My start....many moons ago, over 20, but who is counting ... when I decided to take the leap. My career started with Charles Real Estate, Norwood where I began as one of ten brokers and ultimately led the retail division.
In the mid 1980s, the market dropped out, Charles Real Estate principals retired and to keep my business growing I began Wluka Commercial Real Estate, a child of Wluka Real Estate Corp. At the same time I began consulting with Kennedy Wilson Auctioneers. As an auction property manager, my clients were the FDIC, Bank of New England, and others who had foreclosed on properties during that great bust. I managed and prepared marketing packages for hundreds of foreclosed real estate properties throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Fortunately I was able to keep my own business flourishing and two years later, when Kennedy Wilson moved back to Texas, I worked hard to establish my market share.
Being on my own has given me the opportunity to focus on all mediums of real estate ... office, retail, industrial, land, sales, leasing and investing. Being a woman in what traditionally was a man's world in the 1980s was a challenge. To carpool my children from school, the sports or simply take them someplace would require the "I have an appointment" excuse. Today I applaud my male counterparts for being forthright and telling it like it is. Thank you men for picking up the responsibility, rising to the challenge and enjoying your children ... the greatest asset to our lives. It is a thrill for me to hear my fellow brokers say they are taking their child to the sports or music practice or a doctors appointment. I applaud you.
Now my kids are grown and I balance my career around my three grandchildren. Could be worse!
There is a high level of professionalism and camaraderie among my fellow female brokers. Opportunities are there for anyone who is honest, aggressive and informative. It has been exciting, challenging and above all, rewarding.
To answer some of the NEREJ questions: My mentors are my clients and husband. Each year we add a new level of comfort to our relationships.
My husband, David, is a past president of Mass. Association of Realtors and is active in the Smart Growth movement both here and with the NAR.
I have found personal rewards this year spending a week in Mobile, Alabama building houses with Habitat for Humanity, doing the same for a day swinging a hammer in New Orleans 9th Ward and gathering clothing here at home to send to those in Louisiana who had their homes taken from them and have virtually nothing.
Finding a new campus for the South Area Solomon Schechter Day School, a private religious day school in Stoughton, Mass was rewarding both personally and from a business sense. Cathy Minnerly of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller, the May Institute, in the sale of the 37,000 s/f campus on Commerce Way in Norwood. I recently entered into a contract for the existing Stoughton campus to Summit Academy Management represented by Eric Keys and John Cissel of Cornerstone Advisory Services. The dedication of the staff, administrators and volunteer board of the SASSDS is to be appluaded. This is one of many non-profit organizations that I have helped find homes over the years.
Outside of work, I am on the Foundation of New England Sinai Hospital in Stoughton and past chair and member of the board of directors of the Neponset Valley Chamber of Commerce. In my other life, I enjoy art. I am a member of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Fuller Art Museum in Brockton and several artist associations. Two years ago I graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a certificate in Decorative Painting.
Nancy Wluka is the founder of Wluka Commercial Real Estate, Sharon, Mass.