I Kept Saying No.

How I Got Here

For years, friends kept telling me I should be in real estate. I kept saying no.

Then I actually thought it through. I love helping people solve real problems and reach real goals. I love meeting new people. And I am in love with Birmingham in a way where I will happily talk about this city to anyone who will listen. Real estate turned out to be the best of all the worlds I was already living.

Through my time as a fitness coach and trainer, I learned how much I really love having new people come into my life. All those years I kept saying no to real estate, I was not seeing the big picture. The work turned out to be everything I already loved... meeting a family who is preparing for the next chapter as their kids head off on their own, a couple welcoming a new baby and realizing their home no longer fits, or a professional relocating to Birmingham and ready to put roots down somewhere new. Being able to guide people through those moments turned out to be exactly the kind of work I had been looking for all along.

What Birmingham Gave Us

I grew up in Atlanta... and I LOVED it. The Barnum and Bailey Circus came to town every year. We went to Braves games at Fulton County Stadium on summer nights. I saw the Monkees at the Omni when I was little and never, ever forgot it. I had no idea how special any of that was because I assumed every city offered the same thing.

When the time came to put roots down, I'll be honest... I had real concerns about a smaller city. Would our kids have access to the things I grew up with? The culture, the experiences, the feeling that something great was always happening somewhere nearby?

Birmingham answered every single one of those questions. Our boys grew up with access to amazing live shows and a thriving music scene, a food scene that has produced chefs like Chris Hastings, who beat Bobby Flay on Iron Chef America, and a huge sports community that had the whole town rallying for our local teams. There was always somewhere worth going and something worth seeing.

And what we found in Birmingham that we never could have found in Atlanta was a slower pace and a quality of life that made all the difference. Short commutes between school and practice and home meant we were actually present for all of it. The affordability let us build a real life here without the financial pressure that comes with a bigger city. We got everything I had hoped for, and we got to actually enjoy it.

The Life We Built Here

We bought our first house in the heart of Birmingham, and it was perfect. So many friends from Auburn had made the same move, and we all ended up in the same neighborhood together, renovating beautiful historic homes and giving the whole area new life. We had the best time.

When we decided to start a family, we made the move to a suburb just outside the city, and I couldn't believe what we found... parks and recreation centers, a Christmas parade that was so magical and dreamy, sidewalk-lined streets where the boys could actually be kids, and morning story times at the library. We enrolled our boys in the school system, signed them up for youth sports and local theater, and took day trips to the zoo and the science center downtown.

It was city life with a small town feeling, and we loved every bit of it.

What You Should Know About Me

I am good at my job. I know that, and I say it without apology.

What that actually looks like in practice is this: my clients' needs come first, always. I am focused on making sure they win, and that looks different for everyone. I listen carefully to what my clients tell me to make sure I understand what is most important to them, because winning means something different in every single situation and no two transactions are ever the same. I am extremely competitive and a serious negotiator, and I bring that energy into every transaction on my clients' behalf.

I am also an honest communicator, for better or worse. Even when what I have to say may not be popular, I am always committed to being direct and honest. For most people, buying or selling a home is the largest financial transaction of their lives. They deserve facts, not reassurances. Transparency is not a selling point for me... it is just how I operate. I never want a client to feel misled, and knowing that I have represented them as well as I possibly could is everything to me.

I'll be honest about what that actually looks like sometimes. Just last week I walked away from a potential client because the relationship was not built on honesty and trust. She was not being straight with me, and without that foundation, I knew we could not work together effectively. It cost me $37,000 to walk away. It was absolutely worth it. A real estate transaction just won't work when someone doesn't trust the process from the start.

And with honesty in mind, pricing is another piece of the real estate puzzle where transparency is more important than people realize. Comps and sold data are facts, not suggestions. I work hard to make sure my clients understand those numbers and that we find a mutual price we can both justify when we go to market. In my last five listings, I have sold on average $34,000 over asking price. That does not happen by accident. It happens because the house is priced right from day one.

I want to be a tremendous resource. I want my clients to feel like we are a team, because we are. We work through this together. And because I have spent nearly thirty years living, raising a family, and building a life in this city, I know Birmingham in a way that goes well beyond market data. I love sharing it with every single person I work with.

That is what I bring to this. All of it.

The People Are the Point

The clients I have worked with have been the surprise of my life. In seven years in real estate, I've even had the opportunity to work with many of them more than once, and that means everything to me. I have gained so many friends through this work and am so thankful for the referrals who came simply because someone trusted me enough to send the people they love my way.

Last December, we hosted a Christmas Party for Mary Reed Durkin Real Estate, and I was not prepared for what I walked into. The room was full of people I genuinely love... friends from college, remarkable neighbors, referrals who had become friends, and even the parents of some of our close friends. Standing in that room, looking at what had been built, I got emotional. That is not something I expected when I got into real estate. It is the thing I am most grateful for.

The transactions matter. The people matter more. And who knew that this was the room I was building all along... all because I fell in love with a city and couldn't wait to help others feel the same way.