08/15/2026
I’m coming up on 25 years in this industry, which is a little hard to wrap my head around.
It all started in 2001, when I felt I absolutely bombed an interview. Thankfully, the amazing woman sitting across from me saw something in me that I clearly wasn’t doing a very good job of showing her that day. She gave me a chance anyway.
I started at the end of August. And here’s something that will make today’s buyers laugh: back then, a 6% interest rate was a reason to refinance and celebrate the lower payment.
A lot can happen in 25 years.
I got married. Had my baby. Got divorced. Got remarried. Raised our boys. And somehow, we became empty nesters.
I watched interest rates go from around 7% to the unbelievably low rates of 2.6% in 2020–2021 then sore to almost 8% in 2023. I watched the market collapse in 2008, watched the absolute insanity of the 2021 boom.
I’ve worked for six companies, sold hundreds of homes and assisted other agents sell hundreds more. I've helped launch a shopping center. I’ve worked with builders to fill and complete entire neighborhoods. I’ve sold everything from dirt to multimillion-dollar properties.
I’ve been fortunate enough to work alongside some truly admirable people - people who understand that real estate is about so much more than contracts, commissions and closing tables. It’s about the people and the stories that brought them there.
Of course, I’ve also met a few of those bad-apple agents who occasionally give the rest of us a bad name. Twenty-five years in real estate will introduce you to just about every kind of human being.
I’ve fallen down the stairs during a showing. That hurt. My car battery died and I've had to catch a ride. I’ve gotten the dreaded call from the principal's office while sitting in a meeting with a builder. Ive been lost in a blizzard during showings.
I’ve made it all the way home before realizing someone’s house key was still in my pocket, only to make me do the walk of shame back to the lockbox—and then discover it wasn’t even the key to THAT house! I had to go back to FOUR houses to get all the keys correct.
I have never climbed through a window as a Realtor... I don’t think.
Which is funny because my love of looking at houses started when I was about eight years old. We didn’t have a lot of money, so one of the things we did on weekends was look at “open” houses. Some were legitimate open houses. Some were just vacant houses that happened to be for sale. And because I was the smallest person in the family, guess who got volunteered to climb through a window and unlock the door? 🙋🏻♀️ Apparently I was destined for real estate. Possibly breaking and entering but thankfully real estate won.
I did work with a woman who squeezed herself through a dog door after realizing she’d locked herself out of a house. So figuring out how to get inside comes with the job.
But mixed in with all those ridiculous moments have been some of the most meaningful experiences of my life.
I’ve celebrated HUGE closings. My clients. My own. My coworkers. Even agents not in my office. I’ve also sat beside a Realtor in tears after 14 closings with a new "out of state investor" made it all the way to closing, only for guy to be a real live bum, living on the streets of Vegas.
I’ve held my clients’ newborn babies. I’ve watched families grow. I’ve helped people through divorces, marriages, new jobs, retirements, moves, fresh starts, losses and some of the biggest transitions of their lives. I’ve celebrated their wins and grieved their losses.
I’ve attended heartbreaking funerals. I’ve even helped spread a client’s ashes.
After nearly 25 years, I realize this career has molded itself around all the other pieces of my life—daughter, wife, mom, friend, coworker, businesswoman—and grew right along with me.
I have a strong love for this industry. But I have an even stronger love for the people I’ve gotten to meet along the way.
Sometimes I picture my life like that little car moving around The Game of Life board. I landed on a space, picked up the REAL ESTATE AGENT career card, grabbed my little plastic car and just kept moving. Marriage. Baby. Divorce. Remarriage. Kids. Houses. Closings. Heartbreaks. Celebrations. Market crashes. Booms. Empty nest. One little space at a time. And somehow, almost 25 years later, I’m still moving my little car around that board, doing something that feeds my passion, provides for my family and lets me be part of other people’s stories.
A lot of changes have happened in 25 years. When I started, my value was partly in having access to information people couldn't easily get themselves. Twenty-five years later, everyone has access to information. My value now is knowing what to do with it.
I've watched this industry go from newspaper ads, printed directions and paper contracts to Zillow, electronic signatures, virtual tours and houses being found on a phone at midnight, or on the toilet.
I've used the map in the phone book that rode around in my backseat. Thank God for Google Maps!
I've worked through the housing crash, foreclosures and short sales, historically low interest rates, bidding wars, a pandemic, an inventory crisis, rapidly rising rates and some of the biggest changes our industry has ever seen.
The tools changed. The contracts changed. The market changed. But the people never did. They're still buying their first house. Getting married. Having babies. Getting divorced. Losing parents. Taking new jobs. Retiring. Starting over. Building something. Leaving something behind.
And maybe that's why, after almost 25 years, I still love this business.
The houses were never really the story. The people were.
What a life. What a career. And what a privilege it has been to be invited into so many people’s lives along the way. From the bottom of my heart, thank you!
