Luxury Real Estate

Courtesy of Kenn Hall of Fannie Hillman + Associates

WINTER PARK, FL---Fifty one years ago a bright-eyed 18-year-old freshman at the University of Georgia was ready to begin preparing for a career in business when she says she was told there was “no place in the business world for a woman.”

Nancy Shea Bagby wasn’t discouraged. Although her career aspirations didn’t go south, she did. She transferred to the University of Florida, earned a bachelor’s degree in education, taught at elementary schools in Miami and Atlanta, was an assistant photo editor with LIFE magazine in New York, served as a flight attendant with Delta Airlines, and raised two daughters along the way.

And she was just getting started.

A Winter Park-Maitland resident since 1972, Bagby “waited until her children were out of school” and decided to go back to school and earn her master’s degree in business and finance at Rollins College. Although she never completed her degree, she did wind up mastering a career in another field---real estate.

Mastered might be an understatement. Since joining Winter Park’s Fannie Hillman + Associates in 1985, she has sold and closed over $480 million in residential real estate which pencils out to around $19 million a year. Last year, in a challenging economy, she led all company sales agents with sales of $16.6 million, and this year posted a 25-year career-best first quarter of over $9.2 million.

Not bad for someone who decided nearly 26 years ago to start a career in real estate “almost as a lark” and has been Fannie Hillman’s top producer for the past two and a half decades.

“Nancy is a very special person with a very special talent who knows the Winter Park/Maitland area as well, if not better, than anybody else in this business,” says Scott Hillman, president of the

successful, 30-year-old independent firm. “In fact, Nancy has handled more lakefront transactions than any other agent in the Winter Park/Maitland area since 1985.”

And she shows no signs of slowing down either. Now a grandmother with a daughter, son-in-law and three grandchildren in Seattle, WA, and another married daughter with two children in nearby Maitland, Bagby thoroughly enjoys what she’s doing.

“I love the business I’m in and the people I work with,” explains Bagby, whose sister is a Realtor in Palm Coast, Florida, and two brothers who are developers in Jacksonville, Florida. “I wouldn’t

think of doing anything else or being anywhere else. We have a very close knit office where people work in tremendous harmony. We all take a great deal of pride in what everyone else in the office is doing.”

A team player first, Bagby, works “primarily by referral” and attributes much of her success to “a wonderful repeat business” and her team of Sue Ann Rand and daughter Julie Bagby Williams. Sue Ann, a licensed Realtor and broker “has been an invaluable assistant for the past 17 years and an incredibly gifted person,” said Bagby, while daughter Julie, who holds an MBA from Emory University in Atlanta, “is my people person with a sparkling personality that has served our team well for the past four years.”

Ask those who know and work with Bagby and they’ll tell you she’s also “a people person” with a “down-to-earth, magnetic personality.” Active in the community and a member of numerous civic organizations, Bagby says she’s “extremely interested in helping people” and admits spending a great deal of time consulting with clients and non-clients alike on real estate matters.

“Selling homes is a tremendously emotional business that requires knowing and understanding the individual and his or her needs so that they develop a trust and confidence in you,” Bagby emphasizes. “Right now, I do as much counseling and advising as I do selling.”

And therein lies the key to Bagby’s ability to cultivate a sizeable list of referrals and repeat business.

“I’ve had the good fortune to have had such wonderful clients over the years and am very grateful for their tremendous support,” says Bagby. “They are as much a part of my success as the people I work with.”

Even though Bagby long ago proved there is a place in the business world for a woman, she hasn’t lost her sense of perspective and allowed success to obscure her priorities.

“I have a wonderfully enjoyable and successful career, but in the overall scheme of things my family is number one in my life,” she says.

Real estate certainly has been anything but a disappointing second.

About Fannie Hillman + Associates
A member of the Orlando Regional Realtor Association, Fannie Hillman is listed in Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate, and maintains a global presence through affiliations with London-based Mayfair International, Luxury Portfolio, and Chicago-based RELOHomeSearch, a website run by Leading Real Estate Companies of the World®, the world’s largest network of premier independent residential real estate firms representing 600 companies with 5,000 offices and 150,000 sales associates in more than 30 countries. Fannie Hillman also has exclusive rights for Residence International in the Central Florida area. Fannie Hillman is located at 205 W. Fairbanks Avenue. For more information call (407) 644-1234 or visit the company’s web site at fanniehillman.com.