S.E.C. Real Estate Observer

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Biography

Marilee Anderson, S.E.C.

Marilee was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska.  Her mother was a stay-at-home mom, and her father was an entrepreneur with retail stores specializing in western wear that catered to the stockman and equestrian market.   Her maternal grandfather, an architect, was an inspiration to Marilee.  She was a cheerleader and figure skater while growing up, and she is a Daughter of the American Revolution.

Marilee attended Kansas University and studied speech pathology.  She married her high school sweetheart and had three children:  two sons and one daughter.  After a divorce, Marilee started in residential real estate to support her children.  While in residential real estate, she received a flyer one day for a real estate course on counseling taught by Charles “Chuck” Chatham.  Mr. Chatham had a huge influence on her career, and that counseling course changed the course of her life.

In 1980 Marilee started Real Estate Counselors, Inc., her own real estate company in Inverness, Illinois, where she and her agents were involved in such diverse real estate activities as running residential developments and building luxury homes as well as business brokerage and effectuating 1031 exchanges.  She became involved in the Chicago Area Real Estate Exchangors organization and eventually became president in 1994.  Concurrently, she cofounded the first trade organization in Illinois, the Association of Midwest Business Brokers, which is now known as the Midwest Business Brokers and Intermediaries and which has grown to a membership in excess of 200 members.

In 1992, Marilee was invited to her first S.E.C. marketing meeting in Colorado Springs.  In 1993, she became a Counselor in the Society.

Marilee has served the Society in the following leadership roles:  Production Chair, 1999–2000; Membership Chair, 2001–2002; the Board of Governors for 6 years; and editor of the S.E.C. Observer for 2 years.  In 2002 Marilee was asked to develop some ideas to help expand the reach of the Society and increase membership.  As a trial run, she took the monthly S.E.C. bulletin and had a high-tech developer turn it into an e-publication, which became the vehicle that breathed new life into the old magazine, the Real Estate Observer.  In 2002, Marilee was the first recipient of the Bob Steele Award for her contribution to the e-publication of Real Estate Observer.

In 2006 Marilee married the true love of her life, Bill Leuhrs.  They now have a blended family of 5 children and 15 grandchildren.  Shortly after they were married, Bill was transferred to Geneva, Switzerland, as the chief administrative officer of an electronics and software company until 2014.  At that time Bill retired from corporate America and they repatriated back to the United States where they are now developing a 177 acre 266 lot residential subdivision near Bozeman, MT.  While in Geneva, Bill and Marilee hosted an S.E.C. gathering.

Some of Marilee’s interests outside of her career in real estate include golf, skiing, football, hiking, travel, plays, and movies.  In 1999 she climbed Mt Kilimanjaro as part of a fundraiser to build a medical clinic in Arusha, East Tanzania, Africa. In 2003 she helped organize a climb as a fundraiser for orphanages in East Tanzania, Africa. Several S.E.C.s participated in this in this event.

Marilee’s business strengths are her passion for the real estate business and her ability to help her client’s build their net worth.

Marilee’s best moment in the real estate business was when she became an S.E.C. member.  She deeply values the relationships and opportunities she has been blessed to be a part of as a result of the Society, and she has been financially rewarded by being a passive partner in numerous real estate deals with many S.E.C. members. Marilee has achieved significant geographic and product type diversification that she would have been unable to accomplish on her own.