The Work We Do: Sally Heitel, Century 21 Albertson Realty

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I’m Sally Heitel. I’m the managing broker at Century 21 Albertson Realty in Greenport. 

My career in real estate goes back many years and began at my mother’s knee in her real estate office in Brooklyn.

My career has taken many twists and turns over the years. In the early 90’s, I found myself working for a group of developers who were doing co-op conversions in New York City. My job was to set up on-site sales offices in several buildings – from five-story walk-ups in Greenwich Village to luxury apartments on the upper east side. Those were exciting, hectic and chaotic times in real estate…

I’d already fallen in love with the North Fork when I saw a “help wanted” sign in the window of Victorian Realty in Greenport on Front Street. I thought about working and living in Greenport. So, I did both for a few months, and the decision was easy: I made the North Fork my home.

Ultimately, Century 21 Albertson bought Victorian Realty a few years later. More than 20 years later, here I am.

I’m a non-competing manager in my office. A number of years ago, I made the decision not to pursue my own listings or sales, so not to conflict with the transactions of my agents.

We have a tight-knit office here. I mentor them, I celebrate them, I listen to their challenges, sometimes cry with them, but ultimately, a very frustrating business can be very rewarding both personally and financially.

My favorite parts of the job are the relationships and friendships that I’ve developed with my agents in the office. We try to overcome the competitive nature of the job by caring for each other.

There really is not a typical day in real estate. Surprises hit us all the time. You think you have a deal on Monday night,  and you find out differently on Tuesday morning. Or, sometimes you find out you have two or three on the same property.

A lot of what we do here is throw around the alternatives, think about how we can best help our clients and try to move forward.

Why real estate? I suppose the simplest answer is: the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

“The Work We Do” is made possible by Peconic Landing.