.

While noting that many elements of their home-buying experience could have been handled differently, the Montagues said they realized that they could, in turn, help others to accomplish their dream “in better ways than we experienced.”

The couple bought and renovated a fixer-upper which, they said, gave them even greater insights into how to execute such developments and also ignited their inner talents.

“But the fact that we had our full-time jobs, we thought it better do it as a team because real estate is a demanding industry,” Joseph said.

Young Joseph and Tara Montague (Contributed photo)

Tara, a registered nurse and medical representative for an international pharmaceutical company, brings the “nurturing side to the business to walk our clients through the process,” Joseph told Loop News while he adds his skills in marketing and business management, having acquired two degrees in the area.

Tara’s passion for home also design complements Joseph’s technical and business management skills, the couple said.

“For example, because I am a late-night person, I will be up late sending emails. She is an early morning person so she will get up in the morning and catch emails that came in when I was off so it almost feels like we are on the job 24 hours,” Joseph noted.

“With this team approach, our clients benefit tremendously because her strengths coupled with mine, they get the full package,” he said.

Contributed photos of the Montagues holding the keys to a home

According to the Montagues, the key to balancing working together and growing as a couple is multi-pronged.

“Because it crosses both professional and personal where you are literally working with your partner, we try to be there for each other as best as possible. We are a team in real estate but we are also a team in life,” Tara said.

The trick, she said, is keeping the lines of communication open and being able to identify when your partner needs a break.

“It gets stressful. We are fully employed otherwise and here we are trying to build our family business. But we both can identify when either of us needs a break or when we need to ease the pressure off the other person,” Tara said.

She continued: “Honestly, sometimes all it takes is a little conversation where, for example, Joseph will let me know all of what’s going on with him and we try to assist each other,” Tara shared.

Planning around the family’s schedule and involving the children also makes it easier to manage their multiple roles and projects, they said.

“If we have to go out of town, we turn it into a family trip. We get the business out of the way early then try to go to the beach or just spend time with each other because at the end of the day we can’t sacrifice our family life and our family time,” Tara said.

Already, their four-year-old son knows what an investment property is.

“It is said you don’t give your child what you didn’t get, you teach them what you didn’t know and we are big on that,” Tara said.

In the two years since they launched their real estate careers, the Montagues have won the Instagram Top Agent award, Top Producer, Top Marketers and Top Team awards within their brokerage house, Gourzong Reality.

They plan on opening their real estate brokerage firm eventually. But for now, they are learning and growing.

On the matter of growing together financially, the Montagues suggest being aligned in purpose and vision.

“Be aligned in terms of where you want to go. Know your partner and make sure it is somebody you can trust and rely on. Someone who is not going to be spending frivolously,” Joseph said.

“As a couple, be selfless. Be willing to invest some money because both parties will not have the same amount to contribute all the time to make the dream happen,” he added.

For Tara, growing a brand and business as a couple also means respecting each other, recognizing each other’s strengths and leveraging them to support the elements of the business and each other.

By Tameka Gordon

NewsAmericasNow.com