GREENVILLE, N.C. — TikTok isn't just a social media site for viral videos and TikTok dances. It's also a platform for business tips and professional growth.
What You Need To Know
Emily McAllister is a real estate agent in Pitt County
She went viral on TikTok for some of her real estate videos in 2021
The booming housing market helps McAllister with her business
She's become a local celebrity and continues to promote her properties through social media
TikTok has even become the 2021 way of selling real estate, and it's been a winner for 25-year-old Emily McAllister. The Greenville-based real estate agent is racking up sales by racking up views.
“One of the very first videos that I did was an introductory video,” McAllister said. “That one took off. I mean it got 40 or 50,000 likes and probably half a million views.”
McAllister left community college and kind of stumbled into real estate. Her fan base loves the homes she posts.
However, the first firm she worked for told her to find a different job because she wasn't cut out for the business. She persisted, found a new agency, and proved her old employer wrong.
“I mean, I fell in love with it,” McAllister said. “Salespeople are a little bit of a different breed. And I just really like it, and I got really good at it.”
The timing was perfect. As she got hot, so did the market.
“In Greenville we have seen a really large uptick in property value, and part of that is because we do have so many people coming in from other areas like Raleigh and Charlotte,” McAllister said. “And just this national shift of being able to work remotely.”
Her TikTok videos also track her success. McAllister almost hit her goal of $11.1 million for 2021. Her 2022 goal is to sell 74 units, or roughly $12.5 million worth of properties.
“I like the challenge of it,” McAllister said. “And that kind of keeps me hooked. Because it's something different every single day. And just when you think you've seen everything that you can see, something else weird will happen. And it's like 'holy cow.'”
Greenville was the top city in the country for inbound growth in 2020, and McAllister says it's still a popular area for people to go if they're trying to get out of bigger cities.