Annaliese Quisisem

Annaliese Quisisem never expected something like this to happen to her. And when it did, she almost did not even realize something was wrong. That is what it was like for her to lose her voice. She had been a licensed real estate agent since 2002, but her interest in real estate was sparked much earlier. Her father was a real estate broker since the 1970’s and was very influential in her desire to get into the real estate profession. She decided to get her license and had been loving what she did ever since. In October 2017, she was busier than ever helping clients – that is when her voice started to fade away. Around that same time of year, the fires started. There were hundreds of thousands of acres burning rapidly across California. “So,” she thought, “surely all the smoke is irritating my throat. My voice should be back once the fires die down.” But she was wrong. Weeks, then months went by, and it was not getting any better. The odd thing was her voice would start to come back at times! She would be thinking she was finally out of the woods, and she could stop dealing with this. But just days later, her throat – and voice – would be locked up again. She would be struggling to speak and sometimes the words would not come out at all.

It was incredibly frustrating! Sometimes she could not even order for herself at a restaurant. Or speak to someone over the phone without having to repeat herself and try desperately to be heard. She knew she could not ignore the issue any longer. In March 2018, she decided to see her doctor and get it sorted out. She explained to her what had been going on for the past seven months. She listened intently, decided to run some tests, and referred her to a specialist. Thankfully, the tests came back normal, but it was bittersweet news. On one hand, she was relieved, of course. But she still did not have answers and her voice was not making any real improvement. It was another couple of months before she could get in to see the specialist. When she went in, she did a scope and looked at her vocal cords, but everything was healthy! They had hit another wall. What was going on? The next step was to see a speech therapist who was going to help her with vocal exercises and, hopefully, get her voice back to normal.

But here is the thing – there was a huge lapse in time before she could get in to see the speech therapist, too. All while this was going on, she was struggling every day to be able to speak. And she was still running her real estate business. How could she not keep working, though? Her clients needed her, and she truly loves her job. The only way to get through this trial was to do just that – go through it. And that is exactly what she has been doing. This past year was the busiest and most successful thus far in her career. She is served clients, negotiated, given presentations, and shown properties all with a voice that works 50% of the time at best – sometimes not at all. It has been a year since this began and she still has a long road of recovery ahead of her. Luckily, she’s been able to figure out things that help with her voice when she feels it, she locks down. Whatever it takes to be able to keep moving forward. This entire experience has changed who she is today – for the better. She considers herself to be a strong person with a lot of grit. But she is also sensitive. She is sensitive to people’s feelings and emotions, and she takes those on. She truly cares about her clients. She cares about their needs and concerns. Their wants and desires – not only for a house but a home.

She never realized how much she used her voice every day. She looks back to the time when she could just pick up the phone to make a call and the person on the other line could hear and understand her – not just tell her to call back due to a bad connection. She took her voice for granted before, but she never will again. This experience has made her more understanding of those around her. Everyone is going through a trial in some way. And she has developed a deeper sense of empathy for each of her clients’ unique set of circumstances. This journey has taught her to appreciate more and to not take herself too seriously. If it were not for her excellent sense of humor, she might have given up on trying to speak months ago! She is only joking – she will never give up. As their agent, it is her top priority to guide them through complicated transactions and be at their side through all their real estate needs.