A Return Home

In 1995 I walked into Coldwell Banker Bain as a young college graduate looking to start a career in real estate.

I was interviewing with Michelle Jewell and Patricia Love, to be their assistant. I thought it would be a good way to break into the business because I was broke and couldn't fathom the idea of working in a 100% commission environment. I guess I failed that interview because they said I was not a fit. However, they told their Broker Lew Mason that they thought I would be a good real estate agent.

Lew called me into his office and spent a couple of hours answering my questions and I was really struggling with how I could pay my bills if I became an agent. He said what if I could get you a monthly draw to help and you just pay it back when you're closing deals. I don't know if that was a thing he did for others or I just got lucky that day but he said there was a caveat. He had to ask Bill. I said great I'm in and hoped this Bill guy would be ok (IYKYK).

I had no idea at the time how lucky I was. I was literally signing up for the best brokerage I could possibly have gone to.

It was full of some of the most productive, powerful and amazing agents in the market. AND my luck got even better. I was placed at a desk next to probably the most amazing agent of all.

Her name was Wendy Lister and she literally wrote the book on how to be the best agent you can possibly be. Her ethics, contract knowledge and marketing prowess made her a legend in the industry. She took me under her wing and taught me more than I could ever have imagined. I am the broker that I am today because of her. I try to emulate everything I can about her. She passed a few years ago and we all miss everything I just said about her plus her heart. Very rarely are top producing agents as loving and caring as she was.

Today, having passed the baton of my old brokerage, I am thrilled to return to Coldwell Banker Bain as a Principal Managing Broker. I have the same job that Lew had when I met him all those years ago. I hope I can give as much as he gave me all those years ago to the agents that I will be serving.

I see this less as a new job but more as a return home.

Keoki McCarthy Principal Managing Broker, Coldwell Banker Bain
Lake Union & Capitol Hill