Dear Active Rain Friends, Clients and Past Customers,
I am very proud to announce that today is my 25 Year Anniversary of being a Realtor. I can't express how happy I have been in my dream career. I absolutely love all aspects of selling real estate - especially seeing the smiles on the faces of the clients that I help. I can't tell you how rewarding it is to be invited to housewarming parties, 4th of July parties and other events of the people that I work with. To me, there is nothing more rewarding than making someone happy and helping them to achieve the Great American Dream of home ownership.
I have wanted to be a Realtor since I was seven years old. I still remember exactly where I was sitting and even the clothes that I was wearing on that fateful day. It was a cold, rainy day and I was sitting on the floor with the tv on while I was doing my second grade homework. I have never been a football fan, but I was a bit of a tomboy and I loved wearing those old football Jerseys that they used to sell in the Sears catalog - the ones with different colored sleeves with the number on them. (Story continued below photo.)
A commercial came on for Century 21 with the man in the gold jacket shaking hands with the husband and wife, standing with the 2.5 kids and the golden retriever with the white picket fence, everyone smiling. I said "That's what I want to do. I want to make people happy and help them realize the Great American Dream". You see, I grew up with a single mom who had me less than a month after turning nineteen. We were on welfare and food stamps and never owned our own home. While we lived with my grandfather, my mother would always warn me "Now Lisa, be a good little girl or Grandpa will throw us out on the streets". There is nothing I wanted more than having the security of owning my own home. As it turns out, I went quite a bit overboard overcompensating in that aspect and wound up buying 17 rental properties over the years. I guess I really wanted that security!
Around age 9, I began my love of bicycle riding and would ride all over town, well several towns actually, within about a fifteen mile radius (Shhh, don't tell Mom - She still doesn't know!). I actually ride century bicycling events now, which is 100 miles in a day. I would ride my bike and visit open houses. The agents must have gotten a real kick out of this 9 year kid old making her rounds every weekend :) I just loved real estate - even at that young age. I would always pick up the Harmon Homes magazines and dream.
I was your classic over-achiever and graduated high school at age 16. I was bored in school, and not very popular, actually school was quite painful for me. I was the kid with the glasses and the zits that always got picked on - so I dropped out, took an equivalency test and started college the next semester (100% self-supported) and loved it. I was too young to drive so I walked three miles each way back and forth to college - uphill both ways :) until I was old enough to get a drivers license. Then, I took 21 credits a semester at night and on Saturdays (making Dean's List) while working full time during the days. I did that until age 19 when I said to myself, "What am I doing wasting all this time, when what I really want to do is be a Realtor!"
At age 19, I took the classes to become a Realtor. It was a bit tough getting started as I still have a baby face at age 44, you can only imagine how young I looked back then. I worked at a ski shop and delivered pizza to supplement my real estate career. My first year I only sold 6 houses, but I was determined. I attended every educational seminar there was, knocked on doors, cold called, visited fsbos and expireds and within a few years I was selling 50 homes a year. Talk about the Great American Dream!
I have had a good life, travelled to 20 different countries and had a lot of exciting adventures. I always try to live life to the fullest with all the passion that is inside of me. Almost 5 years ago, I moved to Vermont where the love of my life and I built a new real estate company in an area where we didn't know a soul, in a down economy. The odds were stacked against us. I don't think anyone believed we would make it, but we persevered. We created a very successful and thriving business. Unfortunately, we've recently parted and now I am beginning a new venture. The last four months have been the hardest of my life. But like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, I will persevere and make the next 25 years of my life and my career in real estate the best that they can be. I look forward to sharing them with all of you.
The front reception desk.
I love open houses!
I REALLY love open houses!
I am really enjoying staging this new listing for photos!
Sometimes it is fun to peek around the corner while someone else takes the pictures!
Ah, what the heck, I'll throw a picture of my ex-partner in. I admit, sometimes we would enjoy playing with the kids toys! It was all fun :)
I am happy to find that a few fsbos have posted for sale notices at the community mailbox :)
Still loving open houses!
The charity pig from a Realtor benefit that I just had to have - complete with little pink hearts and a little pink tu-tu!
Active Rain Camp in Boston!
Always enjoy jumping in and out of the car to get that next best photo... This one was of a school that finally didn't have a car parked in front of it!
I always enjoy when a neighborhood has a natural area next to it - those are the most fun photographs to take!
Getting the family pet engaged in helping to stage the home is always a big plus!
One more open house!
Love decorating the office for autumn with mums, moose and pumpkin...and of course the company pig. And yes, that is a leftover poinsettia. Even though it was scraggly, I just couldn't throw away a living thing:)
Reception area. Clients love meeting in a relaxed atmosphere to talk casually about their purchase or sale.
Of course, there is the more formal conference room for signing contracts and eating the occasional late night dinner at the office - decorated with maple leaf framed Vermont covered bridge print and limited edition ski area photos. Beautiful sunsets included.
Where the magic is worked :)
25 years and I have never had a day where I've ever woke up and said that I did not feel like going to work.
25 Years in Real Estate and I have LOVED Every Minute of It!
You will get through the current situation. I believe everything happens for a reason. Wishing you the best!
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