Women in Real Estate

It's So Much more than a 'Sales Position'

by Susan Carmody, Press Democrat

 

Truly help the client and the commission will follow - that's the ingredient for success in the real estate business, say local women Realtors. And for many of these women on the real estate "fast track" helping their clients is the enjoyment and challenge, even part of the reward, and the commission is the icing on the cake.

For Shirley Mallin, a Realtor at RE/MAX Central Santa Rosa and President of the Sonoma County Chapter of the Women's Council of Realtors, the drive to succeed comes from "the power to effect people's lives positively."

Shirley "Sam" Mallin, a Realtor at RE/MAX in Santa Rosa, enjoys having the "power to effect peoples lives positively."

Wearing Many Hats. It's almost like being a mother or a catalyst in someone's life, she says, if only for a short time. It's the being able to help that she enjoys, she adds, "and the money follows."

Mallin, who's worked in real estate for 24 years, says she also enjoys empowering her clients. For women clients, either newly divorced or widowed, this means inspiring within them strength and perseverance to get through what may be a traumatic and stressful real estate transaction. Newly divorced women may also have credit problems, adds Mallin. "I work very closely with a lot of lenders who help with that."

Mallin says she handles her clients with "a lot of understanding and compassion." And the key for the client, is to "find a Realtor you really connect with on an emotional level."

 

High End Market Soars

House priced at $500,00 to $2 Million Sell Briskly

by Karen Chaffraix, Sonoma Real Estate Business

 

John Executive bought a house in Sonoma County for more than a million dollars, and it's exactly where he and his wife want to be-far enough from Los Angeles to breathe clean air and close enough to commute. Before his big move to Sonoma County, the entertainment industry executive sold his place in Palm Springs, another one in Bel Air and the old family home in Idaho. He's not exactly typical, though, of the influx of wealthy buyers who made the last few years champagne years for real estate agents: most such buyers hang onto the other three houses.

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RE/MAX agent Shirley Mallin sold the house the entertainment executive bought. “The people I work with are usually pretty wealthy,” Mallin purrs in a soft English accent. “They definitely own more than one home-usually three.” The Sonoma County home is more often “not their primary home,” and it probably sits vacant for much of the year.

While the entire spectrum of real estate sales in the Bay Area rose to record numbers 1998-2003, Sonoma County saw high-end residence sales move with unprecedented ease. Multi-million-dollar houses expected to sit on the market for a year or more in earlier times rarely linger for more than six months.