Joining a Greater Des Moines Real Estate Team After High School Graduation

Jay Avant joined Kyle Clarkson’s team at Century 21 four months ago, after graduating from Hoover High School in 2021. Around the same time, he received his diploma and went through his high school graduation, he also received his license in real estate.

There were two reasons he decided to get into real estate. First, he wanted to be able to get into houses he thought he’d never be able to afford as he’d grown up living in rentals. At 17, he put a hole in the wall of his house which led his mom to explain to him the differences between owning and renting. Now that he’s moving ahead with his real estate career, he’s hopeful his mom will get on board with his chosen career in lieu of going to college.

Learning the World of Real Estate

Avant has enjoyed getting to talk to new people every day and build relationships with people within the Greater Des Moines (DSM) community as he gets his real estate business off the ground. He joined Kyle Clarkson’s team after researching the best agents in Iowa and meeting with Clarkson. Since then, Avant has learned a few things about starting up a career in the region, including:

• It’s a long journey, not a short race.
• You need to build consistency every day to be better than the day before.

Throughout the last few months, he’s turned to other mentors on his team, most of all Lisa Vance and Jeff Kovack. Avant pushes himself in his career to be an example to others who grew up around him at Hoover. He knows it won’t be easy, but he hopes that by setting goals — he’s working towards being Rookie Agent of the Year — he can continue to give back to both the Hoover and DSM communities.

Joining YPC

Avant recently joined the Young Professionals Connection (YPC) to be around likeminded people his age. He’s glad that the Greater Des Moines Partnership program is available to him and looks forward to learning more professional verbiage so that he can communicate well as he evolves in his role as a realtor. As a younger professional at YPC, Avant is moving forward with the knowledge that he should be in the room and overlooking feelings of intimidation. He encourages high school students to find mentors within organizations like YPC to learn as they consider what their own career pathways might look like.

Reach out to Avant by contacting him at jatyrin5@gmail.com.

Young Professionals Connection (YPC) aims to attract and retain young professionals in Greater Des Moines (DSM) by connecting emerging leaders to each other and to the community through social, civic, charitable and professional development endeavors. Learn how you can get involved.