Kathy Sollien
As Principal Broker and owner of Maple Leaf Realty I see my role as one of a mentor, teacher, manager and cheerleader. I am not actively involved in working directly with buyers and sellers as I prefer to send inquiries to any one of our competent Realtors. Their success is what makes Maple Leaf Realty a success and I want to be sure every one of them is reaching their full potential.
I was born and raised in Texas, moving to Vermont with my young son and late husband in 1990. My real estate career did not start until the year 2000 after I tried my hand at owning a gift shop and then working for a local financial planner. Real estate proved to be the perfect career for someone like me who likes the flexible nature of this business, the challenge of reaching for the brass ring year after year and knowing that my success was a direct result of my own hard work.
In 2008, Troy Richardson and I opened RE/MAX Maple Leaf Realty. Just the two of us with lots of energy and high hopes. We worked hard at building our business and within a short period of time saw our company’s growth rise quite rapidly. We added new agents, listed many properties and worked with lots of buyers, building our reputation as we went.
We eventually grew out of our small office space as well as to grow away from being a franchise. At that point we became an independent Realtor office as Maple Leaf Realty and within a short time, moved to a much larger office. Several years ago I acquired the sole ownership of our company and Troy stayed on as another one of our successful agents. As of the end of 2018, Troy left Maple Leaf Realty to work on his travel agent business, a business he has owned and operated for a number of years. He still pops in occasionally to see what we are up to and of course, the free coffee. In September of 2017 we moved to our very own office space at 311 North Street. We are especially proud of where we are now and love to give ‘the tour’ so feel free to stop by and we’ll show you around. Maybe even find time to talk real estate.
For over 25 years I have lived in Shaftsbury in a small house on lots of acres of land. Digging in the dirt (my concept of gardening), sitting on my deck with my cat, Marty and watching Little White Creek flow under my driveway (Tropical storm Irene took that out in 2011) all come together to keep me grounded. I plow my own driveway (many call it a road instead of a driveway) in the winter, cut small trees and limbs that get in my way with my cute little chainsaw (they think I’m crazy) and basically live one with nature (my way of decompressing). You’ll probably still detect a small ‘twang’ in my speech and although I will always be a Texan at heart ( I miss Mexican food!) my home is now Vermont (always a flatlander, I’m told).
So please don’t hesitate to give me a call or email. I would love to talk about our market, answer your questions and give all kinds of great advice. I might even refer you to one of our terrific agents. Either way, you’ll be in good hands.
PS – that’s Rosie, our office kitty. Much better photo than my mugshot
