Stephanie and Ladd Gasparovic

She's on her second career and she runs her own business. She's a transplant (isn't everyone?) who arrived in Wilmington as the real estate market caught fire. But even as housing embers have cooled, she's hired more people to help her.

She's a real estate agent (isn't everyone?), but she also is 27.

Stephanie Gasparovic's success has earned her membership in the "Top 30 Under 30" club of the National Association of Realtors.

She's the first real estate agent in the area to join that club, said EXIT Homeplace Realty in Hampstead - itself the first of its franchise in North Carolina.

Gasparovic operates a team - actually an incorporated company - within EXIT.

Success selling real estate is only part of the criteria for joining the 30 under 30 club, Gasparovic said. The Realtors consider community service and your story: Gasparovic taught second-grade students in Maryland after graduating from Towson University in Baltimore, she said. She also taught in Greensboro and got her real estate license there.

"Things were kind of booming" in Wilmington, she said, and she and her husband, who went to the University of North Carolina Wilmington as an undergrad, moved here in 2004, she said.

Their instincts - he's a real estate attorney, her father was a builder in Maryland and her parents ran a construction company - led them to Hampstead, a growing suburban area that has been more resistant to the down market than other neighborhoods, Gasparovic said.

Three-quarters of Gasparovic's business is new construction, she said.

Gasparovic's company team consists of three full-time agents and three part-time buyer agents, she said, and she continues to do sales and listings.

The young successful businesswoman attributes her success to the patience she learned from teaching and her straightforwardness in the current market.

"I would say I am upfront and honest," said Gasparovic, who explained that her company doesn't take overpriced listings just to have a sign in the yard. "We want the name that we sell. Honesty and patience are key.

"I do think we're not going to tell somebody what they want to hear," Gasparovic continued. "People bought homes two years ago and now they can't sell them for that much. Let's show them the whole picture and be honest, and that kind of comforts them."

Wayne Faulkner, 343-2329
wayne.faulkner@starnewsonline.com

A congratulations Card by Steve Morris to Stephanie Gasparovic

	Steve Morris, the Founder and CEO of Exit Realty send the following card to Stephanie Gasparovic to Congratulate her on being Realtor Magazine 30 under 30 Recipient.     From Steve Morris "They say that a job well-done is its own reward, but still, you shoulb know how much your hard work means to those around you." (Front of Card)
Handwritten by Steve Morris "Stephanie!! Special Congratulations for your fabulous achievement of being recognized in Realtor Magazine's 30 Agents Under 30. This is indeed a unique career building accolade and a very special compliment to you, your dedication, and all your well focused efforts. On behalf of Exit Realty Corp. Int. I Salute You! Warmest Personal Regards Steve Morris, Founder and CEO" (Card Open)