Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, or so they say. For some real estate teams, though, that's especially true when a child follows in a parent's footsteps.
Here are three stories of daughters who followed their mothers into the residential real estate world:
Real estate runs in the family
Jennifer Puryear and her daughter, Alex Stevens, officially joined forces in the Austin, Texas, real estate market in 2022, but they say their partnership has been much longer than that.
“I had Alex 30 years ago,” Puryear said, “and we joke that she’s been getting paid for three-and-a-half years, but she’s been working for me for 30 years.”
As a child, Stevens helped her mom stuff envelopes and attended open houses. She even spent a few months after graduating college in 2016 working alongside her mom before she decided to pursue a career in the wedding industry.
“She was like: ‘This is too stressful. I’m going to go into wedding planning,’” Puryear recalled. “I was like: ‘OK, well that’s not going to be less stressful.’ And it wasn’t.”
Now, the duo works side by side, and they say they’ve found a balance between their strengths. Stevens, for example, is a morning person, while her mom is more of a night owl. And while Puryear isn’t big on paperwork or planning, Stevens is “very type A” and always has a checklist in hand.
“We’re sort of opposite, like yin and yang, more than the same and butting heads,” Puryear said. “We get along really well.”
Not only do they work together, but they live on a family compound. “If we have a phone call, I’m like: ‘OK, I’m coming down the hill. Be there in two minutes,’” Stevens said.
And seven months ago, they welcomed another “Realtor in training” when Stevens gave birth to her daughter.
“We had two closings the day I gave birth,” Stevens said. “It’s a fun full circle. My mom and I are 30 years and one month apart, and so am I with my daughter. And my mom had a closing on her delivery date, so it’s really cool.”
Open houses cap trips to the museum
Rachel Nemerovski grew up alongside her mother’s real estate career — always on the move and requiring flexibility, and maybe with a bit of ice cream as a reward after last-minute showings where she’d wait in the car with her little sister.
Her mom, Chicago-based agent Joanne Nemerovski of Compass, switched careers from law to real estate when Rachel Nemerovski was just 1, a decision she made in favor of her daughters.
“I always tried to make it really fun, too,” said Joanne Nemerovski, who also juggled being a single mom at the time. “I'd say, ‘We'll be able to go to the museum for exactly three hours, and then when we leave, I'll do one showing.’”
Nearly 30 years later, Rachel Nemerovski would make a similar switch, leaving a 10-year career in advertising to join her mother in the profession she grew up with, something she’d always wanted to do after seeing her mom be “in charge of her own destiny.” In that time, Joanne Nemerovski had reached the top four of Chicago’s highest volume agents, according to industry data tracker RealTrends.
“Your biggest worry is, ‘Is it going to affect your relationship with your mom?’ And I'm lucky enough to be in a situation where my mother's goal has always been, first and foremost: ‘How is Rachel? What could I be doing to help her?’” said Rachel Nemerovski. “I've been fortunate to have both a boss and a mother.”
The duo exceeded $1 billion in sales in 2021 and is now well past that mark. Joanne Nemerovski never had a team in her three-decade career, but she and her daughter are now a package deal, often conducting showings together and attending listing appointments, even if it’s not the most “efficient business proposition.”
And where Joanne Nemerovski writes the never-ending lists of to-dos, her daughter evens things out by checking each item off. The team plans to expand for the first time with a director of operations and additional agents in the near future.
"I don't know a lot of mother-daughters who would be able to spend this much time together and still have a great relationship, want to go on vacations together, and still be this close," said Rachel Nemerovski.
Saving a real estate business during a family crisis
Diamond Rivas recalls her real estate agent mom, Shannette Quilter, putting her to work in Las Vegas as a child.
“Stuffing envelopes, sending mailouts, things like that,” Rivas said in an interview. “I never really grasped what real estate was until I got thrown in.”
It was an unexpected start to her career: On August 16, 2020, just after Rivas had graduated college, she found her mom having a stroke. “She couldn’t walk. She couldn’t drive. She could barely see.”
“But her business continued,” Rivas said. “At that point, when she had the stroke, she was at the peak of her career. I was just like, ‘OK, mama, I have to help you.’”
So, Rivas stepped in as her mom's “transactions coordinator,” doing what she could to make sure her deals made it to closing. As soon as her mom was well enough to get back to work, Rivas went to school to get her real estate license.
Since then, the two created their brand as “The Mommy Daughter Duo” with Keller Williams. For the most part, Rivas handles the buy side and Quilter works with sellers, but they never limit themselves.
While Rivas calls her mom her “best friend,” she acknowledged they sometimes have conflicts, especially because they still live in the same house. Ultimately, though, they always come back to their shared morals and respect for one another.
“I’m still my mother’s daughter although I am a businesswoman,” Rivas said. “I respect my mom as my mother. And no matter what, that’s what it’s going to be.”
For now, they don’t have plans for expansion, according to Rivas, who said they like working together and don’t want to overcrowd their team.
“My mom is my best friend. She’s my role model, so it’s really an honor,” she said. “I tell her everything. I’m so grateful to have a great relationship with my mom and a business partner.”