Mike Ferry’s Podcast the Original: Melinda Elmer on Building a Divorce Attorney Niche and Getting Back to 100 Transactions – Tony Smith Interviews Melinda Elmer

In this episode, coach Tony Smith sits down with Melinda Elmer, a Long Beach, California agent. Melinda covers South LA County and North Orange County. She has sold real estate for 23 years, nearly all of it with Mike Ferry coaching. In her first six months, she closed zero transactions. But after joining coaching, she closed 12 deals in the next six months alone. Since then, she’s built her business around a color-coded schedule, a growing niche with divorce attorneys, and a goal of climbing back to 100 transactions a year.

If It’s Not on the Schedule, It Doesn’t Exist

Melinda schedules everything in her life, work and personal alike. In fact, her color-coded system is so detailed that it’s become something of a running joke with Tony. She constantly asks herself what matters most in the moment. Then she adjusts accordingly, since she can’t do everything at once. As a result, that discipline lets her balance an active business, a growing family, and martial arts training, without letting any one area take over completely.

Speaking the Attorneys’ Language

Two years ago, Melinda watched other agents succeed in the divorce real estate space and decided to take a certification class herself. She then followed the plan step by step, the same way she’d follow a Mike Ferry system. Today, that niche makes up about 20 to 25 percent of her business, and it’s still growing. In fact, she learned the attorneys’ own language so well that many now assume she’s an attorney herself. That fluency helps her navigate a process where real estate often gets pushed to the end of a divorce. Decision fatigue and conflict, she says, can complicate every transaction along the way.

Presenting to Rooms Full of Attorneys

Melinda treats her attorney presentations the same way she’d prepare a listing presentation. She writes out her script, practices it, records herself, and reviews it before every session. Most months, she runs regular lunch-and-learns. A few times a year, she also presents to larger rooms of 50 to 100 attorneys. Attorneys, she says, aren’t shy about grilling a presenter with questions. So staying prepared enough to pivot back to her core message matters just as much as the content itself.

Expanding Sources and Adapting to a Shifting Market

Even with a strong niche, Melinda still prospects daily. She works past clients, her sphere, and neighborhood outreach. Lately, she’s returning to Just Listed and Just Sold calls, since many past clients are locked into low pandemic-era interest rates and moving less often. Instead, they tend to refer business rather than transact themselves. She’s applied that same adaptability to the condo market, which makes up about half her business and has faced steep pricing, financing, and insurance challenges. Rather than resist each new obstacle, she tackles them one at a time. As a result, she credits that mindset for closing deals other agents might walk away from out of frustration.