Where are you from?
I was born in Los Angeles, lived in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho briefly then was raised in Redmond, WA. But I’ve actually lived in Arizona longer than anywhere else – for about 23 years now! I love it here!!
You’ve seen the Scottsdale and Phoenix markets evolve over time- how would you describe the current landscape for buyers and sellers?
This year has been such a wild ride and unlike anything I’ve seen in my 20+ years – it’s a great time to buy and one of the best buying opportunities in a very long time. There’s so much inventory and sellers are largely willing to work with you on mortgage rate buydowns.
It’s also a uniquely solid market for sellers – most sellers have more than $240K in equity and significant appreciation the last few years.
This balanced market is actually quite rare – and a healthy market in my opinion!
What’s one common misconception people have about real estate in the Valley?
Most people think it’s a huge city. But in reality, it’s a big, small town – we don’t have a traditional downtown like most major metros. While we are the third largest metro in the US, we’re very spread out with a lot of micro communities. The Valley has won awards like the best master planned major metro – almost everything you need is within a 5 minute drive. It’s wonderful and feels like a small town wherever you live. I love running into half my community at my local grocery store, AJ’s!
The Nelson Group is known for excellent client care- what does that look like day to day?
Aww I love that… and it’s something we work hard on. We really do adore our clients and try to make sure we take care of them throughout the process. Real estate buying, selling and even investing can be an incredibly stressful
The hardest part of our jobs is when the transaction is done and we don’t get to be with our clients as much. So we’re intentional about having community events and client parties so we can say hello and just bless the clients.
And I attribute most of that to Katie Bloxom, our wonderful Director of Client Care. She’s the most thoughtful person I know and is always looking for little ways to love on our clients. We tell clients if you need coffee delivered to your door – we are happy to! Katie gets it done and is simply wonderful.
How do you tailor the buying or selling process to meet each client’s unique needs?
This is one of my favorite things – we start the process with a detailed consultation and intake. We want to understand each client’s needs, wants and must-haves as well as their big concerns and stresses. I meet with them, email a recap and and their basic search criteria as well as follow up notes like talk to your tax professional before selling,etc.
Each and every transaction and situation is different and it’s an absolute joy to walk along clients in their process. Each situation is custom crafted for the client’s specific needs. That’s such a great part of the job!
As the owner and head of the group, how do you build and maintain a strong team culture?
Oooh wow, good question! I’m so blessed to work with such talented, amazing women! They inspire me daily! I’m rather protective of our culture, we are a tight knit group and all have complementary skill sets. We’re also intentional about our core values – continual learning, excellence in all we do, service not sales and we’re passionate about our fiduciary duties. We care deeply about doing the right thing and the golden rule – treating everyone the way we’d want to be treated.
What’s one thing people might be surprised to learn about you?
I‘m a giant nerd! Maybe that’s not a surprise.. haha! I love numbers and remember them better than names (eek!). Excel spreadsheets are my jam and underwriting properties for a multitude of end uses is fun for me. Want to talk about investment strategies? I could go on and on about the highest and best use for a property as well as plans b, c and d to best protect the investment.
Perhaps it might also be a surprise that I’m mom to 5 truly amazing big kids – two of which are my bonus twins – and one amazing husband of more than 25 years.
Outside of real estate, what do you love most about living and working in Arizona?
I really, really do love living here in Scottsdale. Of everywhere I lived this is by far my favorite, I think it’s a hard-to-beat quality of life. Every now and then my husband and I talk about where we’d want to live if we could live anywhere and we always come back to the Valley.
For so many reasons – very little traffic for such a huge metro, strong economic underpinnings, fabulous recreation year round, incredible climate, friendly people, world class dining and shopping, low taxes, lots of opportunities… and for us – school choice and tax credits (for private schools) are amazing for our kids! I also love Arizona’s fiercely independent spirit. We’re a bit of the wild west in the most charming way!