Friday, October 30, 2015

Members of the Week - Susan Feil & Alicia Feil Peterson

Susan Feil & Alicia Feil Peterson
Coldwell Banker Legacy
505-690-222 - Susan
505-235-9398 - Alicia
Click Here to Visit Our Website

About Susan
Susan Feil has more than 26 years of residential real estate sales experience exclusive to New Mexico. A top-producing Realtor who has sold in excess of $350 million in property throughout the state, Susan has consistently earned numerous sales and service awards including the Los Mejores award and The Presidential Award.
She is a charter member of The Elite 25.Ranging from million-dollar estates for clients to $80,000 first-time homes for their children, Susan’s skill in finding properties for buyers has resulted in several generations of satisfied customers.A member of the National Association of Realtors, Susan has served on the governing boards for its Residential Sales and Residential Broker’s councils.

At the state level, she was a director of the Realtors Association of New Mexico. Recognized for her professional expertise, Susan has spoken at real estate conferences both in the United States and internationally. A graduate of The Realtors Institute (GRI), Susan’s professional certifications additionally include Certified Real Estate Brokerage Manager (CRB), Certified Residential Specialist (CRS) and Certified International Property Specialist (CIPS), Resort and Second Home Specialist (RSPS) and the coveted Commerical Investment Managment Specialst (CCIM).

Active in many charitable organizations, she has volunteered with Santa Fe’s Buckaroo Ball and the Santa Fe Art Institute. Susan has also served as a member of the Jewish Welfare Federation, the New Mexico Symphony Guild and the New Mexico Repertory Theater.

In addition to a bachelor’s degree in English from Case Western Reserve University, Susan earned a master’s degree in communications from Northwestern University.Susan and her late husband traveled extensively worldwide including South Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Australia, New Zealand, Bali, France, Spain, Finland, Russia, Germany, Italy, Costa Rica, Mexico, Syria, Lebanon and lived for several years in Turkey.

About Alicia
Alicia Feil Peterson has never forgotten her love for The Land of Enchantment.  She grew up in Albuquerque, graduating from The Albuquerque Academy and then earned a Bachelors Degree from Scripps College in Claremont, California.

After college, she journeyed to New York City, where she successfully completed Saks Fifth Avenue’s training program, and was soon promoted to Cosmetic Buyer. She left Saks to become part of the Internet boom – as Director of Merchandising for a dot-com beauty company. She stepped out of the dot-com world in order to take a step up – accepting a position with NARS Cosmetics as National Sales Manager, where she managed over 300 accounts and oversaw 30 direct reports.

New York City was a wonderful and exciting experience for Alicia.  Her life there, more than anything else, taught her that New Mexico is her home. The people, the landscape, and the culture here are so wonderfully unique and special – living without them left too great a void.  She was delighted when the chance arrived to return to her home and to make the next natural step in her career and her life.

Alicia had the privilege of watching an expert, her mother, Susan Feil, at work in real estate here in New Mexico for the last twenty-eight years.  She had intense interest in her mother’s work since the day she began.  She witnessed the drastic impact that Susan has had on people’s lives and this, along with her passion and love for New Mexico, led her to return to the state she loves-to help people in the same way her mother has and to work closely with her family.

Since returning back to Albuquerque Alicia hit the ground running selling homes and commercial property.  From the get go Alicia has been recognized within Coldwell Banker as one of their top brokers locally and nationally, selling millions of dollars of real estate yearly.  Alicia has also been invited to be a part of NM Select and Elite 25, both selective groups of “top agents” in Albuquerque.

The most fulfilling part of Alicia’s job is assisting people when they are most in need of her help. “People are buying or selling real estate at some of the most exciting, or most difficult times in their life. As a friend I have always found it important to be there for both the good times and the bad, applying that to my professional life is very important. The bond that I create with my clients is everlasting. One of the most rewarding is having my mom work with families who moved to Albuquerque over two decades ago, and now we get to help their children find homes; working through our generations to theirs is truly rewarding.”

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Member of the Week - Kelly Taliaferro

Kelly Taliaferro
Lucky Dog Realty
505-270-5552
Click Here to Visit My Website

As a full time, full service residential real estate specialist, I look forward to helping you buy or sell your next home in the Albuquerque, New Mexico, area.

I grew up in sunny Irvine, California. In high school and at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH, I played soccer, ran cross country and track, and enjoyed the outdoors. Teaching science to middle & high school students, coaching soccer, leading a chemical reconnaissance platoon for the Army, and taking adolescents backpacking were a few of my first jobs before we moved from the New England area to Albuquerque. While living in New York City, I also earned my Masters in curriculum and teaching at Columbia University.

My husband, Hank, and I moved to Albuquerque in 2002 where he completed his residency in emergency medicine at University of New Mexico Hospital. After Hank finished his residency we just couldn’t leave Albuquerque!

Our family now includes two rambunctious boys, two dogs, a cat, a snake and a dove. We enjoy camping, hunting, skiing, & bird watching throughout the Land of Enchantment. When I am not selling houses, you can find me coaching youth soccer, volunteering at the local elementary school, or running with our dogs in the foothills.

When we purchased our first home as newlyweds, I became curious about pursuing real estate as a profession. A year later, I had earned my real estate license and was busy helping others buy and sell their homes. Since 2004, I have sold hundreds of homes totaling to more than 50 million dollars of real estate.

I enjoy working with all sorts of buyers and sellers, but I especially enjoy helping buyers looking for their forever, dream home and those who are purchasing their very first home. As for sellers, I really love tackling the challenge of making your home appeal to the most buyers through staging strategies, targeted marketing and proper pricing. As an experienced real estate investor, I am happy to analyze the market ensure my clients are making well-informed financial choices too. I utilize the latest technology to set my listings apart and to help my buyers find the perfect home for the right price. Whether you are a buyer, seller or investor, my goal is to help you find the right space and maximize your return on investment.

I take my real estate education seriously. Becoming a Certified Residential Specialist (CRS) is the most difficult and thorough residential real estate designation. Only 3% of Realtors achieve CRS status. Compared to the average agent, CRS realtors have been in the business 3 times longer, have 3 times the number of annual transactions, and generate 3 times the gross sales.

I try to set myself apart from other Realtors through my education, experience and work ethic. Earning the CRS designation and opening my own brokerage, Lucky Dog Realty, are a testament to my commitment and love of real estate. I pride myself on providing professional and personal real estate services to all of my clients.

During 2013 I sold many luxury properties and was invited to be a member of the Albuquerque Elite 25 Realtors. This is an exclusive group of seasoned, top producing realtors who specialize in marketing and selling the finest homes. To be invited to join Elite 25, a realtor must consistently list and sell these luxurious homes.

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Member of the Week - Joe Maez

Joe Maez
Keller Williams
505-401-5775 
Click Here to Visit My Website

When you want something done right, you call an expert. And when you want an expert in real estate, the answer is simple. You call Joe. Joe Maez is a proven real estate professional who knows how to do things right—every day he is out there working to make the home-buying or -selling process easier for you. No wonder that, regardless of which way the market has gone, Joe’s sales have gone up every year. This year is his best year yet, and that is no accident. Joe says, “If you really do a good job, you’ll always have clients,” and his track record proves it. 

Joe, who has personally sold more than 500 homes in Rio Rancho and Albuquerque, has unique and extensive knowledge of the local markets. More than that, he is the kind of person you instinctively trust. The first thing you notice about Joe is the sincere pleasure he takes in meeting new people—he honestly looks for and finds the best in you. The other thing that stands out is his optimism—talking with him, it is hard not to feel that everything will work out for the best. “I love helping people through the real estate process,” Joe says. “Every day is fun and different; in fact, it doesn’t even feel like work!” Clients can sense his passion and enthusiasm and know that they are welcome to contact him any time.

The second thing you notice about Joe is how he really listens to what his clients want and need. Whether they are relocating, first time buyers, or just ready to downsize, Joe really takes the time to find common ground and listen to where people are coming from. “When I meet new clients, my first objective is to make friends with them and get them to trust me. The relationship always comes first,” Joe explains. He doesn’t just look at his clients’ choices; he looks at the whole person. Only after out finding out what they really need and want does he start talking about locations, options, and getting them the most he can for the price they can afford. “My goal is to really understand what you’re looking for and only show you a few homes that I think you’d love. We can save you the time and stress of being dragged all over town to look at dozens of homes that you would never buy.”

Just as important as listening is knowing the ins and outs of the business. The former top salesman in the nation for Pulte Homes, the country’s largest new home builder, Joe knows homes and he knows what buyers are looking for. He not only understands construction and helps his clients assess the quality of workmanship in a new or resale home, he can also fill them in on the strengths and weaknesses of all the major builders working in Albuquerque and Rio Rancho.

Sellers who work with Joe get the unique advantage of working with a natural salesman who knows exactly what to do to make a property appealing to a buyer. He cautions against rushing to put a house on the market without doing the necessary preparation. “If you plan everything carefully and set up the marketing and staging before you put it on the market, then you can leverage the fact that it is fresh and sell it within the first 30 days. If not, you’ll never be able to regain that advantage,” he says.

Joe makes no secret of his marketing strategies. “It’s not just knowing what sells. You also have to put in a lot of time and out of pocket expense to make the home visible to buyers,” he says. For Joe, that means not just holding open houses but also developing a strong Web presence by making homes available on over 24 real estate websites, craigslist, and more. The market is always changing, and Joe stays ahead of the curve by combining his old-fashioned, client-focused salesmanship with the latest tools. “What worked yesterday isn’t necessarily what will work today, so I am always looking for new trends,” he says.

Many of Joe’s homes are sold before they even hit the market, and his extensive network of contacts within the real estate industry ensures that his clients have special access to all of these opportunities. When he was a sales team director at Pulte homes, Joe teamed up Realtors across the region to sell homes and impressed them with his knowledge and dedication to helping clients. A founding member of the local Rotary Club and an in-demand motivational speaker, Joe has expanded those ties—while simultaneously broadening the exposure and opportunities for his clients.

One thing Joe focuses on is really knowing what he is talking about, inside and out. He believes that he has a responsibility to answer questions about any aspect of the building and buying process. “We can always keep on bettering ourselves and honing our skills, and I want to be a wealth of knowledge for my clients,” he insists. For example, Joe’s expertise with financing and the mortgage industry often comes in useful, and he can answer his clients’ questions without needing to refer them to other offices. “I’m not just going to tell you to go talk to my mortgage people about that. I’ll tell you your financing options right away so you can use that information to make decisions,” Joe says.

Because Joe is focused on listening to his clients instead of promoting himself, they may not know his own extraordinary personal history. When asked if this is where he pictured himself, Joe laughs. “Definitely not!” he says. “Real estate wasn’t even on my radar.” But looking back, the connections are all there.

Joe grew up in northern New Mexico in the tiny town of Abiquiu, surrounded by national forests. His parents encouraged Joe and his brother to think big and to strive for a better life. “They didn’t give us a lot of things. What they gave us were the tools to work hard and get what we wanted, which was so much more valuable,” Joe says.

The entrepreneurial spirit was evident early on. When Joe was thirteen, he and his brother co-founded their first business: guided boat tours of the local lake, which took advantage of Abiquiu’s widespread tourist industry. Although Joe and his brother were just kids they ran their business like pros, establishing a company name, Storybook Tours, and printing up impressive brochures. “It was great. We learned to be comfortable with public speaking and communicating with all kinds of personalities, and we met a lot of really cool people,” he says.

Joe’s childhood sounds picturesque, but the next step was what really changed him. At the age of 17 he joined the Army Reserves, where he would stay for the next eight years. “My dad was in the Marines and my grandpa was in the Army. I have always looked up to both of them and respected their leadership, so I wanted to do the right thing,” he explains.

A combat engineer, Joe was deployed to Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division in 2003. His 13 months overseas changed his entire outlook on life. “I learned never to take anything for granted and to appreciate everything we have. No matter what, everything has a good side to it and you just need to discover that,” he says.

When Joe returned home from Iraq, his wife, Rosie, told him that she had been thinking about a career in real estate. “It sounded good for her, but I never even thought of it for myself,” Joe admits. While Rosie earned her Realtor’s license, Joe finished his Bachelor’s degree in Entrepreneurial Studies from the University of New Mexico. One requirement was an internship, and Joe found a listing that seemed to fit him to a tee. “It said they were looking for someone who loved marketing and meeting people, and I thought, ‘Wow! Those are the two things I want to do in my job,’” Joe remembers. The position was with Pulte Homes of New Mexico.

It was the beginning of a meteoric rise. Within two years Joe had moved from shadowing another professional to being a licensed Realtor and a regular member of the sales staff. Soon he was promoted to the selling sales manager. Six years later, he was directing the top sales team in the nation and the company had won two J.D. Powers awards for customer service. He was at the top of his game when he gave up that position to become a full-time Realtor, but Joe never had any doubts. “I loved being part of planning whole subdivisions and communities, but the best part was seeing individual families find their dream house. Now I can put my experience to work every day in making that happen,” he says.

While Joe is the public face of his business, his clients really get two experts for the price of one. Joe’s wife, Rosie, is also his partner, doing the behind-the-scenes work that most clients never see. Herself a licensed Realtor, Rosie has an eagle eye for details, and she handles the paperwork and legal requirements. The two Realtors perfectly complement each other’s strengths; in Joe’s words, they are the “yin and yang” of the business.

As real estate experts, Joe and Rosie have a passion for handling all the intricacies of a real estate transaction so that their clients never have to. “What we can offer clients is the assurance that everything will be handled quickly and smoothly in the most professional manner,” Joe says. The proud parents of a son, Timoteo, they look forward to continuing helping other families make their dreams come true. As Joe says, “Seeing people happy and excited about their new home—that never grows old!”

Friday, October 9, 2015

Members of the Week - Joan Wagner & Jill Levin

Joan Wagner & Jill Levin
Coldwell Banker Legacy
505-220-0600 (Joan)
505-385-7714 (Jill)
Click Here to Visit Our Website

Meet Joan
Whether you’re a first time home buyer, looking for that dream home, or a seasoned home owner, Joan Wagner can help you find that perfect place to call home. Having lived in New Mexico for over thirty five years, a transplant from Chicago, Joan calls New Mexico home and loves it! Her experience as a Realtor for over 20 years and as a member of the Santa Fe and Albuquerque Board of Realtors makes her the perfect person to help you. 

No one knows or understands the  diversity and is as knowledgeable of the area’s uniqueness and its residential areas as Joan. She’s owned and operated her own businesses in Albuqerque and Sante Fe.  Her continuous knowledge of effective changes in the real estate industry keep customers informed to current trends and their affect.   

Joan specializes in residential, rural, resort, and relocation in the Santa Fe/Albuquerque areas.  She is a member of the Continental Who’s Who, as well as being E-certified with Prudential. Among some of her qualifications she is also a Prudential Fine Homes Broker and a Prudential Certified Marketing Assistance and Destination Services Broker. 

A Realtor since 1990 and a top producer, Joan Wagner can help you to realize all your real estate needs and dreams whether you’re buying or selling. 

If you’d like to talk to people who’ve worked with Joan through the years, please ask for references, she’ll be happy to supply them.
Designations
e-PRO®
REALTOR®

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Member of the Week - Greg Lobberegt

Greg Lobberegt
Coldwell Banker Legacy
505-269-4734
Click Here to Visit My Website

I know your property better than any other person besides yourselves. And I have the proven knowledge, experience and marketing tools to sell it.

That's why when a call is received on any of my listings, every effort is made to see that I am the one who speaks directly with the person making the inquiry.

I sell over 15% of my own listings and am associated with Coldwell Banker Legacy Realtors, a company that commands around 30% of all the listings in MLS.

  • Specializing in residential real estate in the Albuquerque area
  • Over 28 years real estate experience
  • Member: The Elite 28 Realtors and New Mexico Select
  • Consistently in top 1% for sales volume of all agents citywide
  • Awarded CRS (Certified Residential Specialist) Designation from Residential Sales
  • Council of the National Association of Realtors
  • Coldwell Banker Legacy Realtors · 1987-2004 and 2010-Present
  • Keller Williams Realty · 2004-2010
  • Hooten/Stahl, Realtors · 1983-1987
  • Member of Albuquerque Metropolitan Board of Realtors, Realtors Association of New Mexico, National Association of Realtors; served on several committees of the Albuquerque Metropolitan Board of Realtors (AMBR)
  • AMBR Rookie of the Year, Los Mejores Award Winner
  • Licensed Broker by the New Mexico Real Estate Commission
  • University of Oregon, School of Business Management
  • Served on various neighborhood association boards
  • Basketball coach for the YMCA for the past 15 years
  • Avid golfer, skier, hiker