Celebrating a Long Time Advertiser: Kelly Shaw, Realtor®

Kelly Shaw, an independent Realtor® with Koa Realty in Hōlualoa, believes in having goals and meeting them today instead of tomorrow.

In Long Island, New York at only 25, Kelly was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Like taking a page out of a movie, Kelly decided to seize the day and live where she wanted to now instead of when she retired.

And so she came to Hawai‘i.

Kelly hails from a long line of Realtors®, and it wasn’t her original plan. She went to school for education, despite her grandmother and aunts all urging her to try real estate sales. It wasn’t until 2003 that she started to change her mind. She’d graduated from college in West O‘ahu and she had a year off to do her practicum.

The only problem was, she realized returning to school hadn’t changed much for her. Employers estimated her earning potential as not much higher, and possibly less than if she had not gotten the degree at all.

Exhausted, Kelly sought counsel in her family and was able to see what they saw in her. “They said I worked so hard and they saw the potential in me to work for myself,” Kelly says.

Finally, she stepped into her family lineage and decided to try out the real estate world for one year, and ended up sticking with it.

Today, Kelly has been with Koa Realty for nine years, working out of a beautiful, quaint building in Hōlualoa. She’s earned several distinguishing awards and sets her own schedule. Best of all, she loves what she does. “I’m dedicated to the community. It’s where I live. It’s where I work,” she says.

On her website, she addresses her clients in a bold statement, desiring them to know her honest thoughts: “You will never be a statistic in my database or a commission in my pocket, but a valued member of our community that I am committed to seeing thrive and grow.”

This year, Kelly achieved the great honor of making the Top 100 Realtors in Hawaii Business Magazine for the number of her transactions. She was also recently inducted into the Institute of Luxury Home Marketing Guild for her sales volume of luxury homes.

Part of her talent may come from her designations, especially her CRS or Certified Residential Specialist. According to the Council of Residential Specialists, less than three percent of more than one million Realtors® are qualified Certified Residential Specialists.

Kelly compares it to the more common understanding of doctors, “If you needed brain surgery, would you go to a general practitioner or a specialist?”

A specialist in more ways than one, Kelly continued to further her career path and passed her Real Estate Broker’s exam last December, one of her five-year goals.

Her future goals include traveling more and giving back to the community. Already, Kelly gives 10 percent of the proceeds of each sale to the nonprofit of the buyer’s choice. She is also part of the Aloha Chapter committee on O‘ahu, which gives to Shriners Hospital, and will serve as their secretary next year.

Kelly is also a long-time active member of Soroptimist of Kona, a forty-three year old non-profit group that betters the lives of local women and children.

Kelly Shaw
Koa Realty, Inc
76-5905 Mamalahoa Hwy, Hōlualoa
808.960.4636
KellyShaw@BuyAHomeInKona.com
BuyAHomeInKona.com