“I love that every single day is different, and every single client is different. And that is what I think is the coolest thing about our industry.” 

Buying or selling a home is a serious affair. For most, it will be the biggest in-vestment of their lives. It takes a broker like Katie O’Keefe to navigate a daunt-ing process to make it stress-free, even fun. “I always think it should be fun. It should be exciting,” she says.

Katie illuminates the brighter side even when a decision is prompted by a crisis such as death or divorce. “By the same token, it’s usually a new beginning. And so I try to look at it and say, let me take the stressful part out of it. That’s my job. This should be fun, whether we’re liquidating someone’s asset and hopefully making them a ton of money, or find-ing them a property that they’re going to start a new chapter. And that to me is really exciting.” 

That excitement began just as soon as Katie was introduced to real estate as a career 17 years ago. Bored with sales in another industry, she took a real estate class on a friend’s suggestion. “And without sounding cliche, after the very first class, I felt like I had found my niche.” Katie feeds on the challenge and variety that real estate offers. “I love that every single day is different, and every single client is different. And that is what I think is the coolest thing about our industry. We’re in different locations, people’s homes, different personalities. It just keeps it really interesting.” 

From her base in southeastern Wisconsin, Katie leads a team of seven agents. Her longevity in the industry gives her perspective to advise clients during cyclical highs and lows in the market. A seasoned broker not resting on her laurels, she continues learning and has five professional designations to her name. “This is a very technical industry,” Katie says. “There’s a lot of legalities that are associated with it. And I think you just need to keep learning and growing and not just say, ‘Okay, I’m done’.”

Continuing education is a focus for the team, including becoming more adept at social media. Katie sees social media not just as a channel to publicize agents, but as a tool that is streamlining the process for clients. “We don’t want to be flippant about what we’re doing, she says, “but I think the easier we can make the process for our clients and customers is going to be key. Making it simple for our consumer. Making sure that we’re not stressing them out.”  

A gym rat who finds joy cooking up a good meal, Katie believes in a work-life balance. I think it’s just important that we find our stressor outlets,” she says, “because it can be a high stress job. We really don’t truly have days off. So to me it’s key to find a couple of things that really bring you enjoyment.” One of those things is giving back to her community. Katie holds an annual event in which she and volunteers make sandwiches for the homeless. The event has grown from 150 sandwiches the first year to 1,000 recently. She has expanded it to include coat and blanket drives.

To learn more about Katie O’Keefe…
Call: 414-899-5009
Visit: dream-realty.com
Email: katie@dream-realty.com