I grew up on the hill. The right side of the tracks, so too speak.

From the east, was a roof top view of the flats. That’s what we called the areas for the folks who didn’t live on the hill. At night, you could see and hear the helicopters circling around the dark skies while helping those on foot patrol or police car catch the bad guys.

And from the west, which was our backyard, you there was nothing to see but the blue sea.

We had a 180 degree view that spanned from the Palos Verdes where Shamu the orca whale once lived at SeaWorld and to the Palisades where other famous personalities in the entertainment industry called home.

Life was good on the hill IF your name…..Dawn whose daddy was an tax attorney for the IRS who made sure she and her sister stayed dressed in the latest clothes and went out to dinner every Friday night. Even if they weren’t celebrating a birthday or graduation. They also had a swimming pool!

Or Kathleen who’s mom was a widow and taught piano. She always made sure to give Kathlee $5 to buy tacos after we went to Sunday school. Kathleen would always share her tacos with me.

Oh! and if your name was Tracy your mom and dad were spending their weekends running around town trying to find their only child the best deal on a brand new 1981 Subaru. It was all black with tan interior. Sweet!

We lived on the hill not because my parents were rich. Or should I say parent. My parents broke up and my mom sold our little house where we were like the other kids…working poor, latchkey, one parent in the home. On the hill was quite the opposite. The moms didn’t work and it felt like we were the only poor kids.

What we did have was super smart and ambitious mother who wanted her kids to have the same opportunities as the rich kids on the hill so she bought what was equivalent to a barn.

A barn on the hill and it smelled like a barn whenever someone took a bath or washed clothes in our home.

The septic tank needed replacing and it was not a very well kept malodorous secret. The neighbors and anyone caught in the downwind direction knew it!

At night, my mother would drive the neighborhood to leave notes for the owners sharing her plight of being a divorced mom with two kids who desired to live in a community of doctors, lawyers and Indian chiefs. My mom was a secretary with a high school education who wanted more for her kids.

What she could not give us (other than the basic necessities: food, shelter and covering) we had to get on our own. So my brother worked for a drive-thru dairy gently placing milk, cheese, eggs and bread into the neighbors’ fine cars.

And, I being the product of a secretary’s daughter who at 13 could type 110 words per minutes, take short-hand, and answer the phone while speaking the Queen’s English.

I decided to get a job like my mom!

So, I walked right into H.M. Clark Realty and standing before me was a woman who would change my life.

Beverly was her name. Beverly Ann Clark. A tall woman, mid 40’s and who was alternating between chewing on the bit of her pipe and a poor soul on the other end of the phone.

She hung up the phone and turned her attention to me. She asked what I wanted. I told her a job. And she told me to sit down and there I sat for the next three years.

My responsibilities were to answer the phone, open escrow, pay bills, put out signs, collect rent, issue 3 day notices to quit, start eviction proceedings, go to the courthouse and pull deeds, get lunch, and take care of Koury.

I hear you barking big dog. You’re saying “Wait? I thought you were a girl Friday, when did you start taking care of kids?”

Cute little, button nose, inquisitive Koury became “mine” at 3:00pm every day when I picked him up from kindergarten in his mom’s beat up yellow 1971 Javeline that sat in the office parking lot until she figured it still cranked, and I could drive it. Yep, driving dirty at age 14.

Things weren’t so good at the house on the hill that I lived on so I spent a lot of time with Beverly.

Beverly had three other children. All a little younger than me. I was more Beverly’s peer than a kid who worked for. I was mature and she needed a friend.

I would often times spend weekends at her home. When I went off to college she made sure I had money for my books. I learned a lot from sitting in Beverly’s office. I learned a lot about being a woman listening to Beverly and her girl friends lament about problems with the world, their husbands, children, and, of course, real estate.

I saw the victory (first time home buyers) and oftentimes pain (loss of parents resulting in selling of family home) when dealing with real estate transactions. I learned from Beverly to fight for your clients while always remaining the calming force. She taught me to know my craft and whatever she didn’t know she had a network of people to help her figure it out.

Beverly passed in December of 2021. During that month she put three homes into escrow. She was a young, vibrant woman of 82 years.

I walked into Beverly’s life thinking I would work a few hours after school and have money on the weekends to buy my own tacos, give Tracy $5 gas money in her new car to help with my rides to school and be able to go to the mall with Dawn knowing I had money for a cheap pair of earrings.

What I did not know how grateful Beverly was to have me. A few years ago, she shared the had it not been for me she could not have run her business as efficiently and she could slay thee real estate dragoons knowing I was caring for Koury.

Little did I know, my sitting at that front desk looking out the window dreaming of my own future was taking shape in that office. The love and kindness she showed me lives with me today.

So if you need someone who is smart, hardworking and really understands her craft like my beloved Beverly then you will want to consider me as your realtor of life. Give me a call to see how I can help. 916-530-7337.

And I’ll bring Beverly along….she lives in my heart.

I must say the most interesting aspect of it was to switch to writing in the 3rd person.  Was much easier and made it much more interesting as I looked at it from the “outside”.

Thanks.

Claudia

Submitted my story to Halle for review on 5/28.  No reply yet.  Expressed that to Negeen yesterday.  Just want you to know.  I think a week should be sufficient time.

How Having My Integrity Compromised Motivated Me to Help Provide Peace of Mind to Others

Are you a person of the utmost integrity? Do you want Peace of Mind in your life, especially when it comes to finances? Would you like to spend more time with your kids and grandkids without worrying about what the stock market is doing today or how much money is coming in next month?

I’m going to share my journey into the world of financial services with you.

I HAVE to warn you, it’s quite the journey so strap in and let’s go for a ride.

I about to be 100% transparent with you.

I am fortunate that I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s in a loving household with two parents who are still married to this day, who brought me up in church, taught me about Jesus, and taught me what it meant to be honest, tell the truth, and have integrity.

Sometimes when I didn’t do those things, I was “educated” by the Board of Education and it had nothing do with our local school board!

We lived a nice upper middle class lifestyle. Dad was an insurance executive and Mom stayed home with us until we were older and then she went back to work as a nurse.

I was smart in school. Sometimes school bored me because I wasn’t kept busy enough to challenge me. Fortunately, we moved to a new school district between third and fourth grade and I had teachers that recognized that and gave me extra projects to keep me busy.

I did well in school and graduated near the top of my class in high school, earning a “free” ride to a very good liberal arts university. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t realize that you had to go to class to do well in college and I spent too much time drinking beer, playing football and dating girls.

After two years, my university informed me that I no longer had my scholarships! Whoops!

My family had moved to another state by that time so I moved back home. What else was I going to do?

I got a job washing dishes in a restaurant. Sure didn’t want to do that the rest of my life.

Spring semester rolled around so I enrolled at the local college, took a few courses, and thanks to a pretty business professor, decided that business was for me.

Asked Dad to help me with college. He took me to lunch then to the credit union to get a student loan. He told me, “You had your chance, now you get to pay for the next chance.” Thanks, Dad! (Really all these years later, “Thanks, Dad!)

I graduated college with honors because I actually went to class. I was paying for it after all so I was going to get my money’s worth!

After college, time to find a job. The Navy ran an ad in the newspaper looking for business majors. That was me! I signed up!

I went to Officer Candidate School, got commissioned, went through Navy Supply Corps School to learn the “business” side of the Navy, and then was sent to my first ship.

On that ship, I learned what it meant to be a Navy officer and learned the Navy’s Core Values: Honor, Courage, Commitment.

I was privileged to lead some very fine sailors and had two successful sea tours including serving onboard the USS Missouri (BB-63). During the first tour, I met the love of my life, Connie, in Seattle and I married her in between ships. It was the only time I knew for sure I could be there!

Have you ever seen the movie An Officer and A Gentleman? That was our story. She was my Puget deb although I didn’t look like Richard Gere!

After getting married, Connie and I knew we wanted a family and active duty Navy life isn’t the best thing for a family. I got off active duty, but stayed in the Navy Reserve. After working a couple of different jobs, I was offered a job fixing the inventory problems in a local manufacturing plant just a couple of miles from my home.

I met Jerry, the owner of the plant, at church and we served together on the church board. He seemed like a great guy and was well respected at church. I took the job.

Early on, it was apparent that the company was having financial challenges. Jerry had wanted some business with a large aerospace company and he signed a contract on a new program that deferred most payments for several years. Cash was always tight and sometimes payroll checks bounced.

I was in charge of getting materials in the door so we could get materials out the door and make some money. Problem is, you don’t pay vendors, they don’t want to send you more product. We needed some parts and we hadn’t paid John’s company in a long time.

I called John, told him I needed parts, and John told he needed money. I went to Jerry, told him John needed money and he gave me a check for John which I postmarked and put in the outgoing mail for the mailman to pick up. Called John, told him I put the check in the mail and John shipped us the parts.

Two weeks later, John calls, says he didn’t get a check. I went to Jerry, told him John didn’t get his check and we needed to send him a new one. Jerry opens his desk drawer, pulls out the postmarked check to John and tells me to put it in the mail. SHOCKER!

Needless to say, I was pissed off and wanted to quit right then. Unfortunately, I couldn’t afford to quit as Connie and I didn’t have much money in the bank and I was the breadwinner. I called John and told him what happened. It’s not fun being called most every #$%#$% word in the English language. Made me want to quit even more. From that day forward, I set out to create a plan that would make sure I would never be in that situation again.

As I said before, I continued to serve in the Navy Reserve after getting off active duty. In my first unit, we had a new officer arrive one Saturday morning. Steve had just joined the Navy the night before and his uniform emblems weren’t even on correctly. The Navy had no program for new officers to help them at that time before they were sent to their first unit. Thank goodness they’ve fixed that now!

I took Steve aside, helped him get squared away as we Navy guys say and that was the start of a long friendship that endures to this day.

Steve worked in the financial services in his full time job selling life insurance and giviing financial advice. He had been doing that for six years and had done well for himself. I had a 401(k) at work but didn’t know much else about financial stuff so I asked Steve to help Connie and me. He built us a plan. We started putting money away each month and got some life insurance.

Fast forward to Jerry, John, and my integrity. Integrity that was now gone, at least in John’s eyes. I started figuring my plan out of Jerry’s company. I realized I had developed an interest in financial stuff although I didn’t know much about it. I spoke to Steve and asked how do I get in the financial business.

Steve told me you need your life insurance license and your securities license. In California where I lived, life insurance license meant 52 hours of class. I took a week of vacation and went to life insurance school! Then took another half day off and passed my life insurance test. Halfway there!

Bought the securities books, took the two tests (2 for 2 passed!) and Voilà! I now have the licenses I need. What do I do now Steve?

I was fortunate that Steve was now serving with me in another unit about 100 miles from where we lived. We drove up Friday and did Navy duty Saturday and Sunday. I led and taught Steve in the Navy during the days. Friday and Saturday nights Steve taught me about financial planning.

Steve told me to call on people and tell them what I was doing on the side. I did that nights and weekends and started making sales and setting aside money! My plan had begun!

Fast forward nine months. Jerry brought his wife in to work in the plant and decided she should do what I was doing and he was going to give me a new “opportunity”.

Little did he know!

Jerry called me in and told me about the new opportunity. Told me to think about it overnight. I came in the next day, Jerry comes in my office and asks me what did I think about the new opportunity. Before I can answer, he says, “Oh, it doesn’t matter, you’re going to take it anyway.” Nope, Jerry, I’m not! Goodbye, Jerry!

Hello New Opportunity! Just not the one Jerry thought!

Oh yes, one problem – Connie was now pregnant, I just quit a good job for a commission only job. Problems #2, #3, #4: we lived just south of Los Angeles. Early 90’s. Riots, Northridge earthquake, real estate recession.

House was underwater and Connie says she wants to move to Orange County because she doesn’t feel safe. Short sale (before there was such a thing). We sold our house at a loss, part of which we had to repay. We had a little money in the bank and a child on the way. Ashley (Ally) came that November.

I was motivated!

Fast forward six years later and I had survived and thrived. We now had two children. Brittany arrived two and half years after Ally. Steve approached me to leave our insurance company and start our own firm with another friend, John. Two plus years later, we are making a lot of money and I’m not having fun anymore. Employees, meetings, a new president. I miss my freedom.

As Little River Band says, “Time for a cool change”.

I sell my share of the business to Steve and John. What do I do now?

I have a sister all the way across the country who lives in Charleston, SC. Tells me how great the South is, particularly Charleston. After all, Conde Nast can’t be wrong! We decided to move there and start a new company. Sold the house, God blessed us with a good amount of money from the sale, moved to Charleston, started a new life and new business.

Only one problem with Charleston – I don’t know anybody and nobody knows me. Fifteen years later, our business survives and thrives.

I came here and needed to grow fast so I did educational workshops. Along the way, I met Capt. Ted, retired U.S. Navy. We never did any business together, but Capt. Ted told his wife, if something happens to me, go see Paul.

Capt. Ted passed, his wife came to see me, and I had the honor of handling her finances for many years until she passed away last year, giving her peace of mind and even helping her get a new military ID and drivers license when she lost her purse.

I met Ms. Maggie and her husband, also retired Navy, and helped them achieve Peace of Mind. Her husband passed away and I still guide Maggie and now her son, Commander Bill, who’s about to take command of a submarine! I am so proud of him.

Mr. Carl also came to a workshop one night. He was an executive working at a local bank and just couldn’t see how he could retire. I built a plan for he and his beautiful wife, showed them they could retire and sooner than they thought. She quit her job right after that. Carl came back to me to “make 100% sure” he could do this and he retired shortly thereafter. They are enjoying their retirement years traveling and spending time with their kids and grandkids living the lifestyle they want.

Then there’s my friend Dr. Josie. She’s a recently retired doctor from the Navy hospital. Josie came to me after some people came to town, did an educational workshop for government employees, convinced her to put a large part of her Thrift Savings Plan into one company, got their big commission and flew right out of town, never to be heard from again.

Those type of “advisors” annoy me.

Today we have put together a plan for Josie, a plan that allowed her to:

* retire early

* begin traveling the world with her husband

* spend time with her kids and grandkids

* maximize her government pension and Social Security benefits

* implement a combination long-term care & life insurance plan that will provide a guaranteed payout, either to her or her heirs, instead of the usual “USE IT OR LOSE IT” plan

* use a portion of her Thrift Savings Plan to guarantee increasing lifetime income far exceeding what her Thrift Savings Plan could provide AND

* created a growth investment plan for her remaining assets while providing significant downside protection in the event of a market correction.

If you want PEACE OF MIND like Capt. Ted’s wife, Ms. Maggie, Mr. Carl or Dr. Josie, contact me on LinkedIn or call me at (843) 284-0370.

ONE FINAL NOTE: I retired from the Navy Reserve in 2006 as a Commander after having served 21 years with three Commanding Officer tours. Steve is currently a Captain (O-6) in the Navy Reserve. I guess I was a good mentor!

Kathleen Kelbly

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-everything-happened-your-life-happening-you-jeanette-uptain/

My Personal Story of… Why I Never Give up Fighting
For My Clients and Serving Them!

My past is a strong foundation behind me that helped me build solid ethics, exceptional service and customer care.
Growing up working in the small business that my grandfather started and my parents expanded gave me valuable lesson in exceptional customer care. As a small child to a young adult I was surrounded by those examples of how to help and serve customers.

I purchased my first townhome at about 25 years old, eventually got married and bought a larger home to raise a family in but moved due to divorce.

While juggling it all…

It was my goal to get back into a home for myself and my kids and through resilience we did! I was able to provide for my kids, give them stability, safe environment and a good school by buying a home in a good district and neighborhood.

Then one of my kids started getting sick…

In between juggling two small kids on my own I was now worried about my child’s health and going from doctor to specialist to medicine after medicine being added to my child’s daily intake and emergency room visits in the middle of the night.

I felt helpless feeling like I couldn’t help my own child and it was Crushing. I wished it was me and not her! It wasn’t fair… I had all these feelings and more. But I could not give up fighting for her!

But then It suddenly got worse…

We were caught off guard when my daughter suddenly had unusual symptoms that landed us at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA).

We saw a team of different specialist who listened, took time with us, evaluated my daughter and formulated a plan to get my daughter better.

We experienced staff, volunteers, and doctors who gave amazing care and support thought out the process.

At Childrens Health Care of Atlanta, I also saw other kids getting the same level of care and support but would still be there far longer than the 3 days we were there and I felt such compassion for them.

After that experience, my daughter and I was dedicated that she would come off all the medicines, because we felt it was the likely cause of why she ended up in the hospital.

Through a long journey…

Of praying, education, seeking advice, looking for alternatives, and fighting for a better way we were able to accomplish that goal. She is now a healthy happy kid who will boldly tell you she does not have that any more… and it makes my heart deeply smile.

Now…

My Husband and I, with our big blended family are now preparing teenagers for college, driving and car Insurance, while catering to at least 3 different meal plans: Gluten Free, Low Calorie and Picky Eaters and we added a dog who is also a picky eater.

In addition to helping others buy and sell homes…

I have bought and sold my personal homes at almost every life stage: I have the experience to relate and the know how to guide you no matter the reason for your home sale or purchase.

These 4 things are important to me…
1. Taking care of the details so my clients don’t have to stress or worry no matter the reason they are selling or buying.
2. Providing exceptional customer care though out the process and after the home closing because it’s deeply-rooted into who I am.
3. Fighting to help my clients reach their real estate goals and whats important to them.
4. Donating from my commissions to Childrens Health Care of Atlanta (CHOA) with every closing for the children who must stay longer than a few days and battle more server diseases.

Let me buy you a coffee or tea and learn more about “Whats Important to You?” so I Can Best Serve and Fight For You. Give me a call at 770-652-4494 to schedule a time.

Kendra Sanders,
Realtor
Serving Cobb County and surrounding areas, I am a Member of Cobb County Board of Realtors, Cobb Chamber of Commerce, Kennesaw Business Association, and serve on the membership committee member with Kennesaw Business Association.

I was able to upload my Hero Story on LI and Facebook. (major for me)  I also got a Twitter account and loaded it there. (Unbelieveable for me)

Please check it when you have a chance and let me know what you think.  Any feedback will be appreciated.

Here’s my link:  https://www.linkedin.com/feed/