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AGENT FEATURES: RESSIE KRABACHER TIFFANY MORET ON THE RISE:
IVONA KUTERMANKIEWICZ Savoring the Opportunity and the Thrill
NAFISA MURADOVA PARTNER SPOTLIGHTS: THE HECHTMAN GROUP LTD A&N MORTGAGE RYAN PIERCE
AUGUST 2022
cover story
KUTERMANKIEWICZ
IVONA
By Chris Menezes Photos by Sonya Martin
22 • August 2022
Savoring the Opportunity and the Thrill Ivona Kutermankiewicz’s introduction to real estate took place in a French bistro where she was working through college after coming to the United States from Poland in 1989. It was there that she met Frank Oliva, a broker and owner of the real estate company Francis Parquet & Co. He was a regular who would often stop by after closings for some French wine and bread and chat with Ivona. He thought she had excellent customer service skills and eventually tried recruiting her to join his brokerage.
“He’d tell me about how he had a woman with a Ph.D. in philosophy [on his team] who found real estate more exciting. No kidding! It looked like he was having a blast, so I thought, ‘Maybe one day,’” explains Ivona. Then, when one of Ivona’s friends decided to get her license, Ivona figured she might as well take the class, too. She didn’t ultimately decide to enter the business until her restaurant manager refused to give her time off for her honeymoon. At that point, she quit, and when she came back from her honeymoon, she joined Frank Oliva and Francis Parquet & Co.
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Ivona with her husband, Steven Schmoldt
Ivona grew up in Poland under Communist regime. As a kid, she loved Coca-Cola, “everything American” and always knew she would “somehow end up in the U.S.,” which, after coming to the U.S. during a summer abroad from studying law in Poland, she did. After meeting her husband in the summer of 1989, she decided to stay here and finish her degree. Once she obtained her real estate license and went to work, however, she decided to devote all her energy to building her business.
“There were, I think, five of us in a small office on Clark Street at the time,” Ivona recalls. “Since I didn’t know anyone in the city, my first broker gave me a notebook and sent me out on the street to knock on doors (‘door knocking’). I met a ton of people, and my first listings and sales were from sellers I met that way. I even bought my first house from a woman whom I met on my first day of door knocking.” Ivona loved real estate for the independence and potential to build her own business, the opportunities for investment and the creativity in marketing and helping builders design new construction it provided. It was that freedom, independence and opportunity that attracted her to the United States so long ago. Well, that and Coca-Cola. 24 • August 2022
“The beginning of my career was pretty rough because I had no network and my English was not all that great,” she explains. “I built my business by literally going out and knocking on doors for two hours a day, five days a week.”
I BUILT MY BUSINESS BY LITERALLY GOING OUT AND KNOCKING ON DOORS FOR TWO HOURS A DAY, FIVE DAYS A WEEK.” @realproducers
Having to hit the pavement like that early on created great habits for Ivona to fall back on during the tougher moments in her career, like during the market crash of 2008. Ivona went back to basics at that point, driving around and looking for business on the street. Sure enough, she ended up meeting a builder who, once the market began recovering in 2010, asked Ivona to list his new-construction homes. That one connection got Ivona up and running again when a lot of brokers were still struggling to rebuild their businesses. realproducersmag.com
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WHEN IT COMES TO REAL ESTATE, ALWAYS GO WITH
While many things have changed in the industry over the past 30 years Ivona has been in it, her ability to recognize and embrace innovation has contributed to her continued success. “It’s exciting to see all the new tools we are able to utilize to automate a lot of the things we do, so we can focus on adding value and servicing our clients,” she says.
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It’s always been about the client for Ivona. In fact, the most rewarding parts of her career are when clients refer their children to her and express their gratitude for her help and work. She also takes immense satisfaction in seeing the brokers she has mentored build successful businesses of their own. To those agents looking to build successful businesses, Ivona says, “Show up every day, shadow top producers, educate yourself and don’t be afraid of rejection. Adapt and innovate. But most of all, have fun with it.” Ivona still has fun doing real estate every day. In fact, she never sees herself retiring from the business. “I think I will be the 80-year-old lady coming down the elevator to show listings in the building I live in,” she says, laughing. “I love the rush of the deal, and I think I would have major ‘deal withdrawals’ if I stopped. But I would love to be able to spend more time with my husband, Steven, and our dogs, Atlas and Thor, hiking somewhere in Europe in the years to come.” Among Ivona’s favorite things to do are reading a book on a beach somewhere in the Mediterranean, tending to her garden and her hibiscus plants (which she has named “Rico Suave” and “Disco Diva”) and biking the lakefront in Chicago. Every summer for the past five years, she has participated in the two-day, 111-mile Owl Ride for Jackson. The ride is a part of Ivona’s fundraising efforts for
26 • August 2022
Commerci
Land Use al Litigation | Real Estate Litigation | Real Estate Transactions, | Zoning &
Jackson Chance Foundation, where she serves on the board. The organization helps families spend more time with their critically ill babies at the NICUs at Lurie Children’s Hospital, Northwestern Prentice Women’s Hospital and Rush Children’s Hospital without financial burden.
LISA J. SAUL, ESQ.
191 N. Wacker Drive, 31st Floor Chicago, IL 60606
While Ivona never intended to become a real estate agent, she says that in many ways, it feels like it was her happy destiny arranged by fate. She loves it and can’t see herself doing anything else. We can expect to see much more of Ivona for years to come.
847-910-2317 | lsaul@fordellp.com www.fordellp.com @realproducers
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