Meet Ann Brunson

"There's something I've always believed and taught my son: Do to others as you would want them to do to you," says Ann Brunson of Prudential Santa Fe Real Estate in her warm Texas drawl. "Once you think about a problem that way, you always know what to do."

It is the philosophy by which Ann runs her business. Would she want a REALTOR® to put her interests in front of their own financial gain? If she were new in town, would she want someone to spend a day driving her around and introducing her to the marvels of Santa Fe? Would she want a REALTOR® who really cares about her? "I think, yes I would, and bingo, there you go!"

Ann started in real estate in 2005. "It's been an easy transition, but I've never worked harder in my life!" she laughs. "My biggest surprise was how hard REALTORS® work. Many, many long hours go into preparing and working on a transaction."

Prior to real estate, Ann spent thirty years as an art educator and designer. Through her design company, Décor, she worked with countless REALTORS® and families preparing to sell their homes. For years, people had urged her to go into real estate. "I finally decided that I had helped sell so many houses over the years that is was time I got into the real estate end of it," she says. A very good friend Fulton Murray, the owner of Prudential Santa Fe Real Estate, convinced her to give up design and join his company.

"Both design and real estate are client-oriented businesses." Ann says. "In design, you need to figure out what people can afford to spend and then help them achieve their dreams for that amount of money. Real estate is just the same, except that you are on the job 24 hours a day, seven days a week!"

Ann has been a quick study. She confesses that when she started in real estate she was not at all tech-savvy. A laptop computer was a foreign object in her life. It took her a month to become comfortable just with her Treo phone. Now she can whiz around the internet on her computer and actually receive and send emails on her phone. Who knew life could be so exciting!

While Ann brings to her work a lot of knowledge about real estate, technology, and design, her greatest asset is her personality. She overflows with generosity and warmth and is an instant best friend to her client. "I love people, and doing things for others is my greatest delight," she says with sincerity. "Making people happy by helping them find what they want is just sensational. I love this job!"

Ann particularly enjoys introducing newcomers around town and showing them all the reasons she loves Santa Fe. When clients come in from out of state, "I throw them in my SUV with lots of drinks, goodies, and snacks, and take them all over Santa Fe," she says. She passes out clipboards and pencils, and then sweeps her clients off to cozy cabins nestled among pine trees, houses high on a mountain top with a spectacular view, and everything in between.

Some REALTORS® dread this obligatory "tour de Santa Fe," but Ann sees things differently. "I get to spend all day talking about a place I love - how cool is that!" By the end of the day, Ann and the clients feel like lifelong friends. "When we talk over dinner, they are as in love with the city as I am, and we've all had a marvelous time!" she says.

In fact, with every closing, the thing Ann is most proud of is that her clients had fun along the way. If she can take a stressful, nerve-racking experience and turn it into a good time, then it has all been worthwhile. "By the time closing comes, my clients are a part of my family," she says.

Of course, Ann's background in design is an asset for all of her sellers. She has a lot of experience - she helped stage homes for decades before she formally entered real estate. Her biggest hint for sellers? Pare down the personal items.

"We surround our home with special things that give meaning to our lives, but when you are selling a house you want people to see the structure and not the collection of magazines next to the couch," Ann says. "Houses definitely look better with furniture, but you want it to enhance the home, not overpower it."

It is a simple idea, but it takes a decorator's eye to implement. "A lot of times sellers don't realize that buyers won't see the great views if you have a lot of plants and drapes in front of the window, "she says. It also takes a delicate touch to get this across to sellers. Ann gently reminds her clients that although their personal things are beautiful, it is time to start packing them up and get ready to move on to their future home.

How far will Ann go for her clients? She recently sold a home to a couple from Arizona. On a Friday afternoon, she tried to fax over a 20-page contract that the clients needed to read and respond to by Monday, but the couple's fax machine in Arizona was on the blink and did not pick up her fax. She checked into sending the contract by FedEx, but the clients would not receive it in time to fully review it before the deadline.

So, Ann called the couple and suggested that she drive the six hours to Arizona, spend the night, and drive back the next day with the signed contract. While she thought it was perfectly reasonable to spend her weekend making a 12-hour roundtrip drive to another state, the clients thought it was a little too much to ask and insisted on meeting her halfway. "I think it was actually better that the fax didn't work," Ann says. "Those contracts are pretty complicated so I wanted to walk them through it in person to make sure they understood what they were signing."

For Ann, it all comes back to treating others as she would like them to treat her. Just as with the Arizona couple, she makes sure that all her clients truly understand the contracts they sign so they do not unwittingly agree to something that is not in their best interests. Of course, that means sometimes losing the sale. When a client wanted to buy a condo, she read through the regulations first, putting sticky notes next to anything that she thought might be a problem, and then told them to take it to their lawyer and review it with him. After talking with the lawyer, the clients decided not to buy the condo. "It's my duty to watch out for them and make sure they don't step into something that's not in their best interest." Ann says.

Ann applies the same rule when she is accepting listings. At one point, she declined a listing because she felt the owners would lose money if they sold now. Another time, she commissioned an inspection of a house and found it was in terrible condition, but the seller refused to make a full disclosure. Ann told him to find another REALTOR®. "I couldn't feel comfortable trying to sell anyone a house that I think would be a bad purchase for anyone," she confesses.

"If you want to be a good REALTOR®, you have to be in it to help other people, not yourself," Ann says. "If I can give someone a smooth, wonderful experience, then I am happy with the transaction."

For Ann, real estate is all about building lifelong relationships. "Even if my clients never buy another house in their lives, they can refer me to friends and family and the relationship continues," she explains. "I think a referral business is the best kind of business - for one thing, I know the client will be genuinely nice because they are a friend of one of my friends!"

Ann is also active in St. John's Methodist Church, and Ann (the daughter of two musicians) sings in the choir. She has also worked with the children's programs and helped with musical productions-painting sets and making costumes.

Ann jokes that "volunteer is my middle name. When my 24/7 job ends, that's when I start my volunteer work." She is particularly interested in youth organizations and using her artistic skills to improve the city. She has volunteered with the Children's Museum and the Folk Art Museum, and was an unpaid art teacher at Wood Gormerly elementary school for several years.

One of her most ambitious, and lasting, projects was started when her son Trey was a student at Wood Gormerly. The school had beautiful old architectural features, but the school district could not afford the upgrades. As part of the remodeling committee, it was decided to incorporate carved and chipped wooden beams into the architectural design. She helped the children in each class to draw pictures of animals and designs that they would like to see carved onto the beams. Next, she taught the children about wood-carving and tools that are used to create a bas relief in wood. She and her son, Trey, were part of the volunteer crew of families that carved the designs onto the beams. It was an enormous undertaking: the project took three years, and dozens of volunteer families, but now the decorated beams remain for generations of school children to enjoy. Ann, son Trey, and even her visiting father, Bill Patty, all carved on the beams. Funds for the beams were generated by the sale of bricks with names and messages on them for the portal in front of the school. The elementary school is a beautiful example of how local families come together and create something worthwhile that will last a lifetime.

When Trey was a student at St. Michael's High School, Ann became involved in the school's Fall Fundraiser, and remained on the committee even after her son left the school. She also started the Band Booster Parent's Club to support the school band, and designed several fundraisers that are still in place.

After Trey moved to Santa Fe High School, Ann became president of the Band Booster's club. (Meanwhile, Trey carried on a family tradition by serving as the drum major of the marching band - not only was Ann the drum major of her school band, but her father, Bill, and brother, Howard, were too!) Ann was also active with the Youth Symphony and Youth Symphony Jazz groups for five years.

Trey has now graduated from  Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where he is studied International Business and Foreign Relations. Ann is very close to her son and proud of all he has accomplished.

"Now that Trey has moved away, I have a little more time for new volunteer projects," Ann says. She is thrilled to have joined the Buckaroo Ball Foundation, which has raised over 7.5 million dollars for children's groups in Santa Fe. "It's a lot of hours, but it's a wonderful cause and a lot of fun working with all the wonderful women who head up the organization," she reports.  Also being on the board of the Kitchen Angels, a foundation that provides nutricious meals for homebound Santa Feans, is quite an honor. We fixe and deliver over 100 meals daily.  It is a very rewarding effort.  

Ann's volunteer work is really just carrying on a family tradition. Both sides of her family have a long history of volunteer work in Texas, and her parents started the public school music program in the elementary schools of her hometown of Garland, her mother, Pat, being one of the elementary music teachers.

With her demanding job and wide-ranging volunteer commitments, it is hard to believe that Ann finds time for anything else, but she does. Ann loves entertaining and cooking for their friends. Ann designed their home around an enormous kitchen where they frequently invite local chefs to give cooking classes. Viewers of Home and Garden Television (HGTV) saw her home highlighted in and an October show "What You Get for the Money" focusing on homes within a certain price rage. Ann's custom home was the one featured from Santa Fe.

Ann's life is busy, but full of joy, and her real estate clients play a major role. Ann says, "With my clients, I am comfortable and have fun. Having them in my life makes me happy."

Ann Brunson
"Nurturing Your Dreams!"

Cell: (505) 690-7885
Office: (505) 988-3700
Fax: (505) 988-7443