Today we’d like to introduce you to Zach Fowle.
Hi Zach, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
Brief? Well, there’s nothing brief about my story lol. I was born and raised in the northland of Kansas City. I grew up like most of my peers, going to public school, parents got divorced. In high school I played the cello, I was in theater, and then onto stagecraft as well (set building, lighting, sound, all the backstage stuff).
High school is too early in almost anyone’s life to really know what they want to do, let alone who they want to be in the world. it’s hard enough just trying to figure out who you want to be in high school, let alone, the world beyond high school. Growing up, however, riding along with my grandpa whenever he would have errands to run with his rental properties sparked a fire that would take me years to fully understand.
I was learning in the early ages of elementary school that my grandpa was making money purely just from owning other properties and I thought, “Well anyone can do that!” Over time I learned to ask a lot of questions, and then looking at houses became a hobby of mine. When I was in middle school, while my parents were battling through their divorce, over summer break my grandma would come over to hang out with me during the days, she helped me with various DIY projects (I swear we painted our entire house one summer) but then we would also take breaks and sometimes go and look at the new model homes being built in the area.
My idea as a middle schooler was if I could get my dad’s house showing ready, he would agree to sell it and I could help him find a new home to buy. Already in middle school, I was trying to be my father’s realtor lol. High school came and about halfway through high school, my father’s job relocated us to Orlando, Florida. The move was a real shock in many ways. Moving to a new place, to a school 4x the size of my old school and not knowing anyone. I decided after attempting to go to the public school that I would just finish online so I did. After finishing high school early, I went and got to work.
I was still only 17, so I applied where I could and ended up working for a local Starbucks. I worked there, slowly trying to figure out what I wanted my next step to be. I started looking around and thought, maybe a marketing degree would be where I want to further my education. I started looking into enrollment and at this point, we had been in Florida for almost 3 years when my father received sudden notice that his job was going to require him to move back to Kansas City.
Working at Starbucks while living at home didn’t seem to be the most ideal situation to abruptly move out on my own and start school so I packed my bags and moved back. Moving back to the midwest was never something I could’ve seen myself doing. I was quite pleased that I had got an early ticket out so when I moved back I started going to the gym religiously. For the record, I was never involved with sports, never was an active child growing up, but going to the gym almost instantly became my new outlet for being in a place I didn’t want to be and trying to figure things out all over again.
It was all those hours in the gym that helped me accelerate my thought process, I was telling myself, “Ok, this isn’t ideal, but it’s my reality, what now?” So I thought long and hard about it. In the move, Starbucks had made it relatively easy to transfer so I wouldn’t have to look for a new job immediately. After a few months of being back, I decided I would find a job I could work hard at, make some money to save up, and then make my next move. I got a job working for the distribution plant for Hallmark and I went to work.
I worked as much overtime as my body would let me even if it wasn’t required and after about 6 months of working there I decided it was time to get my real estate license. At the time it made total sense to me, I worked in the mornings, I got off early in the afternoon, I could get my license and start working in the afternoons and evenings in-between shifts. I had started to tell my friends and family what I wanted to do, everyone was in full support and thought it was awesome that I was going to embark on this new career and then.
Halfway through my pre-licensing class, the two-week shutdown happened. March 2020, we all know it quite well. The class was paused, everyone went into quarantine. After the first week or so of watching endless hours of Netflix, I tried to stay on top of my studies so that as soon as the testing centers opened I would be able to finish the class and get back out there. All through the shutdown, I was watching the market go crazy, people were buying houses on FaceTime! My class picked back up in April, the testing centers were so backed up that the earliest time slot I could schedule wasn’t until June.
So I kept studying, but COVID was not going to be the only thing that would try and stand in my way. I went to go in for a check-up with my doctor at the end of May which had been rescheduled from March because of the shutdown. In early June, after my checkup, my doctor called me out of nowhere and told me that I needed to go to the hospital. Confused by what he was telling me, as I have never been to the hospital for anything other than being born. He told me the labs they had drawn came back very abnormal and that I needed to expect to be there for at least 48 hours so they could run additional testing.
So I went, they gave me 2 units of blood because my red blood cell count had dropped out of nowhere. They ran some tests and sent me on my way. I got a call the very next morning from a hematologist my doctor referred me to and they had me come in to do a bone marrow biopsy. The next week when I went in to get the biopsy done, it was the day before I was supposed to take my real estate exam so I was just excited to get in and get out. That’s not how that went.
After my biopsy, they told me I had to be readmitted because my red blood cell count had dropped once again and that I needed blood. After missing my exam, the results from the biopsy wouldn’t come back for another 5 days so we all just waited in silence. We were called to the University of Kansas Cancer treatment center to get the results of the biopsy and 07/01/2020, was the day I was diagnosed with acute leukemia.
The method of treatment was to do a round of chemo and then a bone marrow transplant. I didn’t know what any of this meant at the time, I was just going with it. My doctors seemed to know what they were doing so I just put my trust in them and went along for the ride. In my first round of chemo, I was in the hospital for about 3-4 weeks. They discussed transplant options and ended up finding a donor through the national donor registry. Because it was going to take so long before the donor could donate, this meant another round of chemo for me. and then finally the date was set, October 8th, 2020 was the day I was to receive my donor’s stem cells.
Last round of chemo leading up to a transplant, we thought, “we’re almost there!” until we weren’t. They walked us through the process extensively, but nothing could have prepared me for what was to come after the transplant. Things didn’t go as planned, these transplants are very hard to get write my doctors told me. But in February of 2021, my donor donated for a second time because my body did not completely take to her donation the first time. After months of living on the infusion of daily blood products, and having no immune system, the second donation is really what saved my life.
Spring of 2021, slowly but surely, the color started coming back to my face, my hair started growing back and over the next year, I would slowly start to regain my life back. If there was one constant through that entire process, other than my sister, who was my absolute warrior through the entire thing and dealt with me on even my worst days, it was real estate. Every day I kept my books by my bed, I kept studying because, through everything, all I wanted was another chance at taking that test.
All I wanted, was another chance at getting my life back. It’s hard to be so young and think you’ve finally figured it out, only for your entire world to be stripped away and to lose all sense of autonomy. The two things I wanted most were to be able to go back to the gym because I wanted to be able to look like myself again and feel like myself, but also get my dream back, my dream of making a difference in people’s lives. As soon as I got the ok from my doctors, I scheduled that exam, I still had a central line hanging out of my arm going into that testing center, but there was nothing that was going to stop me from getting my license.
The day I passed my exam, I sat in my car for almost 10 minutes in tears because I couldn’t believe after all that time, I had finally done it. Shortly after getting my license, my sister, who had been there with me every step of the way and her extremely supportive husband had come to me and told me they were finally ready to buy their first home. It was such an honor after going through that, for my sister to be the first person I got to help buy a home. It was such an amazing experience, getting to put everything I had learned over the past 18 months to the test and really show people I had what it takes.
I showed them probably 20 different houses and the one they ended up in could not have worked out any better. With me holding their hand through every step of the way, reminding them on every house they didn’t get, that I would find them a better one. In the crazy summer market of 2021, I managed to not only get them into a perfect home for them to finally begin to start their family, but I was also able to help them get an amazing deal at a discounted price so they could feel even more confident about their purchase.
It was through that experience that I learned that this is what I am passionate about doing because there were many points where I could tell they were starting to feel helpless, just as I had in the hospital, and I was able to help support them through such an emotional and stressful process and all the way to the end to see how happy they are now in their new home. I am not in real estate because I saw a hot market and wanted to take advantage of the action.
I am in real estate because I understand how stressful the process can be, I know that it can be scary to make a decision when the pressure is high, and that’s why I strive to work as hard as I can so that people can make confident and informed decisions when investing in their future. Real estate is more than a piece of property, is someone’s home, it can also be a source of revenue that people can use to pay for their children’s college, start a new business, or leave the job they hate.
Property ownership can open so many doors for people, and I am here because I am passionate about helping people achieve their dreams.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has definitely not been smooth, but I have had such a large arsenal of support and that is really what reminds me every day that I can do anything I set my mind to. The world shutting down was not ideal, getting diagnosed with a life treating illness in the middle of the pandemic was certainly not ideal. I think the biggest struggle for me along the way was the mental hurdle.
I was 21 when I was diagnosed and had you told me on my 21st birthday I would be spending my 22nd birthday in the hospital, cancer would’ve been the last reason I would’ve guessed. By the time I had been diagnosed, I thought I was in the best shape of my life, I had been going to the gym5-6 times a week and I thought I was actually pretty healthy. Losing all of that and being worn down by treatment, not recognizing yourself in the mirror was really hard.
I knew I had an army of support, cheering me on from afar, but being it was the middle of the pandemic, I couldn’t really see anyone because I could only have one visitor a day, and most days that was my sister. After I started to slowly regain my strength, the second hardest part was trying to get up every day and try to rediscover who I once was. I felt like everyone was watching me see me go out and be this massive success and the anxiety of not living up to who I thought I was supposed to be was horrible. This road has been a long one, and not without mistakes made along the way.
The biggest misconception I battled, was not that the world was expecting me to be something new, the world was waiting for me to return. I got so wrapped up in my head about who I was supposed to be now that I beat cancer, that I lost who I was before. I think everything happens for a reason and I think, my road was paved not to be easy, but to make me that much stronger.
I think we all have it in us to bear the road ahead, but not without asking for help, not without making mistakes; I think the key is to not lose hope in something greater.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Well for formal introductions, I am a Realtor, licensed in both Kansas and Missouri, serving all communities of Kansas City. I am a native to the city, growing up just 15 minutes north, I feel like giving me a very unique perspective and knowledge of our city from a very young age.
Growing up, coming into the city was a very normal thing to me, whether it be for an event, a school conference, dinner, or even grabbing coffee with friends. I know this city and its surrounding areas very well and like to consider myself a local expert. I specialize in residential real estate, for buyers and sellers. I would like to think I am known best for my communication with the people I work with. I do my best to guide, advise and educate people about the dynamics of the market to effectively empower people to make well-informed decisions.
I am most proud of building long-lasting relationships with people I’ve had the pleasure of working for because, at the end of the day, I am in this to make a difference in people’s lives. I want to help set people up for success so that when lucrative opportunities present themselves, my clients know what to expect and are ready to be put in the best possible position for success. I think what sets me apart from others is that I am a Kansas Citian at heart.
I care about this city we all call home. I care about people the younger generation getting their seat at the table of property ownership. I want to show people that owning a house is not as inconceivable as they may think. That generating passive income through property ownership can be a reality. I want to kill the stigma that younger people are not going to be able to be homeowners by educating them on how conceivable the inconceivable really is.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
I think the whole world is going through a monumental shift in how we go about our daily lives. I think over the next 5-10 years we are going to see a major shift in how people view and approach property ownership with new platforms like VRBO and airbnb and the rise of people working remotely. I think that as far as the market goes, I think many trusted sources all believe we will not see any sort of “crash” any time soon.
I think rising interest rates will bring a new shift to the market that might slow down buyer aggression, but I think going back to what I have been emphasizing on generating wealth through property ownership. I think with these new technology-based platforms allowing owners to sublet their properties, people are starting to look at their homes as more of an equitable investment and not personal investment. With more and more people being able to work remotely, people don’t have to spend 50+ weeks out of the year in one place.
I think even with rising interest rates and inflation, people will still want to own property, but not in the traditional sense of it being their private residence for the next 5-10 years, but as a base. Somewhere that they can live but also rent if they choose to take a long vacation, or rent out a room or two that they’re not using. A misconception of building wealth through property ownership is that you don’t have to have multiple units or properties to start collecting rent.
Contact Info:
- Email: zach@brintonrealty.com
- Website: zach.homesinkcmetroarea.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zachfowlekc/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zachfowlekc
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/zach-fowle-remax-legacy-kansas-city
