Bold as a Lion
Driven by gratitude, compassion, and fearlessness, Keller Williams Main Line Realtor Anita Robbins has seen her long-flourishing career soar to new heights.
Anita Robbins has enjoyed a “tremendous” career in Philadelphia-area real estate. Although she enjoyed a high level of success with the same brokerage for more than two decades, she recently decided to take on a new challenge by joining Keller Williams Main Line. She did so at a time when many people her age—her early 60s—would rather contemplate retirement than take on a bold, new challenge.
“I love my job,” Robbins says. “I had the most amazing career with the last company I worked for, with two very good mentors and a lot of great clients and friends. But just like many other aspects of life, I felt like I needed a fresh start. When I started thinking about the market and the shift in terms of where market demand was heading, I saw a lot of opportunity in the city and along the Main Line. I grew up in Philly, and I know the Main Line, so starting fresh in a completely new area made a lot of sense.”
Robbins has long thrived in all aspects of real estate, from new construction to resale, and from first-time buyers to luxury listings. Her experience helped her navigate the turbulence of COVID-19 and the relative period of calm after such unprecedented growth.
With Keller Williams Main Line, Robbins has joined a growing team of elite agents assembled by renowned Philadelphia Realtor Mike McCann. His goal: to use his team’s collective strength to take a commanding position in the suburban market in much the same way his firm did in the city. She has had a profound impact on the business in the brief time she’s been on board. The business has had a similar effect on her, giving her the career refresh she had been seeking.
“I am a bundle of energy and so much joy, and I’ve been on fire since making the change,” she says. “The learning curve was hard, I’m not going to lie, but I stretched myself and I’m going to continue to stretch myself and put the people in my corner who can help me succeed.”
Robbins characterizes Keller Williams Main Line as “the perfect situation” because it allows her to expand her referral base and delve into opportunities in Philadelphia and on the Main Line while continuing her already-strong presence in Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery counties. She also cherishes the ability to learn new things from her fellow agents—she cites one up-and-comer whose sales have increased dramatically in the past four years—while mentoring those who are new to the industry.
“The people here are very supportive and team-oriented,” she adds. “To switch brokerages and try to prospect and keep your business going while learning new systems is difficult, and I can see why a lot of people would just stay and ride it out. But I didn’t want to end my career like that.”
Robbins strives to create smooth transactions for her clients by tapping into Keller Williams’s vast resources, both locally and nationally, while also utilizing the many relationships she has cultivated throughout her career. She works with a variety of buyers and sellers, including growing families in search of a bigger home, retirees looking to downsize or move to warmer climates, and young professionals entering the market for the first time; many of this last group are the children of her friends or past clients.
Robbins aims to please, whether it’s an inexperienced buyer or a luxury client looking to receive top dollar for a listing. Regardless of the client or the size of the transaction, she promises to apply her tireless work ethic, as well as all of the skills she has accumulated over the past 25 years, to help them achieve their goal.
“It’s a skill-based market: You can’t wing it, sit there, and wait for business to come to you,” she says. “You have to be an advocate for your buyers and sellers, and that’s what I love about being here. Keller Williams has the tools and the systems, and I have gone back to the basics of real estate 101—calling people, texting, sending mailers, and just talking to everybody I know, and even people I don’t know, about real estate. I am definitely in the grind.”
Robbins can be a fierce negotiator when needed. Even more important to her is the education she provides to her clients, whether it’s advising them about the value of investment properties or sharing her knowledge about multiple-offer situations.
“If you do the homework up front, they’re prepared,” she says. “I even talk to them about what they’re comfortable with, so when we get to that point, they don’t have to emotionally wrap their brain around it, because we’ve already gone through that exercise.
“One thing I’ve learned over the past 20-plus years in this business is that there’s a big difference between being compassionate and being emotional,” she continues. “I always say it’s I over E—intelligence over emotion. If everyone can realize it’s just a business deal and keep emotion out of it, including myself, it’s a much smoother transaction.”
One fact about Robbins remains abundantly clear: Slowing down is out of the question. She loves the business too much, has too much knowledge to share, and possesses too much energy to wind down the “beautiful” career that has sustained her for so long.
“My heart is so full, and I feel nothing but gratitude for what this career has given me,” she adds. “I’m so dug in at my office, and I love to help new agents. It’s really hard to walk into an office as a new agent, especially in this market, so I just want them to have a good experience. It’s hard to understand all of the moving parts of a transaction, but if you hang in there, you’ll succeed.”
Anita Robbins at Keller Williams Main Line Realty
(610) 324-8746 cell
(610) 520-0100 office
AnitaRobbins.KW.com
(610) 324-8746 cell
(610) 520-0100 office
AnitaRobbins.KW.com
Photo by Nina Lea Photography
Published (and copyrighted) in Suburban Life magazine, February 2024.
