Nearly four years ago, God told Realtor Becky Lockwood what He wanted her to do. She was sure He was talking with the wrong person.
“The Lord said He wanted me to double what I was giving Him. I wrestled with this. As a Christian, I tithe ten percent of my income. But twenty percent is a lot when you’re self-employed,” she says.
Lockwood tried to convince God He was asking for the impossible. In response, He told her to read Malachi 3:10: “Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be enough room to store it.”
“My prayer has always been, ‘Lord, bless me so I can bless others,’ so I committed to giving Him twenty percent,” Lockwood says.
Around the same time, Lockwood felt God was calling her to leave her current company and set up shop at Coldwell Banker Pryor Realty. Owner Peggy Pryor had been courting her for some time, but Lockwood had resisted. After several conversations with Pryor and many hours of prayer, Lockwood relented. Her broker told her she was making a mistake.
“She said I’d be out of business by the end of the year, but I knew the Lord would equip me for what He wanted me to do, so I made the change,” Lockwood says.
Lockwood says her business increased 500 percent once she started giving an additional 10 percent. “People say this is a bad time to sell real estate, but all I see is opportunity,” she says.
Eventually, the workload become more than Lockwood could bear. Thankfully, she says, God sent help in the form of her daughter, Autumn Burke.
The two ladies are seated together at the dining room table in the Ringgold, Ga., home Burke shares with her husband and two children. The daughter smiles as she tells the story of how she came to work for her mom.
“I earned my real estate license about three years ago. Then I had my baby. When he came along, my focus shifted. But in December, my mom became really busy; she had more clients than she could handle, so she was threatening to get an assistant. My husband suggested I try helping her, so I did,” Burke says.
Burke tackled many of the things for which her mother was unable to find the time in including filing papers, making copies, scheduling appointments, analyzing markets, and more. But she didn’t stop there: She also renewed her license.
Lockwood couldn’t be happier. “Autumn being able to show a property has been liberating for me. I can’t be two places at once, but if I’m showing a home, and someone wants to see another property, I can call my daughter. Being able to delegate tasks to her has given me peace of mind,” she says.
Seeing Lockwood and Burke seated close to each other, the family resemblance is obvious. One could even say the daughter is the spitting image of the mother. But differences do arise. Burke explains:
“We’re both passionate about our feelings, so if I believe something should be done a certain way, and she believes the polar opposite, we can really go at it. But we never have to say we’re sorry; we just get over it and move on.”
Lockwood nods her head in agreement. “We don’t hold grudges. When we disciplined Autumn when she was young, she didn’t pout for hours; she bounced right back. I’m the same way; we have a resilience that keeps us strong. We don’t give in to our circumstances,” she says.
One key difference between mother and daughter is actually a compatibility, as the unique personality of each woman balances the other. Burke says that while her mother sometimes allows details to consume her, she’s able to see the big picture. “Sometimes, I can diffuse her stress; other times, I have to draw back and let her work through it.”
Lockwood’s tendency to obsess over the finer points of a real estate deal has its roots in her days as a paralegal. For many years she worked for attorneys, and learned to attend to even the smallest details of a task. Later, Lockwood spent 14 years as an administrator for an electrical contractor. While she loved her job, she worked hard, and other people saw the increase.
Following an especially hectic year, Lockwood decided a change was in order. “I wanted to control what I earned. I didn’t mind working hard, but I wanted to reap the benefits. So I enrolled in a real estate course,” Lockwood says.
Burke traveled a different path to real estate. After high school, she immediately earned her hair license. While she loved helping people to feel good about themselves, she’s only a shade north of five feet tall, and most cosmetology equipment is made for people a little taller. To do her work properly, Burke had to expend more physical effort, and nightly returned home exhausted. Despite enjoying her work, she eventually no longer saw herself doing it for the rest of her life.
Real estate caught Burke’s eye when she saw how much more money her mother was making for working the same number of hours.
Both ladies are thrilled to be teamed up. Lockwood says her daughter working with her is an honor: “Her being a part of what I do tells me she respects me and values my opinion. Plus, the time we spend working together is time together.”
Burke says she feels secure in working with her mother. “She won’t take advantage of me, and that’s always a risk when working in a competitive business. I could be anyone’s assistant, but my mom has my best interests at heart. She won’t let me fail. “
Mother and daughter both say they’ll continue to work together as long as they are increasing each other’s financial stability. “When she helps me, there’s a return; when I help her, there’s a return,” Burke says. “So until she says we’re done, we’re going to be together.