WOMEN IN THE WORKFORCE: Realtor Veronica Litterer likes helping with transitions

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

Veronica Litterer is often one of the first people newcomers meet when they move into the community.

“I really enjoy the people side of things,” she said. “It’s fun for me to get to meet different people and help them through their transition when they’re new to the community.”

Litterer has been an agent at Stewart Realty in Charles City for six years. She is a licensed Realtor in the state of Iowa and belongs to the National Association of Realtors, and sells all different types of real estate — residential, commercial and “a little bit of ag.”

“I tend to specialize a little more into the residential and commercial,” she said. “A lot of times this is an exciting time in people’s lives, they’re buying their first home, or maybe going from a first home to a bigger, more forever home. Or they might be starting a business.”

Litterer said she also has to work with people in situations that aren’t as positive, but are just as important.

“We also deal with some, maybe not as fun times, but still important life transitions for people, like selling Mom’s house when she goes to the nursing home, or when there is an estate involved,” she said. “Those are still really important transitions.”

Litterer was previously director of Charles City Community Development, the position currently held by Mark Wicks. A 2000 graduate of Charles City High School who received her bachelor’s degree in public relations from Iowa State University in May 2004, Litterer was hired as an events coordinator for Charles City Community Development in July 2004.

She later was promoted to assistant director. She became interim director in September 2007 when Jim Thompson resigned to take another job. She was named director in December 2007 of both the Charles City Chamber of Commerce and Charles City Community Revitalization.

Litterer called that a rewarding experience.

“That was a really fun and exciting time,” she said. “Being originally from Charles City, it was a great way to get introduced back into the community, reconnect with people, meet new people and get rolling again. That has serviced me real well moving into my new role here as a Realtor.”

She resigned those positions in 2012, after five years.

“It was time for a change,” she said. “At that time I had a toddler, and the hours and the workload made it challenging to balance my family life and the work requirements. Non-profits like that have to have some sort of natural change over time in order to make room for new ideas and growth. It was just a good time to switch and try something different.”

Litterer said that there is a lot more to working for Stewart Realty than just showing people houses.

“Real estate is a pretty complex industry, and I don’t think that a lot of people see a lot of the things that happen,” she said. “So much of it is behind the scenes. There are lots of regulations, lots of legal requirements and things like that.”

Litterer talked about the legal aspects and the financing aspects of her profession.

“Those kinds of things tend to happen behind the scenes, and that’s the idea,” she said. “The buyer and the seller are there to do their end of the business transaction, and we’re there to make sure it goes smoothly, and everything gets done in the appropriate way.”

Although local real estate occupies her time, she is still involved in many of the same things she was before, just as a volunteer. Her husband, Josh Litterer, is service manager at Molstead Motors, and the aforementioned toddler, her daughter Leah, is now in second grade and is 7 years old.

Litterer was born in 1981 to Paul and Anna Burnham, who still live in Charles City. Her dad is a retired optometrist, and her mom recently retired from the school district as teacher/librarian. She has one younger brother who lives in Des Moines with his family.

Regarding real estate, Litterer said the Charles City region has been on a steady recovery path since the economic downturn that occurred nationwide from 2007 to 2010.

“We’ve seen some good growth in recent years. People are feeling a little more economically comfortable, so that’s a good thing,” she said. “Charles City’s market, in general, is fairly stable. Like everywhere else, we experience some highs and lows, but it’s not quite as extreme as some other markets in the big cities or coastal areas.”

Litterer has heard the talk in Charles City about a shortage of middle-class housing available.

“A lot of people talk about a shortage of housing, but I’m not sure we’re lacking in available properties. It may be that the properties we have are not meeting the preferred characteristics of some of the potential buyers,” Litterer said.

She explained that many buyers who have come to Charles City for employment are from more metropolitan areas.

“In their markets, it’s more common to have newer properties,” she said.

She noted that many of the homes in Charles City were built from 1968 to 1972.

“To some folks, those homes need some updates and improvements to get them equal in caliber to what they’re leaving and what they’re used to,” she said.

With the skyrocketing expense of building new homes, Litterer said people are more often looking to renovate and improve existing properties instead of building new. She said that this is not unique to Charles City — it’s a “nationwide conversation.”