Family business
Children inspired by moms to become real estate agents
Real estate agent Mary Stapleton watched her daughter Sarah's sales and people skills blossom as she grew, so when Sarah graduated from college last year, Stapleton encouraged her to get a real estate license. "She's a social butterfly and she's engaging, interesting, smart and kind," Mary Stapleton said. "She sold me $1,200 worth of knives and I don't even cook! She can sell anything, I can see it in her DNA."
Mary Stapleton has been in real estate since her daughters, Amelia and Sarah, were too young to remember her doing anything else. She's repeatedly risen to the top of her profession as a top producer at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Blake. She chose real estate because she felt she could make a difference in the field, helping people. She has persevered with a silver lining attitude, choosing to find the good news in the bad and the gratification in both the $150,000 sale and the $2 million sale, Stapleton said.
As children, the Stapleton sisters were often at their mother's side at inspections and open houses.
"It was an interesting lens to start learning the business, and now I'm learning it again but, 'for real' this time," Sarah Stapleton said.
She's taking on real estate as a second job for now—she is also a development associate at the Urban Justice Center and works remotely from her mother's home in East Greenbush. Stapleton's degree from Smith College is in sociology and psychology with a concentration in community engagement and social change. Taking on a job in real estate gives her a chance to practice her passion for increasing access, in this case to homeownership. Stapleton said the lessons her mother taught her - both directly and by example - apply to her life and career every day: Be positive. Learn from your mistakes. Hold your head up as a strong, independent woman. And play a killer game of tennis.
Joyce Brown and Nicole Wilkie
Joyce Brown and her daughter, Nicole Wilkie, started their real estate careers together before parting ways so Wilkie could stay home with her children. Three years ago they reunited and now go just about everywhere together, sometimes with Brown's husband and Wilkie's father as their driver while they work deals in the back seat on their laptops.
The mother-daughter team, affiliated with eRealty Advisors, complement each other. After 16 years in the business, Brown has the benefit of a large network and repeat business, while Wilkie is tech-savvy.
Brown said she regularly nudged Wilkie to get back into real estate.
"I was always there trying to get her back in. I knew when the time was right, she would be back," Brown said.
The women describe their families as close-knit and it's a value they bring to their business. Wilkie said she has long watched her mother become invested in the happiness of her clients.
"She would get to know her clients and tell me the stories. When she refers to clients from the past, I know
who she's talking about because I remember the stories," Wilkie said.
Wilkie said her mother's dedication, passion and empathy are inspiring. The women typically work seven days a week, but they hope to take Mother's Day off.
"We laugh because you never know. We'll still be answering calls and emails," Wilkie said.
Lynn Strunk and Aimee Strunk-Reinoehl
Mom, grandmother and real estate agent Lynn Strunk died on Mother's Day weekend in 2019 at 89. Her daughter, Aimee Strunk-Reinoehl, who followed her into the real estate business, thinks of her and her approach to business every day.
Strunk worked as a nurse before she started selling real estate in the 1970s. Before working from home was something many people did, she was doing business on a steno pad from her dining room, said Strunk-Reinoehl. Strunk bought the Century 21 franchise in Hudson in 1985, shortly after she became a widow at 53. She knew Hudson before it was trendy, watched it rise, fall and rise again, StrunkReinoehl said.
"When I was younger, I thought I would never go into the business, but as I got older I saw the benefits of the flexibility," Strunk-Reinoehl said.
Strunk-Reinoehl got her license in 2000 and in 2008, Strunk started to step back from the business, delegating more to her daughter and son-inlaw, Michael Reinoehl. Strunk renewed the Century 21 franchise several
times before going independent. When the company rebranded in 2017, it became Aimee Strunk Real Estate in Valatie.
Selling real estate was a lifestyle for Strunk, her daughter said. She always dressed to impress, she was always a professional. She believed doing good comes back around, and hard work pays off. Her goal was to make other people feel important, not to be the star herself — except once.
Years ago, mother and daughter took a trip to the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. There was a family connection — one of Strunk's brothers worked there. Strunk-Reinoehl was shocked when her mother started poking around and gave her daughter a tour.
"She said, 'Just walk around like you know what you're doing,'" StrunkReinoehl said. "She was humble, but she had a lot of confidence."