Just what does it take to become a member of that exclusive club, the Wall Street Journals Top 50 Agents? Shelly Tretter, who joined that club in 2007, will tell you she got there by a thorough understanding of the real estate business, lots of hard work -- and by providing her clients with topnotch service.
If theres a genetic predisposition to real estate, Shelly must have inherited that gene from her father, a commercial real estate developer in Manhattan who moved his family to Greenwich to concentrate on building high end residences in Fairfield County. Though Shelly majored in communications in college, and went on to graduate studies in film, the real estate gene bubbled to the surface in the mid 80s. She got her license. I thought Id like to develop property, but the economy wasnt the best at that time, she explained, Homes werent as leveraged as they have been in recent years.
Having started her career in a downturn, Shelly is optimistic about the future. Greenwich is a very strong market. Its the last to be hit and the first to respond, she said, noting there is a large international community and people are moving in and out of town all the time.
Shellys involvement in her community extends well beyond her business as a realtor. I am totally immersed in my town, she said. She and her husband have raised two children in Greenwich, one a college freshman, the other a highschooler. She is an active member of the Greenwich Historical Society as well as an advocate for Soldiers for the Truth, an organization that raises awareness for the needs of troops serving on the front lines by pushing to provide them with the best available protective gear and combat equipment.
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