Lindsay Van Duinen-Scully

Finding Meaning With Each Season

By Chris Menezes

Photos by Jacob Harr with harr Creative LLC

Real estate has come to mean many different things to Lindsay Van Duinen-Scully over the course of her 17-year career. As a young college graduate who was feeling unfulfilled in her corporate job, real estate provided her the ability to be her own boss and to have control over her schedule, and entrepreneurial freedom. While those things have always been important to Lindsay, she says it has evolved into more than she could have ever dreamed of over the years.

Before Lindsay entered the business, she saw real estate as more of an investment — a way for paying your rent. In fact, it was how she got into the business in the first place: She was looking to purchase an investment property where she could live in one unit and rent the other to pay the mortgage.

While on the hunt for this investment property, her agent at the time told her she’d be great in the business. She never thought about real estate as a career, but after a lot of research and prayer, she decided she had nothing to lose. She took the plunge without realizing it would not only become a new career but also become a love and passion.

After a few years in the business, real estate as an “investment” shifted for Lindsay when the market crashed and the four rental properties she had purchased plummeted to half of their value. Real estate now became survival.

“I just remember thinking to myself how many $40,000 houses I had to sell in order to pay the bills,” Lindsay recalled. “I remember showing houses to clients, and every house you would show would be a foreclosure or a short sale. I hope to never revisit times like that again.”

On a brighter side, Lindsay’s favorite role that real estate has played in her life has been matchmaker. She met her husband, Jeremy, through the business, who was one of her clients at the time. He was a partner for a company that flipped houses in Grand Rapids even though he lived in Los Angeles, California.

“It took him a couple of years and a lot of excuses later to agree to come into town to meet me for lunch! Needless to say, we hit it off immediately, and he has become a client for life!” Lindsay said, laughing. “I really wouldn’t be where I’m at in my career without my husband. He has supported me through the ups and downs in my career. He pushes me to think outside of the box and to push myself to be better. I feel pretty lucky to have snagged him.”

Real estate has also been a place of self-discovery for Lindsay. About seven years into her business, she formed a team with Erica Zeboor. While they had a lot of fun building their business during the four to five years they worked together — hiring and training agents, including Lindsay’s sister, Ashleigh — Lindsay came to the realization that her true passion was selling and not managing a team.

“I wasn’t a great manager, and I quickly realized my skill set was not in training people,” Lindsay explained. “When I had my first baby, the team went on to do its own things. It was a great learning experience for me at that time in my career. I learned that more people mean more work. I downsized my expenses and staff and focused on what I loved — selling!”

As a wife and mother of three — Lucy, 5, Jay, 3, and Grace, 1 and a half — Lindsay now sees real estate more in terms of a home: a place to create memories, to grow and to love. She emphasizes the importance of loving where you live, which is something many people realized as well during the past year of pandemic lockdown.

“Now, more than ever, people are spending a lot of time at home. So, to me, it’s so important that my clients have an environment where they love to be,” she said. “It is amazing how having a place where you can let your guard down and be comfortable and recharge your soul changes your attitude, your energy and your outlook on life. I believe when we are happy at home, we have the energy to be kind, generous and creative to others outside of our home.”

Lindsay not only takes that energy into her transactions with clients but also into her community involvement and the work she does with Mel Trotter Ministries to help end homelessness. Over the last few years of working with the organization, Lindsay says she has been amazed to learn the connection between homelessness and a lack of family structure or social support. “One bad month and no one to turn to can quickly turn to homelessness,” she said. “Because family and houses have a huge part of my heart, Jeremy and I have really fallen in love with Mel Trotter Ministries.”

Lindsay cherishes her time with her family and loves entertaining at her house. She grew up in St. Johns, Michigan, on an asparagus farm with her parents, brother and two sisters. She says her strong family bond most likely comes from years of farming together, chopping wood, mowing acres of lawn and playing every sport imaginable in the backyard together. Lindsay credits her parents for teaching her at a young age the importance of a strong work ethic.

Lindsay feels fortunate to have recruited and trained her sister Ashleigh when she first got into real estate. Her other sister, Leslie, works for Lindsay as her closing coordinator, and her brother is a teacher in Florida and spends the summers vacationing with family in Michigan.

Lindsay now lives on a lake in Hudsonville within walking distance of her two sisters. She and her family love to boat, fish, build sandcastles, paddleboard and wake surf. Every weekend you can find her house packed with family and friends.

“To me, having a career that I love, that provides enough for my family and that allows me the opportunity to be generous to others while being a mom and wife to an amazing family is more than I could have ever dreamed of.”

Lindsay Van Duinen-Scully - Top Producer/COVER