Lori Weaver is a Luxury Portfolio Specialist with John L. Scott Real Estate in the Seattle, WA area. Lori works alongside her husband, Norm Weaver, as part of The Weaver Team. A Seattle native, Lori grew up in the Puget Sound area. In her work as a realtor, Lori is passionate about ensuring satisfaction in all areas of the client journey and experience. Lori helps people find or sell their home or vacation property — and all of it with a smile on her face. As an active community member, Lori has gained a working knowledge of the surrounding neighborhoods, market conditions, and schools. This has allowed Lori to bring a level of wisdom to real estate in the Seattle area, which is seldom matched.
“I like helping people find the place of their dreams. It really comes back to helping people.” Lori says when asked about the underlying passion behind her career. Lori Weaver has a firm grasp of what it takes to make clients’ real estate transactions run smoothly. Lori enjoys helping her clients find properties that fall within their budget constraints, “all the while focusing on getting them just what they’re looking for.”
Lori continues to grow her expertise in real estate and has earned her Certified Luxury Home Buyer Representation Specialist, Certified Luxury Home Seller Marketing Specialist, and Certified Luxury Open House Specialist designations. Lori and The Weaver Team also won The John L. Scott Sales Associate President’s Award in 2018.
Lori Weaver’s work with John L. Scott Real Estate is a source of pride for her. The company was founded in the heart of downtown Seattle in 1931 and has grown into one of the largest and most successful regional real estate companies in the nation. It’s operations now include over 100 offices with over 3,000 agents throughout Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and California. The company’s chairman and CEO, J. Lennox Scott, says, “our business is transactional excellence but our higher purpose is “Living Life as a Contribution®.” And for Lori Weaver, that sense of obligation is essential.“I really value the commitment to ethics and customer-centric focus at John L. Scott Real Estate — those are the things I love most about what I do right now,” says Lori.
Along with her role in real estate, Lori Weaver has built a career based on the importance of strong leadership. Believing in the relationship between leadership and customer satisfaction, Lori is an advocate for the importance of guiding a client through the real estate process and into the success they desire. “One of the most important things to remember is that you are an expert,” Lori enthusiastically says when asked about a successful business/client relationship. “It’s your job – and you have the opportunity – to provide your expertise and help the client through an unfamiliar or difficult situation.”
In addition to her career, Lori Weaver is a member of the Bellevue Club. When not working, Lori loves traveling and spending time with her family. Lori and her family have traveled the world together, visiting places like Italy and Africa. With his hectic schedule, Lori’s son keeps her busy, but she wouldn’t have it any other way. Lori has been an active member of the PTSA at Maywood Middle School.
Our Interview With Lori Weaver
Question: What’s the most important thing we should know about you?
Lori Weaver: I love what I do! I enjoy the very personal aspect of helping people achieve their dreams and putting all of the pieces of the puzzle together to ensure that their whole experience is exceptional from start to finish. I love a good challenge; I’m a problem solver with a strong work ethic. If there is a roadblock, I will find a way around it. I am up for any challenge and enjoy thinking outside of the box!
Question: Name the most impactful lesson you learned from failure.
Lori Weaver: Never let failure define you. Sometimes people get caught up living in the past when they focus on their regrets. I believe that failure can make you stronger if you learn from it. You mustn’t let the fear of failure keep you from reaching beyond your comfort zone and extending your knowledge. Maybe the first time you tried, it didn’t work. But having the mindset of “if it were easy, everyone would be doing it” can help you pick yourself up and try again. Don’t give up and always believe in yourself and your capabilities.
Question: What accomplishment are you most proud of?
Lori Weaver: I think I am most proud of the fact that at this moment, I feel like I have a good work-life balance. I have a 12-year-old son with an insane schedule, as most kids do. I’m in awe of mom’s who balance the needs and activities, and life in general of more than one child! I have a busy life with a career I love and a great family. I have a strong support system in my husband, and I try to keep a balanced life and stay mindful of being in the moment. When I’m working, I put 100% of my effort and thoughts into that and give it my all, but I don’t want to be at my son’s soccer game thinking about work and not being present. I am proud of the business I have built and the success I’ve had. I’m so fortunate to have a career in a field where I feel I’m helping people and building long term relationships. I love feeling like I’ve helped make a difference for a family. I have also carved out time to take care of me and be sure that I am working out and doing what I can to stay healthy and feel better. I can do a much better job at juggling daily life if I carve out a little time for physical and mental health. I always feel like I want to do more, but I also think I have learned to focus on the truly important things. I guess life is always a learning experience!
Question: What did you waste the most time on when you were first starting your career?
Lori Weaver: In the beginning, I wanted to do everything. I wanted to be involved in every aspect of every transaction and to have control over every detail. What I’ve learned and grown the most from is learning to delegate. To admit that I do have incredible strengths but that there are some areas where I need help, and that is why I surround myself with experts and go-to people for whatever need may arise. If I don’t know the answer or the best approach to take, I have the resources to find someone who does. I can be my best self by focusing on the areas where I excel and utilizing other people’s strengths to complement my own.
Question: Name a tool you use for work that you can’t live without.
Lori Weaver: My phone! My phone’s calendar is where I schedule everything. There are positives and negatives to how connected we are daily, but in this business, it is critical. I love having access to everything I need or want in the palm of my hand. I have access to everything from a GPS to the history of a home’s previous owners and tax base in a matter of seconds.
Question: What is your favorite hobby, and why?
Lori Weaver: Traveling with my family – I am fortunate that my husband, Norm, loves to travel as much as I do. My son, who just turned 12, has been in over 20 countries, most of them before the age of 5 when he started school. I love experiencing other cultures around the world. I want my son to appreciate the wonders of the world, to realize that people can be happy living with much less than what we take for granted here in the U.S., and to recognize how privileged we are. I have an incredible video of my son at age five playing with children in a remote African village. They didn’t speak the same language, but it didn’t matter. They ran and played for hours and just enjoyed being kids together. It was incredible to see. Traveling has brought me great joy.
Question: What excites you the most about your industry right now?
Lori Weaver: The industry is always changing and evolving. I love that we have the flexibility of being able to help both buyers and sellers in many different ways. We can adapt how we do business to meet the needs and wants of the consumer. Some people want a more comprehensive experience with us, and if that is the case, we can facilitate that from start to finish. Some people want a different type of experience, and we can adjust to that as well. There is no cookie-cutter way to do business anymore, and I love that. The technology and resources that we have available to us are rapidly changing and evolving, and it is so exciting. We can network with buyers and sellers from all around the world if we need to. Physical location isn’t as important anymore; it’s your connections and your ability to reach outside of that area to meet whatever need you or your clients have.
Question: What’s the biggest risk you’ve ever taken?
Lori Weaver: I always wanted to be an entrepreneur, even at a young age. I knew I wanted to build a business and be my own boss. I wanted to have complete control over what the future looks like. There is always a financial risk in doing that. There is a lot more comfort in having a regular paycheck rather than being the one writing the checks. I always knew that I wanted to build an impactful business that makes a difference for people. There are positives and negatives about running your own business, but at the end of the day, I know that there are no limitations on what I can do or accomplish. It’s empowering – sometimes scary – to be out of my comfort zone and always growing.
Question: Name one small habit that positively impacts your productivity.
Lori Weaver: I think organization is the primary and probably the hardest thing sometimes to accomplish and maintain. Whether it is in my personal or professional life, everything runs more smoothly when I’m organized. The amount of time wasted in our daily life is enormous when we don’t have an organized system. I live by my calendar, reminders, notes, etc. It makes things a lot less overwhelming when you have a plan. However, it is a daily struggle, and life can be hectic, but I try to make that a goal.
Question: Do you value intelligence or common sense more? Why?
Lori Weaver: I do value both, but pitting one against the other, I think for me the answer is common sense. It is possible to have intelligence without common sense, but I don’t think the reverse is true. If you have common sense, you have some degree of intelligence inherent in you. You can learn something from books, but applying it to daily life is what matters most. That is the real test of a person. Real-life applications and being able to change and adapt to your environment is so critical in our world. Being able to think and react quickly to situations and to roll with the punches is an admirable quality in a person.
Question: What would you consider to be the perfect day?
Lori Weaver: My perfect day at this point in my life would be spent with my family. We just returned from a summer trip to Italy, which was fantastic. The country is truly stunning, but for me, the best part of the trip was the quality time I spent with my husband, Norm, and son. Our everyday life and schedules are so hectic, and it is hard to stay connected sometimes. We spent every day together with limited technology and just focused on each other, the experience, being in the moment together and just enjoying our surroundings. We laughed a lot, did silly, funny things together. There were several moments where things dramatically didn’t go as planned. We made it an adventure and problem solved together and still kept laughing. We had great conversations over meals, told stories and jokes, and talked about big life stuff. All the things – we never really make time for in our hectic day-to-day lives. It was two weeks of my perfect day strung together with a lot of memories made.
