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Anytime I meet a new person and tell them I work in real estate with my family they immediate ask how I do it? "How do I spend all day, everyday, with my parents?" The answer is a big, fat "I don't know!" We all just figure it out. When my mom began her career in 1989, she enlisted both my dad & I to help her. I used to apply address labels to thousands of postcards each month for her. My dad used to get all the photos of the homes she listed developed at Bergmann Pharamacy (now, Walgreens & much before the digital age). I would glue the photos to the home books & my dad would drop off the marketing material for my mom. It was a family business before it was officially a 'family business'. So I guess I just knew that this was going to be my long-term career from an early age.
As you can imagine, any person who has built a business as large & successful as my mom has certain expectations for her team (which is probably why this was a hard role for an assistant to fill - Sherry works at the speed of light & expects tasks to be completed immediately & without error). The benefit of working with you family - we each have a huge stake both personally & professionally in our business, so our expectations are aligned (although keeping up with Sherry's energy level can be challenging at times!)
Like all families, we have our disagreements, but we each have our individual strengths as well. My mom, Sherry, is the ultimate negotiator. She can listen to a situation & figure out which angle will work best for all parties, keeping her clients needs ahead of all else. She's strong, yet she's not unbending. She's able to work with both sides of the table treating each party fairly, something that many others struggle to do successfully to come out with an outcome that works for everyone. She's magic.
My dad, Mike has the uncanny ability to work with numbers. (I say uncanny because it baffles me how he can figure things out with such ease.) Whether it comes to figuring out our taxes, credits for inspection items, phone numbers, measurements of a room or even square footage, Mike's the go-to guy.
And then there's me. While I don't have a head for numbers & am still learning everyday from my mom's negotiation skills, I have slotted myself into the role of the 'Everything Else' girl. I love the background paperwork & finding new ways to stay organized is always at the front of my mind. I certainly enjoy working with our buyers & sellers, yet I also like working in the transaction coordination area (keeping everyone on task). I also have taken on the daunting task of revamping the marketing of our team, beginning with our logo & touching everything from our Listing Presentations to our Business Cards, websites, social media accounts: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest & even this Blog!
So stay tuned for more blogs about our team, Madison, the real estate market, life & style ideas as well as topics that are of interest to us! Please feel free to contact us with any questions, we'd love to interact with any of our followers!