Real estate agent helps make Bellbrook better

Understanding communities and what makes them attractive to home buyers is something that Sherry Stipp is very good at. As one of the original franchise owners of the Keller Williams Advantage real estate company and a former coach of junior sports’ teams, Stipp is part of what makes Bellbrook an attractive place to live.

“I moved to Bellbrook, because it was a growing area with wonderful schools,” said Stipp, who moved to Bellbrook in 1987.

Stipp grew up in Indianapolis where she attended Decatur High School. In addition to being a cheerleader and member of the golf team, Stipp also served on the student council and worked on the newspaper and yearbook.

After graduating from high school in 1980, Stipp attended Indiana University in Bloomington, Ill. where she studied business. She also met her husband, Gregory, during her college years. The couple moved to Miamisburg in 1982 after Gregory accepted a position with NCR.

“I had taken some classes in real estate when I live in Indiana, so I knew I was interested in it, but when we first moved to Ohio I worked retail and then stayed at home to raise my children,” said Stipp, who also volunteered while her children were young.

Stipp’s children include Ryan, who graduated from the Ohio State University, lives in Beavercreek and currently works as a physicist for the University of Dayton Research Institute while working on a master’s degree at the University of Dayton, and Ben, who also graduated from OSU, lives in Kettering and works for Reynolds & Reynolds Co.

“I worked with TWIGS for many years,” said Stipp, of the Dayton Children’s Medical Center Auxiliary group that raises funds for the hospital. “I was very involved from 1990-2005. I’d get together with a group of women every month and we’d make crafts for TWIGS to sell. I enjoy doing things with kids and we all had kids who were younger.”

Stipp also was involved with the PTO and coached youth teams including girls basketball and soccer and a boys basketball team. She also volunteered as a referee for the Bellbrook Lions Club boys basketball team for two years.

In 1992, Stipp began working part time for the Bellbrook-Sugarcreek School District. She earned her real estate license in 1996 and sold real estate for Executive Realty and Remax Performance before starting the Keller Williams Advantage franchise.

“We’ve been the number one sales team in Bellbrook for the past five or six years,” said Stipp, of her business, which includes her business partner, David Roth.

In recognition of her investment in the community both in terms of volunteering and her career, Stipp was awarded Citizen of the Year of the 2001 Sugar Maple Festival.

Contact this columnist at (937) 432-9054 or jjbaer@aol.com.

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