Edie Marks: born to sell.

• Author: Bromikowski, Lynn
• Position: Executive Edge - Top residential agent at Kentwood Co. - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

EDIE MARKS WHIRLS HER CHAMPAGNE JAGUAR THROUGH NEIGHBORHOODS SHE KNOWS SO WELL. She well. She wields two cell phones, a pager and a calendar brimming with real estate showings. Charity events and nights at the theater keep her on the go most days until 11 p.m.

And her efforts pay off. She earned top honors in 2001 for a third straight year, posting nearly $60 million in residential sales. She sells homes priced from $200,000 to $4.2 million, and currently lists a $13.6 million home in lush Castle Pines village in Douglas County.

Marks wouldn't have it any other way. She says her last vacation was never -- she finds more joy working as the Kentwood Co.'s leading residential agent than most vacations could offer.

"I love the people aspect of this business, " said Marks, who marked her silver anniversary in real estate in January. "Love the challenge. The homes sell themselves, but to be a good agent it's more about listen than talking -- hearing the clients' needs and having very good product knowledge to find the right home."

Born in Brooklyn, N. Y. the daughter of a truck driver, Marks, 60 facetiously figures that she made here first non-commission sale while in junior high school.

"I didn't want to move every three years so I got my parents to buy our first house; it was $10,000," recalls Marks, who would go on to graduate from Brooklyn College with a degree in psychology and take a job teaching third graders with behavioral problems in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

In 1965 she married Mort Marks, who invested in commodities after moving to Colorado. But over 17 days in 1972, the couple lost everything when the Soviet Union bought up huge U.S. wheat supplies.

"After you've lost everything like that, you never forget and look at things differently," said Marks, who went on to get her real estate license in 1977, holding her first open house on Super Bowl Sunday.

"Nobody holds open houses on Super Bowl...