Kaileyne Monette Krask

Success is in your prep work and setting realistic expectations. Start months in advance. Interview a few buyer's agents until you find someone you're comfortable with — and just as importantly, someone who will be honest with you, even when it isn't what you want to hear. Sitting down with a lender early is just as important. Understanding your position before you start looking sets you up for realistic expectations instead of surprises. From there, a buyer consultation with your agent (hopefully me) gets the process moving. The right agent will be patient and ready to build a custom game plan around your needs — not a one-size-fits-all script.

My foundation is built on honesty and realistic expectations. When selling your home, interview agents — plural. (Sorry, but going with the family realtor by default isn't always the best option.) Look for someone who gives you a realistic value backed by market data, not the highest number in the room. Someone who keeps expectations honest between you both, prioritizes professional photography, and can walk you through an actual plan for how they intend to market your home. If you know a sale is coming, a few things are always rule of thumb for me when a seller is able: declutter and deep clean, swap loud paint colors for relaxing neutrals, and replace your light bulbs so they all match and actually work. Small things, but they change how a home shows.

Over seven years and 100+ closings, I've worked with just about every kind of client. First-time buyers and first-time sellers. Move-up buyers and downsizers. Second-home and beach-home clients throughout the Michigan City lakefront communities. Luxury and estate properties, along with land, acreage, and country homes. I've handled investment purchases and short-term rentals, fixer-uppers and full rehabs on both sides of the transaction, and relocation clients moving into and out of the area. I've also guided families through estate sales and divorce sales — transitions that require patience, discretion, and a steady hand more than anything else. That range matters because no two of those situations call for the same approach. What a first-time buyer needs from me looks nothing like what an estate sale requires, and both deserve a plan built around them.

Earlier this year I closed a sale in Whisper Dunes, a small beach-area neighborhood in Michigan City, for just over $3 million- the highest sale of my career so far. What I'm most proud of isn't the number. It's that the work started roughly a year before the home ever went on the market. My sellers weren't ready yet, and that was fine. We spent that time getting everything in place so that when they gave me the green light, we could move without scrambling. That's the part people don't always see. A sale that looks smooth from the outside usually reflects months of preparation, honest conversations, and a plan built around the seller's timeline instead of mine. It was a reminder of why I do this work the way I do — patiently, and with a game plan made for the people in front of me.

My family moved around a fair amount when I was younger, and we always used the same real estate agent. I thought she was the queen of everything. I adored her, and looking back, I think she had a real impact on me at an age when I didn't realize it was happening. Real estate was always on my heart, but I took the long way there. I spent years in hospitality — bartending, serving, and eventually running bars and restaurants. At the time it felt like I was drifting. Now I understand it was the best training I could have asked for. Hospitality teaches you to read a room, stay calm when everything is going sideways, and take care of people without being asked twice. I still believe in unreasonable hospitality- and yes, I'm quoting the book. :) I remember the exact moment I decided to make the leap. I was sitting on the beach, and I finally told myself I was going to do the thing I'd always wanted to do. What drew me in is the same thing that keeps me here. I've always wanted to be the person people knew they could come to — someone with the dedication and the grit to see things through. Sometimes that means telling a client the deal they thought they wanted isn't the right one, and helping them walk away and find something better. That's not a loss to me. That's the job. It's never been about sales. That agent my family used was someone we trusted completely, through every move. That's what I strive to be for the people I work with.

I don't have a wall of designations, and I won't pretend otherwise. What I have is seven years and more than 100 closings — real transactions, in these specific communities, with real people on both sides. Before real estate, I spent years in hospitality: bartending, serving, and running bars and restaurants. That's where I learned to read people, stay calm when things go sideways, and handle problems before anyone has to ask. Those skills come up in this business more often than anything you'd learn in a classroom. I'm also part of the Micky Gallas Group at @properties Christie's International Real Estate, a team with more than 80 years of combined experience. When something unusual comes up, I have people to think it through with — and access to the training and resources of a global brand behind me. There's no substitute for skin in the game. Repetition, real experience, and the kind of learning that only comes from doing the work — I've had plenty of all three.