Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
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NORTHSHOREMAG.COM 80 APRIL 2019 on her own during the height of the recession. "I always made myself available for open houses, for floor time. I worked seven days a week for probably about 17 years," she says. "That was a huge challenge. I think I was working so hard that I didn't even know what I was going through. When the kids got out of college, I finally looked up." When she looked up, she saw that it was time to invest in her- self and her business, bringing on full-time administrative and marketing employees and taking her sales from 36 homes a year to 57. Her career took another unexpected turn four years ago, when Prudential Howe & Doherty was sold to William Raveis, giving her the opportunity to lead a team of agents for the first time. Once again, Lucci rose to the occasion, leading her team to superlatives in Andover and the state of Massachusetts in terms of total listings, closed units, and sales volume. Although Lucci says she never imagined that she'd be in this position, she's been ready and willing to share her experience, leader- ship, and expertise with her team, guiding them as agents, working mothers, and pro- fessionals. She's not done setting goals, but now does it for her team as well as herself. With every goal that's been reached, she's learned valuable lessons, too, about finding joy in her clients' happiness; the importance of fairness and honesty ; putting her children first; being sure to have an outlet to vent frustrations and work out solutions to prob- lems; learning from everything; and turning negatives into positives. And perhaps the most important one of all: "Always do the right thing," she says. " Your long-term reputation is much more important than quick monetary gain." PHOTOGRAPH BY DOUG LEVY Deborah Lucci I N - D E P T H Real estate guru Deborah Lucci has made a career out of finding home sweet home for her clients. BY ALEXANDRA PECCI HOMECOMING QUEEN You won't find Deborah Lucci sleeping in, giving in to negative thoughts, or letting a New Year pass without doing some serious goal setting. Instead, she's waking up at 3:45 each morning, working out at the gym with a trainer before the sun is up, and leading her 12-person real estate team, which has been among the top in Massachusetts for several years running. "I always have goals, even now, in front of me," says Lucci, team leader of the Deborah Lucci Team of William Raveis in Andover. "I always set goals every year of what I want to do." Of course, it's one thing to set goals; it's another to have the unrelenting hustle and drive to reach them, which Lucci has been doing since first entering the real estate profession in 1998. What makes Lucci's story so interesting, though, is how different her life looked two decades ago. She was going through a divorce, had two kids under the age of 11, was $40,000 in debt, and was get- ting bored working for her family's business, where she had built her career. So she took an online career aptitude quiz, and she got only one result: real estate. It was something Lucci had always been interested in, so with little else to lose, she took the leap. Was she nervous? "I was petrified!" she laughs, recalling one of her first listings—a falling-apart condo in Haverhill. "I remember I went home and cried," she says. "But then came back, and sat down at my desk, and started working again." at work ethic has propelled Lucci her whole life. She started out as a single agent with Prudential Howe & Doherty Realtors in Andover, whom she credits with giving her the opportunity to work hard, learn, push herself, and grow her business. Her goal setting start- ed right away: She wanted to pay off her debt and double her business in the first year. "I thought it was attainable," she says. "I thought if I worked hard enough, I could do it." And she did do it, increasing her business every year for many years. As a single agent, she was a one-woman show, not only selling houses and juggling the responsibilities of being a single mom, but also handling all the administrative, marketing, and on-the-road work of the business. "I was flipping signs, loading listing sheets, putting on lock boxes. I was scheduling the photographers, I was doing all the paperwork," she says. "There's really not much handed to you in real estate. You have to work for everything." She continued at that pace for years, even as she put both of her kids through college CONTACT wherehomesgetsold.com "Always do the right thing," she says. " Your long-term reputation is much more important than quick monetary gain." — Deborah Lucci