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Fulfilling a Dream – The Story of a Person’s Journey to Maui

What makes a person from Massachusetts, with a thriving business career in the technology industry, move to one of the most beautiful islands in the world?

LIFESTYLE

From the mountains to the ocean, Maui is like no other place on earth. Its unparalleled beauty and rich traditions stir emotions deep inside all those who experience it. For some, it represents a dream of paradise, a place of relaxation which they return to again and again. Others hear it whisper a compelling invitation to abandon all cares and stay on the island forever. This is a not a real estate success story but rather one person’s journey of making paradise her life.

Mary Anne Fitch is one of the most successful real estate professionals in the country today. In her 20 year real estate career, she has sold over $400M in real estate sales and has represented clients in over 300 real estate transactions. Her real estate knowledge of the West Maui market is second to none and her tireless understanding for the needs of her clients is the cornerstone of her success. However, the life she has realized today is truly a lifetime away from her initial beginnings.

Born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, Mary Anne is the oldest of five children. Her dad was a Bricklayer and her mom a homemaker. Later the two formed their own real estate company from which they retired in their early 70’s. This is the foundation of her strong and methodical work ethic. She graduated from Boston College in the late seventies with a business degree and like traditional northeast people, she started her professional career working for a Fortune 500 company, Digital Equipment Corporation in Boston.

In a fast pace industry where change, coupled with significant investment, were characteristic of the industry, Mary Anne quickly became a very successful sales executive because of her maniacal focus on her client’s needs. Managing DEC’s strategic major accounts, the constant balancing act of meeting her clients’ current needs while maintaining an eye for their future needs was a skill that would prove invaluable in her future real estate career.

With a successful 10-year career intact, Mary Anne’s desire to broaden her perspective led her to accepting an executive sales role with a software company in Los Angeles. Little did she know that this move to the west coast would only be a 3-year transition period from paradise. Living in Manhattan Beach, California, the geographical location lent itself to weekend getaways to Hawaii.

It is during one of these many trips that she had a realization. While enjoying her stay at the Hyatt Regency Maui, she determined that she had her fill of the corporate rat race including the 70-hour work weeks and the endless business meetings, and wanted to explore another world. This world included waking up every morning to breathtaking views, an endless supply of sunny days and a quality of life that promoted self-preservation and enjoyment.

Consistent with her ability to quickly recognize and act on the right path, she returned to Southern California, sublet her apartment, took a 3-month sabbatical and moved to Maui to start her “lost weekend”. Her conservative upbringing rationalized that she would take this time to get this paradise desire “out of her system” and then return to California. She never made it back!

Part of her acclimation to Maui included selling art on the West Side and living in Maui from a non-tourist perspective. Always multi-tasking and wanting to learn, she decided to get her real estate license to keep busy and meet others. Her career in selling art lasted for a mere 6 weeks and she quickly gravitated to her true life-long career of selling real estate. Having purchased her first home at age 23, real estate was familiar business and a natural progression for her career. But unlike the approach of most real estate professionals, she did not sell homes. She sold the lifestyle of Maui. The property was simply a means to an end. This is a philosophy that she continues to hold dear to this day for her story is a personal testimony.

She started her real estate career in the late eighties with a boutique cottage brokerage firm. This company specialized in working with the burgeoning Japanese clientele. The market was strong during this time and she honed her knowledge and skills of the West Maui market. The collapse of the Japanese market and the Gulf War in the early nineties resulted in a difficult real estate market. However, because of her relentless desire to live the Maui lifestyle, Mary Anne persevered, worked hard and survived.

With the anticipation of an upswing of the market in the mid nineties, she made yet another bold transition and opened her own real estate company; Mary Anne Fitch Realty Associates Hawaii.  This boutique brokerage focused on premium ocean front, ocean view and golf course properties. Running her own company with her unique and tireless management style, Mary Anne grew this company into a $30 million real estate business. Her company’s dominance of the West Maui market positioned it to be attractive acquisition and in 2000, she agreed to merge with a nationally branded real estate company, Coldwell Banker Island Properties. In October 2009, after a 10-year collaboration where she grew the West Maui division 10 fold to a $300M in real estate sales and 40 agents, Mary Anne opened Maui Estates International along with several other West Maui top performing agents including her husband, Nam L. Le Viet; her business associate, Ray Chin; Broker-In-Charge Mike Gaertner; his wife, Marianne Gaertner and Steve Fuller. In July 2010 Bob and Donna Hansen, South Maui's top producing realtors, opened the Wailea Branch of Maui Estates International with their team.

Along this successful journey, this constant theme of finding Maui has repeated itself time and again in both personal and professional examples. Mary Anne met her future husband, Nam Le Viet, in 2000 while he was vacationing on Maui from Switzerland. Coincidentally, having a professional background in the technology industry, she and Nam immediately shared a common bond. He fell in love twice with: Mary Anne and with Maui. Consequently, they started a whirlwind 2-year courtship that resulted in his permanent transition to Maui in 2003.

Professionally, her passion lies in establishing life long client relationships and being a resource throughout the different stages of her clients’ lives. Being involved in such a critical aspect of their lives, it is natural that her clients have become friends. It typically starts with the task of helping them realize their dream of living in Maui. And this task is an evolving process that typically encompasses years. Real estate is an integral element of her life. She recognizes the world is small and that Maui attracts a certain person. And she wants to be there to help them through the process.

On any given day, she will be working on several multi-million dollar contracts while sitting an open house at an exclusive estate. She makes recommendations on a daily basis to her clients of the best builder, plumber, handy-man and even the best restaurants on Maui. And she’ll finish up her day at Gerard’s having dinner or participating as a board member of her favorite volunteer project, Maui Preparatory Academy, West Maui’s newest grade school and college prep school.

Constantly evolving to meet the needs of her clients and understanding the global clientele that Maui continues to attract, she has expanded her own team to meet these needs. All of her associates including her office manager and personal assistant, Mary Kent, share the commonality of having relocated to Maui. Hailing originally from Switzerland and the Mainland they each relocated for different reasons but share the same desire of wanting the lifestyle of Maui and having an understanding of what it takes to get it.

So what makes a person move to one of the most beautiful islands in the world? It doesn’t matter. This is one person’s story. The more appropriate question is what will make you move to Maui? Once you determine this, please know that Mary Anne Fitch and her associates will be here to help you realize your dream.

Presenting West Maui’s Most Distinctive Oceanfront, Oceanview & Golf Course Addresses

MARY ANNE FITCH, REALTOR®

Maui Estates International , 500 Bay Drive, Kapalua, HI 96761
808 250-1583 (Cell). 808 661-1583 (Home Office). 808 661-2083 (Office Fax)
sold@maui.net (email). www.soldmaui.com.

"I am sensitive to your needs and committed to your satisfaction. With my market knowledge, we will find your perfect residential or investment property. Contact me and see how simple it is."