Pasadena CA Real Estate

I am so excited to have been featured in Pasadena Weekly again. Take a read below and let me know what you think!

The feminine touch
For many women agents, real estate is more about people than property
By Joanna Beresford 05/14/2009

The typical American real estate agent is a 52-year-old white woman. She’s attended college, she owns her own home and she’s married. In fact, 60 percent of realtors are women, according to the 2008 National Association of Realtors Member Profile. Women outnumber men in the business in every age group, even among those 60 and older.

Real estate used to be dominated by men, so what happened? Where did all these Rosie-the-real-estate-agents come from and how can they rock so prodigiously, from Pittsburgh to Plano to Pasadena?

In his forward to Ebby Halliday’s recently released biography (“Ebby Halliday: The First Lady of Real Estate”), Dallas Cowboys Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach writes: “Football and real estate have a lot in common. Leadership matters. Ambition counts. Heart energizes. Ebby Halliday might have made a good quarterback.”

Based in Dallas, Ebby Halliday Realtors sells more homes than any other brokerage in Texas and was ranked in 2007 by RealTrends Inc. as the 11th largest brokerage in the country. Halliday graduated from Abilene High School in 1929 and started out by selling hats. The husband of a client visited her shop one day in 1945 and asked her to sell some homes for him. They were ugly cement bungalows and he figured, according to legend, that if Halliday could sell the unlikely millinery concoctions that his wife brought home, she could sell a couple of his houses.

In perhaps the earliest effort at staging a model home, Halliday decorated the concrete residences with draperies, curtains and furniture and sold them all within a year. Inspired by the accomplishment, she began to build her empire.

Maybe that’s what Malcolm Gladwell would call the tipping point, or the point at which a confluence of events causes a significant social or personal upheaval. Women were increasingly and differently empowered throughout the first half of the 20th century. The war lured them from the “sanctuary” of their homes into economic life. The country was on the verge of that proliferation of humanity known as the baby boom and a period of relative wealth and expansion. And, as everybody knows, Texas girls kick ass — on a ranch, in an office and in a living room.

It’s not a Texas trend at this point; it’s a national reality. And while I don’t usually get excited about sociological games or decoding statistics, here’s what I do think is cool: people who are good at what they do.

And there’s another thing I like: When different capabilities come together in one person and make this really vibrant, faceted thing called a successful adult, with nuance and skills that defy expectation.

Irina-the-Tsarina Netchaev, one of Pasadena’s talented real estate agents, doesn’t think that her male clients perceive her any differently than do her female clients, whether they come in singles or pairs. Gender, in terms of her image, seems fairly insignificant to Netchaev. However, she does believe that her identity, or persona, or whatever you call that feminine mystique, serves her and her clients well in the business.

“In my opinion, what gives me an edge is combining my business skills and education with my natural sense of intuition and mothering instinct,” says Netchaev. “It’s an unbeatable combination.”

Instincts and skills don’t entirely drive career choices. Women are nothing if not pragmatic, and many women raise children, want to earn a living and also feel compelled to engage in the public sector. Real estate offers them the flexibility and autonomy that their busy lives require.

“I got into real estate two years ago when both my girls were in school,” says agent Kerri Glotfelty. “It was a tough time to enter the market, but I’ve learned so much from my colleagues and I’ve been able to develop at my own rate.”

Ultimately, real estate is more about people than property, and it’s more practical than political. “The Internet has empowered real estate consumers by providing them with information never before available,” says Netchaev. “I have had to quickly move with changes and incorporate the habits of consumers into my business. By creating real estate blogs and sites I provide information that consumers crave and at the same time market my clients’ homes to millions of potential buyers. Real estate is much more interactive now. Homes are bought and sold on social networks like Twitter and Facebook.”

Good news for women, who are notoriously social. But, for male and female agents alike, technology doesn’t negate Ebby Halliday’s leadership, ambition and heart; it just puts these qualities on the grid.

The original article can  be found at Joanna Beresford’s page at Pasadena Weekly.

READ MORE:

Opportunity Knocks Buyers and sellers have good reason for hope in economic crisis – “Best Of” issue of Pasadena Weekly, October 16, 2008

Barefoot in the park Walking miles without anyone’s shoes is an eye-opening experience – Pasadena Weekly, September 18, 2008

What Price Paradise? Now may be the best time to make that move to a new home – Pasadena Weekly, August 14, 2008

History in the Making Short sales make owning a home a reality for many- Pasadena Weekly, June 22, 1008

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