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Boston Reid, co-owner of Lead 2 Real Estate Group
Age: 28
Lives in: Cornelius
Family: wife, Shanda
Education: no college degree
Former NASCAR driver Boston Reid grew up in Indiana and began racing at the tender age of 7.
He made it big in 2004, when Hendrick Motorsports offered him the opportunity to drive for one of the most successful racing teams in NASCAR.
Once sponsorships dried up, he opted to stay in the Charlotte area, following in the footsteps of his family of developers by going into real estate in 2009.
He completed 33 real estate transactions in his first year and earned the Charlotte Regional Realtor Association’s rookie of the year designation in 2010.
Today, most of his clients are in the motorsports industry. He and business partner Frank Bolter, a former spotter for NASCAR drivers, have begun their own real estate firm, Lead 2 Real Estate Group. In the past 90 days, Reid has completed about 16 real estate transactions.
Why real estate?
It’s what my family has done and I enjoy helping people. It’s an opportunity for me to help the crew members and other drivers and the rest of the community with some things I’ve learned.
Was it hard to enter the real estate industry in Charlotte?
It’s hard because anytime you enter a new industry, it’s about your results. It’s a little easier now. And the second thing that’s hard is I miss driving.
How long is your average day?
The day starts at 7:30 a.m. or 8 a.m., and we’ll quit about 8 p.m. or 8:30 p.m. on a normal day, seven days a week.
Are you working more hours now than when you were in racing?
More hours now. When you own your own business, your name is on the line, so you are going to do everything possible to satisfy your client. I’m a firm believer that it doesn’t matter if it’s a $150,000 client or a $1 million client. The same effort gets applied to that transaction.
Do people seek you out to be their agent because of your racing background?
Yeah. It’s an icebreaker. They’ll say, ‘What was your opinion on the race this past weekend?’ or ‘What was it like driving in Daytona?’ or ‘What was it like driving for Hendricks Motorsports?’
Any big name real estate clients from NASCAR that you can share?
What was really neat for my partner and I, on Memorial Day weekend the two biggest races of the year was the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600, and we had clients in both. But I don’t kiss and tell.
Tara Ramsey can be reached at [email protected].
