Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephen Wilber.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I am currently a Real Estate Professional with Virtual Properties Realty and am a Zillow Premier Agent in the Greater Atlanta Area, I started off as a classical concert pianist obtaining my B.M from Oberlin College, M.M. from Peabody Institute of music at Johns Hopkins University and my DMA from the University of Maryland…I traveled in Europe and Russia and the USA playing concerts. Important to me as well has been sports. I played college football and basketball at Oberlin, Semi-pro football for the Washington Chiefs in Washington DC and now am entering races nationwide as a sprinter, These oftentimes opposing experiences have helped me understand and relate to people of many cultures, languages and lifestyles. I also taught at Lee University in Tennessee for a while before making a drastic change to the Real estate industry, My Mother, a very successful real estate agent, asked me to try it during the Covid era. I took the month of October to study and took the test and here I am. At first, as most new agents, I had to learn and become acquainted with an entire new way of life. Now I feel totally at ease and thoroughly enjoy transforming people lives by helping them with some of the most important financial decisions of their lives…Buying and Selling a Home.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
As with any new endeavor there are learning curves. As a concert pianist I was the boss, make all decisions on what to practice, play and how to do it. With Real Estate I soon realized EVERYONE else is the boss, HAHA,, and I also had to wear many hats most important of which is probably understanding people and their various personalities. At one point before real estate I told my wife I was going to get rid of my phone. My only few friends had her number. The contrast to that earlier desire to not have a phone couldn’t be more magnified. I LIVE with it now and its my source for all I do.. I went from being alone 8 hours a day at the piano or teaching some to making hundreds of texts and calls and emails a day! I went from Luddite to Modern Man overnight. Driving to show homes in Atlanta traffic is perhaps more emotionally challenging that Roller coaster riding. Rush hour from one area of the city to another to show a home on a rainy day can be equivalent to one of the lower levels of hell in Dante’s Divine Comedy. There may be challenges along the way but they don’t deter me because I refuse to give in. I will fight for my clients and find a way to make things happen.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I guide those who want to sell their home and/or buy one and oftentimes simultaneously. The standard I operate by is this: treat everyone with the intent of getting to know them as a person first: Almost like when you meet a new friend or girlfriend.. People abhor the feeling of “being sold” something or hearing “salesman like” talk… Gaining trust is paramount and without the trust of my client I am unable to give the right service. So I talk to them about life, sports, music, culture. Perhaps we both came from the same area of upstate New York (like that is going to happen often ha)..but whatever the scenario, I can always find some commonality between a person I just meet and myself. I earnestly desire to decipher their needs and assist them in finding them…Often times it can be complex and they don’t even really know what they want or need. My goal is to work with them in figuring it all out. It truly is magical when buyers and sellers find the right house for their needs.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
In the 10th Grade I met a man from Switzerland after playing a football game. My parents and he met which eventually led to me flying to Zurich Switzerland on Dec 22 and staying with him and his family for 4 months. Most of the time was skiing in the Alps and playing soccer in the cold. During the middle of the trip I took a 15 hour train ride (switching trains 4 times) to southern France: Gap, Nice and Marseille. I stayed with some friends of the family when we lived in Dearborn Michigan as a kid. This is the trip which led me to love the piano and want to be a concert pianist.. I had started the piano at 12 years old but never loved it. I did it as a lark to show my parents that if my sister could play the piano then I could as well. So at 15 years old traveling to Switzerland I didn’t think twice about not seeing a piano for 4 months. Well, during my stay in southern France, the owner of the house brought me a recording of Liberace playing Beethoven, both of which I knew nothing about. The house was magnificent with a stunning view of the French alps and I can vividly see in my mind as I write this how she put on the recording of Beethoven’s Moonlight sonata and after hearing it I INSTANTLY thought to myself ” I am going to be a professional piano player and play concerts all over the world. I flew home a couple months later, bought the music to Beethoven and started practicing 3 hours a day whereas before I would only play the day of my lesson…This trip totally transformed my life.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephenwilberrealestate/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stephen.wilber.2025
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-wilber-23a74326a/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@stephenwilberrealtor6902
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/stephenwilber
