Peace, Faith, Real Estate & Serving Our Neighbors with Alison McCarthy

My guest on today’s episode is Allison McCarthy—an inspiring realtor in the Virginia Beach area whose journey into real estate was anything but ordinary. The youngest of 14 children, Allison grew up in a household where real estate was more than just a business—it was the tool her parents used to put every single one of their children through college. Even as a doctor and a nurse, her parents relied on rental properties to create financial stability, teaching her the power of real estate as a means to serve others and build legacy.

In this conversation, we dive into how those early lessons shaped her mindset, how she stepped into real estate while raising young kids—right before a global pandemic—and how she’s built a business grounded in faith, authenticity, and the willingness to meet every challenge as an opportunity for growth.

We talk about overcoming burnout, building a business with integrity, the importance of coaching, and how success for Allison isn’t defined by volume or awards, but by living with unshakable peace and serving her neighbors well.

So whether you’re navigating tough market cycles or just looking for a dose of grounded inspiration, this episode is packed with wisdom.

Connect with Alison:

alisells757@gmail.com

Instagram: @little_neck_real_estate

https://alisonmccarthyrealestate.com/

Transcript:

Welcome back to the Real Estate Success Podcast. I'm Leland Gross, certified financial planner and the founder of PeaceLink Financial Planning, where we specialize in helping realtors manage their finances and grow their businesses with clarity and confidence. My guest on today's episode is Alison McCarthy. Alison is an inspiring realtor in the Virginia Beach area whose journey into real estate was anything but ordinary. The youngest of 14 children, Alison grew up in a household where real estate was more than just a business. It was the tool her parents used to put every single one of their children through college. Even as a doctor and a nurse, her parents relied on rental properties to create financial stability, teaching her the power of real estate as a means to serve others and build legacy. In this conversation, we dive into how those early lessons shaped her mindset, how she stepped into real estate while raising young kids right before a global pandemic, and how she built a business grounded in faith, authenticity, and the willingness to meet every challenge as an opportunity for growth. We talk about overcoming burnout, building a business with integrity, the importance of coaching, and how success for Alison isn't defined by volume or awards, but by living with unshakable peace and serving her neighbors well. So whether you're navigating tough market cycles, or just looking for a dose of grounded inspiration, this episode is packed with wisdom. And with that introduction, I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Real Estate Success Podcast with Alison McCarthy.

All right, welcome, Alison, to the Real Estate Success podcast. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Of course. Tell the listeners a little bit about yourself. I'm a realtor and live here in Virginia Beach. I'm a transplant like a lot of other people in the area, but I've been here since 2007. I met my husband. We have two kids and we live in the neighborhood that he grew up in. So it's wonderful. Really? didn't know that. That's fun. Tell the listeners, I'm excited for your story in real estate, but tell them kind of how did you get into real estate? Was it in 2007? Because that's not a great time to get into real estate. No, really grew up around it. Well, everybody does. But my family, my father and mother had real estate. The neighbors' houses were all rentals that my parents owned. I think I told you earlier, I'm the youngest of 14 kids. She was gonna tell me this live on the episode and I thought that that was, I'm glad she didn't, because I think my jaw hit the ground. I think I'm still gonna be in therapy as wondering how 14 kids worked. So, and to add to that, my parents were both in the medical field. My dad was a doctor, my mom was a nurse. And their story was a lot to do with real estate in service to other people and then using real estate to really put 14 kids through college. That was a big part of how they did it. What did that look like? How did they use real estate to put 14 kids through college? Rentals. Yeah, my father was a doctor but was paid in like potatoes and tomatoes a lot of times. So, you know, in our conversations he would stress a lot about how you have to create a plan and always be in service, like I said, to other people. And he was just able to, when he could, purchase one at a time. And I would love to say, probably purchase one with each child, you know? But yeah, that was, rental income was a big part of being able to be able to do that. I mean, putting any child through a higher education is a feat, much less 14 of them. And I think it speaks to the power of passive income, real estate as an investment as a whole, which creates income and equity along the way. And so it sounds like your parents were very wise with the resources from the medical field, but kind of taking that and purchasing other assets that made money that, you people don't pay rent in tomatoes and potatoes. So that's good. Absolutely. I mean, I think someone would tried, but. OK, so you are kind of growing up around it. You've got 13 other brothers and sisters, but your parents have, you know, all the neighbors, they own the houses, their neighbors are renting from you guys. And that's kind of giving you a vision for real estate. How did that transition and when did that transition to, OK, I'm going to work in real estate myself? when I started my own family. Quickly, you start having kids and see things lining up along the way. I'm seeing braces, I'm seeing weddings, I'm seeing college tuition, all the things. And I was like, how am I going to make what I have grow to be able to take care of them? And first thing to leverage was my brain. And then go, yeah, I was like, we should probably invest in real estate. And I'm the type of person that if I'm going to do that, I want to know all of it. So being, becoming a realtor was a natural progression. So you're seeing your kids and you're thinking, you know, this is a way that my parents really blessed our family. I want to invest in it. But as opposed to just investing in it, I'm going to get licensed and I'm going become a realtor and I'm going to learn all aspects of real estate. Yeah. OK. And jumping into real estate, just the world of self-employment, that's a big transition for most people. That's kind of a scary I've got to pay my own taxes. And so a lot of times people don't do it because of the fear of the unknown when it comes to entrepreneurship. But was that a player at all in the factors of, if I'm going to become a realtor? That's a lot more than just purchasing my own rental property. What was that thought process like for you and your family? Well, I think I told you earlier, fear is not a thing for me. Challenges are, but I think that challenges present opportunities. And I think that I was willing to bet on myself. not knowing is not a reason to not move forward. You know what I mean? So kind of trusting that I could get what I needed along the way. we're all kind of in the dark, you know what I mean? In some aspect, but I've been blessed with finding the people along the way who can help me with the goals I have in mind. Yeah, we talked a lot before in the pre show about, you know, getting the right people in the seats on the bus to kind of help us, whether it's someone, you know, freeing up my time, whether it's a mentor or a coach, but just having the people on the bus with you makes the bus ride smoother, faster, and better all around. Yes.