It was 2005 and I was enjoying a lovely sabbatical from my technology sales career in San Francisco. It was the first time in over 15 years that I wasn’t working full time and it felt freeing, stimulating and was a refreshing change from the daily grind. However, after 4 months, I knew I had to find something that I could look forward to each day with exhilaration and passion. That’s when I found myself at a dinner party with good friends who had recently relocated to Lake Tahoe to work for a captivating development within Northstar and the surrounding area. My friends recruited me to make the move to Truckee-Tahoe to work with East West Partners and Tahoe Mountain Resorts Real Estate. With no prior experience in real estate, I put my sales hat on and began to learn the market and make calls. Calling families that were excited about the prospect of owning a vacation home was invigorating. No longer was I entrenched in pulling together software analysis, product specifications, budgets, and unemotional events for companies to buy. The best part of my new career was, and continues to be, the relationships that I build with families; the shared outdoor lifestyle, similar paths in raising our children, as well as the joys and challenges faced. My clients have become an extension of my closest friends, and I seek advice and counsel from them as they do with me. My role in clients’ lives ceased to be soley transactional, and instead became a more fluid journey of friendship and growth.
As I continue to grow in this field of real estate, I’ve realized what is truly important- the people in our lives. When you surround yourself with wonderful people, you are set up for an incredibly satisfying and enriching life. I feel incredibly fortunate for the opportunities that are created with the families I meet. Real estate often brings new challenges with each transaction and with that, an opportunity to learn, grow and create. No deal is ever the same, and with this come infinite opportunities to gain experience and new knowledge. I am now entering my 10th year in real estate, and look forward to endless possibilities.
Liza Killen
530.448.5111
