My name is Michelle Gerard and I am a native of Ohio, Mansfield to be exact. Not unlike many of you, my trips to Florida began when I was a little girl. We would come down to West Palm Beach where my grandfather had a condo and soak up the sun and play on the beach. He sold that condo years and years ago and I can remember him talking about what a great investment it was. Well just think if he was trying to sell it today, we could all retire...
Spring breaks were my next adventure to the Sunshine State. We would go to Daytona and this other place, a little island stuck out in the swamp on the southwest side of the state, but what great beaches it had. This little piece of heaven down in the mangroves was known as Marco Island. What a magical little spot. You could come down and forget all about the snow and the cold weather and it wasn’t nearly as crowded as Daytona and West Palm. Plus Hwy 75 came right to Naples from Centerville, Ohio, where I went to high school and also where my parents had two successful steel companies, so the threat of getting lost diminished. After I finished high school in 1989 my parents decided to sell their businesses and retire to Marco Island, so I came with them. We arrived here in 1990 and I found a job down at Harborview Realty where I worked as a secretary and an office administrator. Harborview sold out to Marco Beach Realty and I went along as part of the package, pretty much doing the same job. Prudential Florida WCI came to town and purchased us because we were the best, so here again, it was a package deal, this time I was the listing administrator. I knew the real estate business almost inside and out (more inside than out), so in 2002, I signed up for the Ed Klopfer School of Real Estate (and for those of you asking, yes I did have Broker Bob), I figured it was time to start making some real money. My knowledge of the Island and my outgoing personality is really what made me do it. Why not, I had seen the island change so much since 1990 and being in the real estate business pretty much the entire time, I felt confident I could do the best job for people wanting to come down and buy a little piece of heaven down here in the mangroves.
Michelle Gerard
