Simplifying Senior Moves with Compassion & Expertise Trusted Move Management, Downsizing, & Relocation Services
In 2004 Julie and her husband opened the first Keller Williams Realty in the Central Valley believing in everything Keller Williams Realty stood for. Then, the market crashed in 2007 and 2008 and this became one of the hardest times of our lives. My husband and I scraped together everything we had to keep our Stockton Keller Williams office running. We poured our hearts and souls into making this dream a reality; we couldn’t imagine losing it. Many agents were quitting because they simply couldn’t make ends meet anymore. We were using every penny of our savings to preserve our office.
We had just remodeled our office because everything had been going so well. Things changed rapidly in 2007, and my partners and I couldn’t afford to pay rent or our investor. Despite everything, the building owner allowed us to continue doing business there. At any moment, he could have locked us out of our office, but he never did. Instead, he said we would work out a future payment plan. It was the grace from God and kindness we needed. When I was first offered to open a Keller Williams Realty office in Stockton, my husband, George, and I debated it for nearly six months. Real estate has been a part of my life since I was very young because my father was a broker. The final deciding factor was the Keller Williams values God, family and business in that order. Faith and family mean everything to me; I want those values to translate into my business.
Looking back, I don’t know how we managed to get through those difficult years during the market crash. George and I kept working and did everything we could to keep things running as smoothly as possible. In 2009, a friend invited me to go golfing. It was on that outing that I met Suzanne Candini. She spoke about opening her own small brokerage, and I asked her, “How can you open one now?” I couldn’t imagine starting something in the current market. She replied, “This market is going to turn around, and I want to be ready when it does.”
Suzanne’s optimism was inspiring to me. It was the positivity and hope I needed. After thinking about it, I started to wonder, “What if Suzanne would be interested in the Stockton office?” It took six months of building the courage before I called her and convinced her to meet with one of my partners and me. I explained our values and why this office was unique – she loved it. She had already remodeled her own brokerage office and nearly had everything ready. Against all odds, she bought our location and two others in the valley. It was the greatest relief to save the office.
In time, my husband and I started working alongside our investor flipping homes and gradually paid him back. By the grace of God, we managed to overcome the obstacles before us and come out of it stronger. I am very proud our office is still here and that we have paid off our debts from this period. Through all of this, my husband has stood by my side and supported me. One of our greatest achievements is being married for 43 years. We are very proud of our sons, Jarrett and Brett, who have created their own wonderful lives. We recently became grandparents and couldn’t be happier for our family to continue growing! We love spending time with our new grandbaby and golfing.
With over 40 years of experience as a REALTOR®, I have learned that one of the greatest assets you can have in real estate is the support of fellow REALTORS®. Our Keller Williams office is centered around helping one another and sharing everything. We want to encourage one another to learn and grow in order to offer exceptional service to our clients. If one of us succeeds, we all succeed.
Being in the industry for so long, I have seen the ups and downs of the market and have continued to successfully help my clients through it all. It is important to me to continue expanding my knowledge and finding new ways to help people. One of the ways I have done this is I educated myself on becoming a Senior Certified Real Estate Specialist to work with my senior clients and help them transition into the next stages of their life.
In 2015 my husband and I opened a parent company to my real estate business, One Simple Solution. One Simple Solution is a one stop shop for our clients. We help them through the complete process of transitioning to the next phase of their lives by providing a solution to help them downsize, declutter, have estate sales, move them and sell their property if they need to sell. My ultimate motivation is making you happy and taking the stress away from the buying and selling process. Even after the transaction is over, I will continue to serve as your REALTOR® for life.