Julie Morse
Serendipity. Balance. Intuition.
These probably aren’t the words
that immediately spring to mind
when thinking about real estate.
But for Chicago Top Agent Julie
Morse, they are an integral part of
her story.
Julie became a REALTOR ®
almost 17 years ago, when her
young son and daughter both suggested she try the
profession. “At the time, I was writing for the Chicago
Tribune’s Home and Real Estate sections,” she begins.
“One day in the car, my son said out of the blue, “Mom,
you should become a REALTOR®. The next day, my
daughter said the same thing, truly without knowledge of
her brother’s comment. I figured it was a sign!” Julie
decided to get her license and gave herself six months to
try real estate while she continued writing. But her
business took off immediately. She had $14 million in
sales in Chicago’s North Shore area her first year, along
with a Rookie of the Year award.
With success coming so quickly, Julie wasn’t quite sure
how to manage it. “I started wondering if I should get an
assistant, or possibly partner with someone,” she recalls.
She sought counsel from a successful team in her office,
and ended up receiving not just advice, but an offer. “They
asked me to join them because of my sales work as well as
my writing and marketing background.” The trio spent 10
successful years together, but Julie began to feel like her
life was lacking balance at the decade mark. “I wanted to
fulfill a bucket list dream of writing books, and the clock
was ticking,” she says. “So I stepped away from the
partnership to pursue that.”
enjoy helping my clients find their dream home, whether
it’s a condo or a mansion.”
Julie has found ways to make both the professionalism and
the personal touch of real estate intersect in a meaningful
way. “All my work is relationship-based,” she says. “My
clients know I will never give up finding the perfect house
for them, even if it takes a very long time.” She recalls one
couple she worked with for more than a year before finding
the perfect home. “We must have looked at more than 100
properties. But years later they still tell me they can’t
believe I was able to find that needle in a haystack.”
Joining Prudential, which later became Berkshire
Hathaway’s Koenig Rubloff Realty Group, also created the
opportunity for Julie to become involved with the Sunshine
Kids, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting children
undergoing cancer treatment, which her company supports
on a national level. “The children’s book I wrote, When
Billy Went Bald, is based on my son’s experience with
childhood cancer,” she explains. “It won a Moonbeam
Book Award and The Sunshine Kids have endorsed the
book as a resource, because it shares their focus on kids
being kids as they receive cancer treatment; the book’s
proceeds benefit the group as well.”
Julie shares her commitment to living a balanced life by
leading workshops and sharing her story with other agents.
“I have tried to make very intentional choices that have
ended up enhancing my life and business,” she says. “You
can be anything you want to in real estate, which is why it’s
such an amazing career.”
After successfully completing her goal of writing one
novel and one children’s book, Julie returned to practicing
real estate full time, solo, with a new focus. “That
sabbatical was a breath of fresh air,” she says. “I came
back to real estate with an intent to maintain the balance
and I’ve been able to do that—most of the time anyway.”
One of the ways Julie finds that balance is by working with
a diverse roster of clients. Though the North Shore is
thought of as primarily a luxury area, she enjoys working
with clients at all points on the real estate continuum. “I
like the treasure hunt aspect of real estate,” she says. “I
To learn more about Julie Morse of Berkshire
Hathaway HomeServices Koenig Rubloff Group,
visit www.koenigrubloff.com, email
[email protected] or call 847-830-4356
Copyright Top Agent Magazine