For Linda Johnson "life is a journey and passion, the vehicle."
Johnson, an associate broker at Realty Executives Southern Arizona, found her passion in real estate when she was 18 and purchased her first lot, then subdivided it.
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"A home is about the life that occupies that space," she said, explaining how she interviews her clients to find out what matters most in their lives.
"There is nothing more rewarding, more wonderful, then putting somebody in their first house when they didn’t know that they could make it happen," she added.
Everywhere Johnson goes, she examines and admires homes. She asks herself, "Could I live here? What would I do?"
When she visited Tucson in 1997, she fell in love, she said, and the biggest sale of her life was convincing her life partner, Pat Dandino III, they were going to sell all their real estate and let go of the business she had built for the previous 20 years. They moved here in 2000.
Soon Johnson and Dandino will bring "the riches of life" into their home by adopting a child, she said. She hopes to pursue her passion for real estate, but also to be able to say, "I’m sorry, I can’t meet that appointment. I’ve got ballet classes."
As a child, Johnson learned from her parents she could do and become anything she wanted, she said. They acted like she had already succeeded. Her mom even had a cheerleading charm for her bracelet when she finished tryouts and made it onto the team.
Today Johnson realizes she did everything "backward" by owning her own real estate company when she was 30 and taking on challenges many people don’t face until their 40s, 50s or 60s.
She has bought, managed and refurbished more than 50 properties ranging from single-family homes to 15-unit buildings, she said.
Johnson has also taken on leadership positions in groups including the Hearth Foundation, an organization that provides shelter to homeless women and their children, and the Women’s Council of Realtors.
"I love what I do," she said, "so I’m consumed with it."
Associate broker, Realty Executives
• A goal: "Helping people realize and build upon their own net worth, create independent wealth and secure their financial futures."
• A wish she intends to turn into reality: "To adopt and raise a child in an environment similar to her own loving childhood, and installl a strong sense of self-worth and morals, and manifest the belief that all things are possible."
Comments
Jon wrote on Jun 5, 2008 12:58 PM: