About Me
According to my mother, I was born to educate. And my memories of playing school in my makeshift classroom with dolls, siblings, and stuffed animals as students are strong. That early practice led me to a 35-year love affair with teaching- first in Gallatin, TN and then at Hume-Fogg Academic Magnet in downtown Nashville. The relationships with students in the context of reading and writing are what I really loved, and I can honestly say I have hundreds of “favorites”.
I landed in Nashville when it was time to go to college because my father was transferred here in 1978. Vanderbilt University called my name and those years on West End with plenty of visits to local places like Rotier’s convinced me that Music City would be my hometown for a lifetime.
Love, marriage, and babies took me to Sumner County after graduation where I rooted out a place for myself as a transplant from Atlanta. Gallatin is where I bought my first house- at auction no less. We set up housekeeping on Christmas Eve in only a few rooms since the 4400 SF 50-year-old home had been empty for some time, and critters big (think very large snake) and small had taken over the second floor. That property was my first chance to make a home for myself and my family and the process of building my nest revealed a deep love of home design.
Life brings changes and mine is no exception. A divorce, and a few years later, a second marriage, precipitated a move from Gallatin to Nashville. My new husband and I spent hours on many Sunday afternoons driving all over town looking for the right neighborhood for us. We went to countless open houses, and at one of them, met a REALTOR® who would become a dear friend who then helped us buy our current home in Lockeland Springs over a year after we started searching. Thankfully she still loves us even after all that looking!
Lockeland Springs is where I refined my love of “home”. I joined the neighborhood association board, and for over 15 years have worked on the annual home tour, only briefly deterred by a global pandemic. Knocking on doors to meet neighbors and asking them to open their homes was not a chore for me. Being told no did not stop, me and those who said “yes” spurred me on to the next one. Getting to walk through with them and discuss what they might do for the tour was good practice for helping sellers get ready for the market, even though I didn’t know it at the time.
My love of teaching and learning and relationships continues today at RE/MAX Choice Properties. Helping clients navigate the process of buying and selling homes and pursuing additional real estate designations taps into my skills as a professional educator. I take care to know the market well and meticulously research pricing for both sellers and buyers. I keep going to class and have earned the e-Pro certification to help me master technology as part of my business, SRES which equipped me to serve my senior clients, the ABR gave me an advanced education in working with my buyer-clients, and a GRI designation which demonstrates my graduation from an advanced program of the REALTOR® Institutes. I still volunteer as Vice-President of the Lockeland Springs Neighborhood Association and as chair of the home tour committee. I keep one foot in the education world by volunteering as a member of the board for the YMCA Center for Civic Engagement, as a reading mentor at our neighborhood school, Warner Elementary, and as a member of the Greater Nashville Realtors Public Education Committee.
I’m not sure I would have believed the story of where my life would be during this era had it been predicted for me years ago. My passion for building relationships was born in the classroom and is flourishing in real estate. Helping young people, especially young women, build wealth through property ownership has been an unexpected joy. I invite you to join me on this journey! Let’s work together to help you find “home”, too.
