Peg Gilliland
ASSOCIATE BROKER®
434-242-1470
peggilliland1@gmail.com
• An “Interview” with Peg Gilliland •
For many years, Peg – by statistics and reputation – has consistently been ranked a top residential realtor in Charlottesville.
Peg, why Charlottesville?
A career opportunity beckoned my husband, and along with our young son, we moved to Charlottesville in 1999. Having grown up in New England, I was hesitant to move away from family and friends. But once we settled-in, I knew we were living in a very special place.
Since then, we have been a choir singing the praises of Charlottesville: great friends, UVA, the Blue Ridge, the vineyards and restaurants and proximity to the DC area and the Outer Banks.
And the weather here is delightful - most of time!
How about Career Highlights?
Professionally, I have reinvented myself three times.
Equipped with a BA from UPenn and an MBA from Columbia University, my first career was on Wall Street in investment banking and corporate money management.
That was followed several years later by a career shift when I joined the Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group in Manhattan as a marketing director.
After our move to Charlottesville, I decided to try my hand at selling real estate. Took the classes, passed the tests and have been a realtor for over 20 years, the past 13 years of which I have been an Associate Broker at Charlottesville Real Estate Solutions.
Why Real Estate?
This sounds a bit…sugary (!) – but as a child I loved exploring houses and redesigning floor plans, dreaming of enhancements, additions, landscaping, pools…anything to make the home more desirable. My younger sister and I would grab our colored pencils and sheets of blank paper and sit at our kitchen table for hours making sketches and comparing notes. We even drew pictures of moving vans and cars and streets and stick-figures of children and their parents pulling up to the curb of their new home!
The move to Charlottesville gave me the opportunity to pursue a career that drew on that childhood passion.
What makes a great Realtor?
Everyone remembers the homes they bought and sold along the way. Sure, some are flips, or investment properties, but most are places you lived in and now want to sell, or you need to find a new home to buy. For most people a realtor was involved in their prior real estate experiences, and that relationship, good or bad, becomes a part of that time and place – and for a very long time!
Of course, every realtor wants to be a very positive memory for each client. It is more than “just a transaction!” And it is good for their business, too!
Almost all my clients had utilized on-line real estate sites, networking, and other tools before connecting with me. So, a great realtor must bring to the equation information that expands on what the client already knows (or think they know) - and do that with style, patience, attentiveness, courtesy, experience - and smarts!
My track record (including wonderful referrals over the years) suggests I have those skills.
