Transcript:
Jeremy Goeckner: Hello, and welcome to the IR weekly podcast, keeping you up to date with all the latest news in the realtor world. I’m Jeremy.
Kelli Jessup: And I’m Kelli.
Jeremy Goeckner: And today we have a very special guest. We have Angela Wrather, who is a REALTOR® with Keller Williams Pinnacle Group in O’Fallon. And she is also graduated from a sign language interpreting program. I am so excited to talk about this today. Angela is currently spearheading efforts to educate and provide resources to real estate agents so that they can be in compliance with ADA requirements and the state of Illinois and Missouri requirements to become competent at working with deaf and hard of hearing clients. Angela, what an amazing topic. I thank you so, so much for coming on and sharing this show with us today.
Angela Wrather: Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.
Jeremy Goeckner: Absolutely. So we’re going to get started where I love to get started with all guests. And I just want to know about you. I want to know your story. How did you get involved in real estate? you told us something about a T-Rex. I need to know all these details. Angela, give us, how did you get involved in real estate?
Angela Wrather: Well, COVID actually, I was getting ready to hopefully test for my sign language, interpreting, BEI for the test and COVID kind of squashed that idea. So I’m sitting here going, so what do I do? I love real estate. I’ve got lots of friends in real estate and was kind of encouraged because of my background and knowledge to get into real estate. So I actually took the classes with another interpreter wouldn’t you know, and we ended up, you know, because misery loves company, right. And this test and the classes. Yeah, all of that. So we decided to take it together and ended up passing and became real estate agents.
Jeremy Goeckner: Very nice. I do like the paradigm shift there. It’s like, so many people during COVID, it gives you opportunities to reassess and think there’s some new stuff that you can do.
Angela Wrather: Right. And as far as the T-Rex thing. Yeah. I love my T-Rex costume and I need, I don’t really need an excuse to get into it. Sure. And it makes people happy. It makes people smile. And that’s what I’m all about. I’m all about helping people, making people smile and the T-Rex costume just kind of fit in. And I know it’s different and it’s weird, but I will say that on my first listing it was an as is, and I decided to take pictures of my T-Rex costume because it really needed to be updated. And Jurassic Park was just about to come out. Sure. And I was like, okay, this house needs to be brought back up from the stone ages so I took lots of pictures in my T-Rex costume. And wouldn’t, you know, I had so many offers and a lot of them in comments said “buyer asks, requests that the listing agent wears her T-Rex costume in closing . And so I, I didn’t think it would be a thing, but it is a thing my husband refuses to be seen in public when I’m wearing the T-Rex costume.
So he kind of goes the other way but I have been asked to wear the T-Rex costume. So I guess as long as it’s working yeah.
Jeremy Goeckner: Yeah. As an eternal nerd and lover of all things weird. Keep wearing that costume.
Angela Wrather: Exactly.
Kelli Jessup: That’s fun. Exactly. So Angela, now that you’re in real estate and you kind of mentioned that, you know, helping people is like your passion, can you tell us about what you’re trying to do at your brokerage and throughout the state?
Angela Wrather: Yes. Well, it actually started, so I, I am a newer agent, we’ll say that. And as I was getting into the industry, I was talking to a lot of REALTORS® about being bilingual and being able to use ASL and work at the deaf and hard of hearing community. There’s a lot of people out there, I think, REALTORS® and as well as vendors and things that, you know, don’t know how to work with the deaf and hard of hearing community. And I really want people to know that it’s not that hard and they really want houses too. And there have been some situations that have popped up that have really kind of lit my fire to help this community. And feel that if more REALTORS® were comfortable with the ADA and what that looks like to work with a deaf and hard of hearing individual, that it would be more open. And the other thing is, is that I know a lot of deaf and hard of hearing people. I am one agent. I cannot work with all the deaf and hard of hearing individuals out there in the community wishing to buy a house. And so I, I need some help and having other REALTORS® that understand the process, that’s not that difficult, and being able to help these clients get into homes would be amazing. So just trying to open up that door and educate cause there is fear of the unknown, right? So.
Jeremy Goeckner: Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, you talk about a little bit there. I was going to ask you about why you think, you know, this is such an important thing now and you brilliantly, already answered that of why. it, it does seem kind of self-evident or shouldn’t it though, right? Like, you know, like you should want to help people as much as possible, but you know, you already mentioned a little bit your, involvement in the deaf and hard of hearing community. how did you get involved in that community? Like was there a personal connection that got you, kind of headfirst into that community?
Angela Wrather: Yes. And, and it’s odd. I mean, there are parallels to how I got into it, Now, number one, I am hard of hearing myself, so I do wear hearing aids. so there’s that, but the actual, how I actually fell into the community was my daughter passed away in 2011, she had a congenital heart defect. She was five years old. She could not communicate, so she could hear, but she couldn’t communicate. So we were teaching her ASL, sign language to be able to communicate with us back. And unfortunately, a month before she was accepted and able to go to St. Rita school for the deaf in Cincinnati, Ohio, she passed away. So I went through two years of trying to figure out what my life looked at, what that would look like from now on, because I wasn’t her caretaker and she wasn’t here anymore.
So I started taking sign language classes at Southwestern, Illinois college SWIC and I kept taking classes and I kept taking classes and I really enjoyed it. And wouldn’t, you know, I ended up graduating from the interpreting program at SWIC and through that program have some very dear friends who are deaf. I got immersed into a community that are absolutely amazing, amazing people. And then when I got into real estate, I realized that I was needing to make a change or at least raise awareness because my friends who are deaf and hard hearing, I was hearing stories about them struggling to buy a house, that there wasn’t an interpreter when they went to go close on their loan. And so many things that I kind of took a step back and yeah, I mean, we, we all want to make money as REALTORS®, but at the end of the day, I’m here to help people. And that’s kind of where my heart has drawn me now is to advocate for the deaf and hard of hearing community.
Kelli Jessup: So you mentioned some barriers that the deaf and hard of hearing clients face. Do you want to elaborate more on that? What are some of those barriers or like some examples of them?
Angela Wrather: Yeah. So number one, it’s a misnomer and people think that sign language is English. And really at the end of the day, sign language is closer to French in sentence structure and everything. And the vocabulary is different. the deaf community, they have learned differently than we do. So they’re extremely intelligent that deaf and hard hearing community, but some of the vocabulary as with any language doesn’t necessarily translate well and words like contingency, words like escrow, words like addend words that you will find in contractual, legal binding transactions that, that might come up and having I’m, I’m just going to say having an interpreter there would really help that process because they would be able to not only tell them what that word, what, what the word meant and how it pertained to them in this transaction and what their legal obligations would be in signing this contract.
I really want people to have the resources – REALTORS®, lenders, vendors, and have the resources of who to call and what that process looks like. But here’s the deal. Not every deaf and heart hearing person is going to need an interpreter. it all comes down to mode of communication. So as a realtor, don’t you ask your hearing clients, what do you prefer? Do you prefer text, email? Do you prefer calls? Hmm? Well, if you’re working with a deaf and a hard hearing person, then you just add onto that. Do you prefer notes back and forth? do you want a VRI, which is a video relay interpreter, do you want an, an actual in life interpreter for closings, for lending, for things like this. I mean, you ask these questions to your hearing person, your hearing client. Why don’t you just add in those things for your deaf client? It’s not that difficult. And if you have the resources, you can give them to the title agency and say, Hey, my deaf client’s really going to need an interpreter. Here are some resources, and here are some agencies to go ahead and set that up with, just to keep your liability down.
Jeremy Goeckner: Yeah. I mean, there’s, there’s so many things that, you know, make so much common sense what you’re thinking of talking about, but again, you need that inflection point. You need that trigger point. If somebody, to tell you this might not even be something you’ve ever thought about, but obviously it’s something that is vital. and so I’m just very grateful that you’re out there bringing this up. So you are, developing an educational program like this with your brokerage, is that correct?
Angela Wrather: Yes, I am. And I am so extremely proud to have such supportive brokers at Keller Williams Pinnacle in O’Fallon. And I’m proud to say that on August 16 at 11:30, our brokerage will be holding the first class on ADA and not just the ADA, but etiquette and working with the ADA, because those are two different things. And as much as I am focused on the deaf and hard of hearing aspect of the ADA and what it looks like to work with interpreters and make sure that everyone is in compliance with not only federal, but Illinois and Missouri state laws to educate people a little bit more on the ADA, what that looks like, what is your role as a realtor?
What are your obligations, fiduciary, due diligence…what do your obligations look like when servicing and providing, you know, service to the deaf and hard of hearing community or anybody deemed in that ADA umbrella anyway. So what does that look like? And I don’t think we really got enough training on that. So when things do pop up, which I’m not saying they will, and I’m not saying you’ll ever work for the deaf and hard of hearing person, but have those resources. I guess deal with it for a lack of a better word, how to handle that situation and what your re resources are. Every lender, realtor, title company should have resources available to them on a rolodex to be able to call an interpreter because everybody deserves the opportunity to own a home.
Jeremy Goeckner: Yeah. I mean, you, that’s literally what I was just about to say, like we, as REALTORS® are in the middle of this, Everyone Deserves the American Dream Campaign and that does indeed mean everyone. even people where you might have to go the extra mile with. and you know, but that’s like, but that’s what REALTORS® are supposed to be. They’re supposed to be the ones that go that extra mile and you know, really reach out and do the, every single thing that is needed to help, help someone achieve that dream. and so, you know, normally on all these interviews, I like to ask people what that phrase means to them, Everyone Deserves the American Dream and I think it means something very specific to you that you just talked about. But do you have anything else that, that you might want to say about that concept of everyone deserving the American dream?
Angela Wrather:
Everybody deserves to have the opportunity to be able to buy a home, whatever that looks like. And you know, I was actually, to be honest with you, when I first got into real estate, I was wanting to do a workshop for the deaf and hard of hearing to go through that process, because remember, they don’t have equal access to information. They do not have equal access. Like all of us do to communication. So things that we take for granted they’ve may not have been introduced to. So I really wanted to do a workshop that I was going to partner with Paraquad it’s an agency in St. Louis and go through this process for the deaf and hard of hearing. We’re going to talk about credit. We’re going to talk about lending. We’re going to talk about finding your house. We’re going to talk about title. We’re going to talk about all the things. And it was going to be like an hour and a half. And I was so excited to be setting this up and I actually got a lot of positive response.
So I feel that helping educate on effective communication, what that looks like, because it’s different for everybody. and what are our roles in the ADA? What are our roles for compliance? What do we need to be doing to service our clients better? Whether that’s getting an interpreter, whether that’s, helping them through that process because they don’t know whatever that looks like. It’s our job to help people. Isn’t that why, I mean, that’s why we’re here. So I feel that if you’re educated in the ADA and understand what that looks like, what your role is, I think it would be easier. And I think people would be able to not be so scared or hesitant to work with a member of the deaf and hard of hearing community.
Jeremy Goeckner: Yeah. It’s all about anticipating, anticipating needs as well. Like that’s always a great thing, you know, like anticipating something that might come up so that you can help them right away
Angela Wrather: No, exactly. And in the business of helping people find homes, we should be able to help everyone find a home.
Kelli Jessup: Well, I think the work you’re doing is great and bringing awareness to this topic and you know, just driving people to learn more and whatnot. So as we kind of conclude the podcast or get to the end of it, what are some takeaways you want people to have or are there some resources you can give our listeners?
Angela Wrather: Yes. as far as resources, there are so many interpreting agencies out there that you can Google. I mean the three that I primarily have associated myself with is Paraquad or Deaf Way there in St. Louis. there’s Deaf Inc. that I have also had the pleasure of working with there’s Signing Edge. I like Signing Edge. Their owner is deaf himself. His name is James Frost. Fantastic, fantastic individual. And he promotes an advocates for fair, effective communication as well, who I talked to actually yesterday about the podcast. And he just wants, you know, from his take, he just wants everybody to understand that communication is different for everybody. And to ask and respect what your client’s mode of communication is, whatever, whatever that looks like. And I actually agreed with them because, you know, having an interpreter is a small price to pay.
This is going to be, I will say that deaf couple, that deaf person is going to be their biggest investment to date. Don’t we owe them that respect to have them be able to understand the contract, to have it interpreted in a way that makes sense to them to protect their investment and to protect your liability as a realtor or a vendor? So I, I just, I don’t want to make it scary. I just want all the REALTORS® and like I said, vendors to, to open up their minds, open up their hearts and learn more about the ADA and maybe learn some etiquette that goes along with that on how to handle certain situations that might appear.
Jeremy Goeckner: Well, I’m just going to go out on a limb and say, you’ve opened a lot of hearts and minds here today. Just, I mean just two people here in this studio. This has been a fantastic conversation, Angela, the work you’re doing is so amazing, so vital, so please keep doing it. We will continue to support you in any way. and then just thank you for being on IR weekly today.
Angela Wrather: Well, thank you. And I, I really appreciate the opportunity. I really appreciate the opportunity and I do, I would like to see the ADA and etiquette be implemented as part of our real estate license, because I do feel that strongly, that it’s important. And if we’re here not to discriminate, and if we’re here to help people find homes, all people, then I feel that we all need to have a little bit more working knowledge of the ADA and how to work within the ADA and what that looks like.
Jeremy Goeckner: Yep, absolutely. Absolutely. Well, that is it for this week’s episode of IR Weekly. I hope all of you have learned something great, new and vital. as always, if you like what you’re listening to give us a rating and a review on your podcast app of choice.
Kelli Jessup: And if you’d like any more content, simply search for Illinois REALTORS® on your favorite social media app, we’ll see you next week.
