MY STORY

Every Web Page has a Story.

This is Mine.

I arrived in the United States in the early 60's in New York. I fell in love with New York's grandeur, with its arts and entertainment. This was the place to be: the place to enrich my knowledge and go ahead in life. Indeed, high school diploma and junior college diploma were not enough. Graduate school and yes, the prestigious Hunter College offered me a great curriculum in languages in which I enrolled to get my bachelor's degree. With my New York Regions Scholarship I was able to cover my tuition, but a job would have made life easier.

So, I decided to work full time and go to school part time at night. It was difficult in the beginning, but the rewards were great. I worked at the printing department of Mutual of New York and did mass mailings to new policyholders using state of the art equipment for that time. Soon, I sought to enrich my knowledge in the work field, and I landed a job at City Bank's corporate office in the Mortgage and Closing Department. The introduction to mortgages and real estate closings fascinated me. A great field to learn and work in. But life interferes. On my third year in Hunter College, I got very sick. My sickness was attributed to intolerance to the cold weather. The doctor suggested that I move to a warmer climate to recover. By coincidence, my aunt and her husband had just moved to Florida, and they welcomed me to their house.

I never knew that a place like Florida existed. It was like living in Paradise! Much more, North Miami Beach reminded very much of my hometown in the island of Crete in Greece. I was home!!!

It took almost a year to recover. Soon after that I found a part time job at a nearby bank in new accounts. Then a full-time job opportunity came up at a mortgage company in Miami where I processed FHA/VA loans. I worked there for two years. Then life interfered again. This time it was not sickness, it was love! I met my husband-to-be, and after we were married, we built our first house in Boca Raton. There, we started our own house painting business. My husband was such an artist and so meticulous in his business, that we did not have to advertise. The business was built upon referrals both from the customers and from the paint store.

While in Boca Raton, I was hired to be the secretary of Florida Atlantic University's Mechanical Engineering Department. Wow! What a job! I worked for thirteen engineering professors from thirteen different countries! Since I was their first full-time secretary, I had to improvise a way to serve all these high esteemed professors who thought that their work always should be first in order. I invented a work order system that pleased everyone, and it was all good. Time management was the key to success. I worked for FAU for the next twelve years. The professors became our friends. Our kids played together, we were together in holiday times and enjoyed each other's company.

Our family was growing, and the house became too small for us. We decided to move. Real estate prices were soaring in Boca Raton at the time, so we decided to move to Port St. Lucie. We found our happy home and prepared for new adventures. Enrolled the kids to a private school and began to advertise for our house painting business. Port St. Lucie was a new city. Lots of new construction. New houses grew overnight like mushrooms. They needed painting. Plenty of work. We had no complaints. My experience as an office manager and as a loan processor proved to be valuable. In this new city, with many new houses to close, I landed a job at a title company and prepared the closing documents for many new owners. My boss was a great lady. I learned so much from her. All the intricacies related with real estate closings. It was a great job, but I missed my FAU family a lot. However, that was not for long. FAU opened up a new campus on the Treasure Coast and needed my services as a Campus' Business Office Manager. My career at FAU continued, managing the Business Office, along with helping students, professors and visitors. My coworkers were great. We became like a family. Long after we all retired, still have an annual get-together to meet and talk about our life.

It was at this time, after raising a family of four, that I decided to go back to school to complete my graduate studies and get my diploma. Working for a state institution like FAU I had the privilege of studying for free two classes a semester. At the ripe age of 55 I graduated Summa Cum Laude and became an FAU alumna, the same year my daughter received her bachelor's degree from FAU!

But life interfered again. I was diagnosed with early stages of cancer. I thank God that even though I had to be operated on, no radiation or chemo was required. As every day passes, I thank Him more and more that I am still in remission.

We lived in Port St. Lucie till 2008 when my husband was diagnosed with ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. I stopped working and became a full-time caregiver. Two years later, the Lord took him home.

Since I had no financial support, I decided to go back to the work force. This time I received certification to be a GED Instructor and work for Indian River State College as such in the evenings. My heart jumped from joy when each student I worked with received his/her High School Diploma! It was a really rewarding job! I called my students "my kids" regardless of their age and was very proud of them when they came to me displaying their diploma.

I finally decided to sell my house and move to Boca Raton near my daughter. But I could not see myself staying home watching TV. I had to do something. That something was Real Estate. It was the obvious thing. I had spent many years around real estate: from processing loans, to closings, to title work. Now it was time to sell real estate. I passed the state exam and signed up with Keller Williams where I received the best real estate training that exists in the industry. Stayed with them a few years, and then hung my license with Waterstone Realty, LLC which was run and managed by a friend of mine. Now, I have a home office in Palm Beach County, and I specialize in residential sales and rentals. I received a national certification as a Seniors Real Estate Specialist, and I have been helping seniors and others ever since find their happy home. Now I am here to serve you find your happy home. You will find that I am very dedicated in what I do, and I do not waste time.

It is my moto:

"HOME-WORK IS WHAT I DO BEST!"