Agent Spotlight: Beth Morgan
After spending a year as a property manager and a year as an assistant to a broker, Beth Morgan knew it was time to stop sitting on the sidelines of real estate. With a background as diverse as Beth’s, it is no surprise that she began thriving as a real estate broker once she finally dove in.
While her favorite aspects of real estate have changed over time, one thing that has always held true is Beth’s desire to help her clients.
At Home with Beth Morgan
@properties: How do you start each day?
Beth: I am a morning person and a political news junkie. I listen to NPR’s Up First podcast every morning.
I also check email, go to CrossFit, drink tea, and think of new ‘helpful’ ways to wake up my teenager.
@properties: Describe your own first home.
Beth: The first home I bought was a white stucco, 2-flat in Evanston. The home had tiny closets, built-in hutches and gorgeous southeast light.
I bought the 2-flat because I couldn’t imagine living in a condo and subjecting myself to someone else’s rules. When I sell the 2-flat I currently own, I am moving into a condo.
@properties: What is the first big-ticket item you bought when you moved into your current home and why?
Beth: Unfortunately I replaced the plumbing that takes away waste material. Wish I could write something glamorous like, ‘new stable for my polo ponies.’
At Play with Beth Morgan
@properties: What do you love most about Evanston?
Beth: My neighborhood is convenient to everything, a great place to take a walk, and full of trees.
@properties: Where is your favorite local restaurant?
Beth: Evanston has dozens of great restaurants and the first place I thought of is in Skokie. I am a huge fan of Pita Inn‘s chicken fattoush salad, especially in the summer. I also love going to Pita Inn to be part of the fascinatingly diverse clientele.
@properties: What do you read every single day?
Beth: Everyday I read news headlines, the hot sheet, and the @properties app.
Not every day, but I also like to read fiction about people who have lives completely different than mine. I have a special fondness for stories about teenage witches and wizards.
@properties: How do you stay involved in your community?
Beth: I have a hockey-playing son in 8th grade. Most of my involvement in the community and volunteering relates to school or hockey. Ok, hockey, not school. Education is important, as the t-shirt reads, “hockey is importanter.”
@properties: You have a full free day in your town with no obligations & cost is no object. What would you do?
Beth: Go to the beach, take a walk through the rose garden and farmers market, go to an art fair, hang out in a backyard full of summer plants, and sit outside for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Anything outside in the summer sun where I can hear kids playing and dogs barking.
Beth & her family celebrating.
At Work with Beth Morgan
@properties: How did you decide that real estate was the right career for you?
Beth: I had two real estate jobs before I started selling. I spent a year as a property manager for a Section 8 landlord & a year as the assistant to a broker in Rogers Park.
In 1998 I decided I had sat on the sidelines of real estate long enough. The market was fast and exciting! Everyone was thrilled the rates were below 8% plus we had no-doc and interest-only products.
@properties: How did your previous experiences prepare you for real estate?
Beth: After college and before my real estate career, I had three jobs. I worked as an admin assistant at a teen counseling center in Skokie, at an army gym, and as secretary to a chaplain while I was married to a US soldier and living in Germany.
Any real estate preparation was accidental.
@properties: What is your favorite part of the job?
Beth: It has changed over the years. I have appreciated the independence, flexibility, lack of pantyhose, and the variety and intensity.
Currently, I enjoy the education piece. Specifically the time I spend coaching/guiding clients through their options and the process of buying or selling.
Beth helping a client move.
@properties: What is one thing you literally could not do your job without and why?
Beth: The Internet. It is my phone, fax, dictionary, thesaurus, address book, post office, calculator, time-waster, typewriter, encyclopedia, shopping mall, atlas, travel agent, calendar, TV, radio, cookbook, rate sheet, listing book, and communicator badge.
@properties: What is the best advice you’ve ever been given?
Beth: Real estate advice: Do the math.
Life advice: Trust your intuition. Save for retirement.
@properties: What is one piece of advice you’d give to a new real estate agent?
Beth: Wear a helmet for the first two years. The learning curve is steep!
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