SONDRA SEALINE, Instructor

Office Manager, Towne & Country Real Estate, Manakin-Sabot, Virginia

Sondra is a transplant to Virginia; she was born in South Dakota, grew up in Minnesota and moved to Northern Virginia in 1979.  She attended the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, majoring in Japanese language and East Asian studies and minoring in German.  After college, Sondra traveled to Israel where she spent six months working on a kibbutz and studying Hebrew with a group of international students.  Besides traveling throughout Israel, Sondra also visited Athens and Rome.

While in Minnesota, Sondra was employed by a large national insurance company and also by the University of Minnesota.  After moving to Virginia, she worked in Washington, D.C. for over 10 years for one of the nation’s leading association management firms, and later took a position at Quantico Marine Corps Base.  She received her real estate license in 1993 from the National Institute of Real Estate.

Sondra moved to Richmond in 2004.  Currently a member of the Richmond Association of REALTORS, Sondra is a former member of the Fredericksburg Area Association of REALTORS and the Prince William Association of REALTORS.  She has worked in small real estate companies as well as the large, corporate real estate companies.

SHELIA SOWELL, Instructor
Shelia's participation in the real estate industry began in 1984 as a residential REALTOR,® slowly gravitating to loan originating until becoming a full-time mortgage broker.  Shelia joined ENTRY Realty School as a Course Designer & Instructor after she recognized the housing distress that surfaced in the latter months of 2007 and seems likely to continue for a long time.  She wants to help people, especially "First-time Buyers," avoid others' past mistakes.

Shelia's lengthy experience in the business has shown her that too many people come to the settlement table to close on a home purchase, who have signed documents committing them to financial payments beyond their means.  For some, the acquisition of a home becomes a nightmare instead of fulfillment of a goal.  Shelia's analysis of the problem is two-fold:  the all-too-common lack of familiarity with the financial processes, compounded by a lack of basic math skills.  The latter is needed to understand the weight of debt involved in home ownership.  This knowledge gap leaves potential buyers without the leverage necessary to question, calculate and negotiate to their advantage. 

Shelia is convinced that we all have it in us to learn, develop, and eventually acquire the necessary defenses to assure we have the "Protective Knowledge" that allows us to do more than just survive, but thrive in the complexities of today's society.  As the mother of several adults, she has seen her children enter the business world and has shared their challenges in navigating the lending industry. When possible, she has done her best to educate and train her family on money matters and financial planning: essential when committing to home investment.
 
Shelia's courses are designed for professionals in both the mortgage and real estate audiences.  These courses focus on the responsibilities of both parties to cooperate and disclose fully in ways that educate and never leave the client uninformed.  Disclosure goes beyond required informing of the client, it must include educating that same client to understand everything in which he or she is involved. This especially applies to the documents a party signs.  Shelia's courses are informative and relate to her personal experience.  Students learn the underlying processes, how to calculate and deal with math issues, understand and question.  Shelia's students have what others often have previously lacked--PROTECTIVE KNOWLEDGE.

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