I’m not sure while growing up in Cuba City in southwest Wisconsin that I was even aware that people bought and sold homes. Someone in the family moved into grandma and grandpa’s old home, and everybody else built a place to live nearby. When my dad was building a new home for us so that our hired man could move into our home on the old farm, my sister and I stood on the edge of the abyss that was to become the basement and commented that it was entirely too small. Spending the next few weeks pounding subfloor taught us a number of things about how houses are built… and perception. Those are skills I have use throughout my 31+ year real estate career. I learned a lot too from my first job working for a seed corn company. It was a job that taught me exactly how much chemical goes into GMO corn. (How fortunate that at that time they “knew” that skin was impermeable so that all the purple chemicals on the corn seed was fine for us to handle!) I also learned that I did not want to do work that meant starting the day with a cold, wet walk-through field at 4:30 AM. After a 12 hour day of over seeding or detasseling all summer didn’t leave me a lot of energy for what I really wanted to do: hit the live band teen dances throughout the area. I played saxophone in the concert in jazz bands, and let the marching band as a drum major in parade competitions throughout the State. I graduated from University of Wisconsin Platteville with a teaching degree because I couldn’t stand the sight of blood which meant that nursing— the other option available to girls at the time— was not an option for me. I received my Masters Degree at UWM. I taught school for 10 years in both parochial and public schools in the metro Milwaukee area. I spent a couple of awesome years working for Republic Airlines before settling in Mequon in 1981 and raising two kidsMy son returned to Milwaukee after a period of time in Colorado and is the Founder and master brewer at 1840 Brewing Company in Bayview. He has blessed me with two wonderful grand girls ages almost 8, and almost 3. My daughter is newly engaged and newly relocated to Miami afterv10nyears in LA. She is self employed as a Pinterest Manager and Strategist and is quite successful at a career I didn’t even know existed. She is busy planning her wedding which will be in Medellin, Colombia next summer.
A year and a half ago I transferred ownership of my own RE/MAX agency over to another broker owner so that I could focus on doing what I love most: listing properties and working with buyers. I am able to combine the skills that I got from my early education in construction, my field experience (which is the basis of my marketing plan – but without the chemicals) and my years teaching to help people navigate through the buying and selling process of real estate. And like in my youth I look for the time to dance. I have been doing competitive ballroom dancing for 15 yeas and have been blessed with a wonderful Bulgarian partner, amazing results and the fun experiences of having danced in 13 states.
