Distinctly Montana Magazine

S P E C I A L S E C T I O N • S U M M E R 2 0 2 0 69 I AM SURE YOU HAVE BEEN ASKED THIS SEVERAL TIMES AND, IN A FEW WAYS, BUT HOW DO YOU BALANCE LIFE AND CAREER? WHAT IS THE MOST DIFFICULT PART OF THAT? Time management and delega- tion are the keys to balance. I am very hands-on with all my clients' needs, and I touch every part of their real estate process and transaction. The longer many Realtors are in the business, the more of the process they tend to turn over to team members. The quality of my clients' experience is more im- portant to me than the quantity of transactions; thus, it is a balance of delegating the appropriate tasks so that I may balance my time between family and career. I hope one day to master that balance. WALK US THROUGH A DIFFICULT TRANSACTION WHICH YOU ARE MOST PROUD OF RESOLVING. In my business, I am always meeting people at a crossroads. Those crossroads include marriage, divorce, births, deaths, upsizing, down- sizing, retiring, first-home buyers, relocation, and even helping clients progress into graduated living as they age. I have had a couple of transactions in which a seller or buyer passed away; in fact, I had one transaction where both passed away while under contract. During one transaction, the seller husband suddenly passed of an embolism literally the day before going to court to receive approval to sell the home as his wife was incapacitated due to a brain tumor. Navigating the process with the family and the legal system was very emotional, technically challenging, and time-consuming, and required a great deal of hands-on management. Through patience, perseverance, and professionalism, it worked out, and the family was most grateful. YOU HAVE HAD REAL ESTATE CAREERS ELSEWHERE. WHY BOZEMAN? I have had successful real estate businesses in California, North Carolina, Colorado, and Montana. I have now been in Montana for 11 years, and the decision was an easy one. We moved to Bozeman right in the middle of the last recession. I had worked in resort commu- nities in Colorado and North Carolina, and I wanted to return to a primary residential community located in the intermountain west with great weather and natural resources, ease of travel, a strong and diverse economy, and a vibrant university. Bozeman fit that bill to a T—and even with all that, what sealed Bozeman in my eyes was its downtown feel on Main Street. I am a Historic Preservation major, and what the City of Bozeman has done to maintain the strength of its downtown core is exceptional and revered by many towns which have lost their cores to urban sprawl and strip malls. WE HAVE HEARD YOU DESCRIBED AS AN AGENT'S AGENT. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU? My real estate mentor and first broker taught me early on that clients will come and go, that key agents in the industry will remain, and that we must all work together to serve our clients. Every transaction is about the buyer and seller, not the agent, and as such, our egos and agendas should not be involved. Often there is an agent on the other side of the transaction who has little to no experience, and if I can help them learn through the process and successfully close the transaction, they will remember that. On the flip side there are times when agents cannot get out of the way of their egos and agendas, and that too requires delicate navigation. The result is the needs and goals of our clients, and as our clients' advocates, it is incumbent of the agents to work together. OKAY, WOMAN DOES NOT LIVE BY WORK ALONE. WHAT DO YOU DO TO HAVE FUN, TO RELAX? For years, my recreational time has been consumed by our children's activities: hockey, baseball, and softball. I still enjoy those activities as they age, and yet being an empty nester is on the horizon. We are spending more time with friends and looking at new hobbies and avenues for fun. I wish to start new winter sports of my own like join- ing an adult hockey league or curling, and having grown up fishing on Kentucky lakes and the beaches of Virginia and North Carolina, I would now like to fly-fish in the rivers of Montana. AWARDS & RECOGNITION 2002 RE/MAX 100% Club 2003 RE/MAX President's Club 2004 RE/MAX Chairman's Club 2005 Keller Williams Platinum 2006 Keller Williams Triple Platinum 2013 ERA Circle of Success Total Adjusted Gross Commission 2017 Engel & Völkers America's #8 Closed Sides 2017 Engel & Völkers Top Agent (World) #9 Number of Sales 2018 Engel & Völkers America's #4 Closed Sides 2018 Engel & Völkers Top Agent (world) #4 Number of Sales 2019 Engel & Völkers America's #12 Closed Sides 2019 RealTrends Top 1000 #211 (Only MT Broker in This Category) 2019 Engel & Völkers Top Agent Top 10 Closed Sides

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