Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelsey Schott.
Hi Kelsey, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
When I was in the 8th grade, a much-anticipated field trip was “Shadow Day.” The day when students spent the workday with a local professional. I chose to shadow a real estate agent because I enjoyed looking at houses. This was in the late 90s, and I remember helping the agent that I shadowed by showing her how to take photos with her digital camera and edit and upload them to her brokerage’s new webpage. I was happy to help her show the beauty of her listings. “This is the future of real estate,” I remember her telling me. Then, in high school, I took an oil painting class one summer and fell in love! I decided to create a portfolio and apply to art school. I received a scholarship to attend Columbus College of Art and Design and went on to graduate magna cum laude in 2007. Much of my subject matter at this time was paintings and drawings of people living in their homes, going about their everyday life.
After college, I moved to Coshocton, OH, where I worked at a local pottery shop and was also the Artist in Residence at the Pomerene Center for the Arts. There, I taught art classes, led camps, and planned events. The Pomerene Center received grant money to help fund large scale community art projects as well as family art classes for residents of public housing. We made art at First Friday celebrations and at the county fair. We created floats for local parades and designed and built a meeting space with a stage downtown. I loved working in the community.
It was during this time that I began to see a need for more low-income housing as well as beautification to some of buildings in the city of Coshocton. In 2009, my husband and I purchased our first investment property. It was a large house on Main St., built in 1880, and had been converted into four 1-bedroom apartments. It needed a lot of TLC to bring it back to working order, but we did it. The following two years we bought two more rental properties. We had 9 housing units total. I enjoyed finding a building, restoring its beauty, and offering more housing for the community. When my husband’s career relocated us several times, I continued to manage the rentals long distance until we sold them in 2019.
My husband and I now live in Gahanna, Ohio, with our three children. I have been a stay-at-home mom selling my art on commission. When my youngest was in 1st grade, I decided I was ready to go back to school and finally pursue real estate. I wanted to make a career of helping others capture and create the home of their dreams. I hit the ground running and have been marketing real estate services since May of 2023 with Red 1 Realty.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I remember it was particularly a struggle to manage the rental units in Ohio while we were living in Minnesota. We spent three years there before moving back to Ohio in 2015. Working multiple jobs and having three kids is not easy. My Instagram handle is naptime_artist because I could only work on my art while the kids were sleeping.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I do watercolor portraits of people and pets. I specialize in watercolor house paintings with pen and ink drawing. A lot of my commissioned work comes from people who are selling their childhood home and wanting a way to preserve the memory of that place. Art is part of my everyday life and I carry my creative side with me into real estate. I like to offer advice on staging, curb appeal, or color choices. After closing, I give my clients one of my custom art pieces.
I also lead community craft nights called “Crafting for a Cause.” These craft nights are hosted by TransCounty Title. Proceeds, after supply costs, are donated to the local non-profit organization GRIN (Gahanna Residents in Need). The donation amount is then matched by TransCounty Title.
Did you know Ohio’s SNAP program (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) does not cover hygiene products? Laundry detergent at GRIN moves quickly and is always needed. So, for this month’s craft, I will teach how I make my own natural laundry detergent. Crafters will decorate a reusable glass jar and fill with homemade laundry powder that is scented to their own preference. Then, the remainder of the unscented laundry detergent will be packaged and labeled to be donated to GRIN. I hope to have 100 packages, each containing about 60 loads worth of detergent.
Help us fill this need! Join me at the next Crafting for a Cause event. Wednesday, March 20th, from 4:30-6:30 pm at Trans County Title. Located on the second floor at 850 N. Hamilton Rd Gahanna, OH 43230. Cost is $25.
Register here: https://forms.gle/UM7hpYtMZrMreDWf7
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I think my only complaint about Gahanna is that the Post Office does not have a drive-up mailbox which means I have to park the car and walk inside. I use the post office often in my business when I mail real estate postcards and when I ship paintings to clients. I love how conveniently located everything is to Gahanna. I am less than 20 minutes away from Downtown Columbus, Easton, and the John Glenn International Airport. It’s no secret how great our city is. In August 2023, Realtor.com declared that Gahanna, Ohio (43230), is ranked No. 1 among the Hottest ZIP Codes in America. I feel lucky to live and work here!
I still love to look at houses, and I feel “at home” in real estate. I enjoy the search and helping others make their next move in life.
Pricing:
- $25 – Crafting for a Cause event. Register here: https://forms.gle/UM7hpYtMZrMreDWf7
Contact Info:
- Website: KelseySchott.com
- Instagram: @Naptime_Artist
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KelseySchottRealtor
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/KelseySchott
- Other: https://forms.gle/UM7hpYtMZrMreDWf7
Image Credits
Melanie Wagner Adkins
