A $1.2 million sale and having a baby - all in a day's work A $1.2 million sale and having a baby - all in a day's work (March 18, 2005)

Dealing with pregnant agent means "good luck" to some
by Jeb Bing

Selling real estate is not easy, considering all of the rules and regulations, paperwork, open houses and trips around town to show prospects what's available. But for Sonali Sethna, a Realtor with Hometown GMAC Real Estate, the challenge was even greater.

Sethna handled the marketing of four $1-million-plus homes in Moller Ranch for the nine months she was pregnant, including the sale of a semi-custom at 8306 Moller Ranch Dr. for $1.2 million two weeks ago at the same time her son Rohan was born on March 1. She and her husband Raymond, an Oakland police officer, have a second son, Jai, who is in the third grade at Hearst Elementary School.

With closing papers piled high at home as she cared for Rohan, Sonali Sethna, who is 31, signed off as needed to complete the sale with the help of her sales associate Bonny Owen.

She said many Moller Ranch homeowners bought their homes originally from her after she became a sales agent in 1995 for the Moller Ranch developer. She has kept in contact with those buyers as the development sold out, and now homeowners are contacting her when they want to move on again.

"I spent a lot of time keeping up with those buyers and making sure everything was all right," Sethna said. "They're like my family."

In real estate for the last 11 years, Sethna is a primary agent in selling Moller Ranch, which has 99 homes. She also sells homes throughout Pleasanton, handling 27 sales totaling $19 million in sales last year.

"Because I know the homeowners who are selling in Moller Ranch as well as others who live there and want to move up to the semi-custom and custom homes, I am handling three sales right now where I represent both the buyer and the seller," she said. "That's very unusual and shows the trust both parties have in me."

Asked if it's difficult to show homes to prospective buyers when you're obviously quite pregnant, Sethna said it depends on the client.

"I moved here from India and many of my clients are also from there and some are Asian, as in the case with my current Moller Ranch sales," she explained. "We share many of the same myths or superstitions, including a view that for a woman to be pregnant means good luck, which my clients share too."

"One client who followed me up and down stairs during a home inspection midway into my pregnancy said I looked like I was running a marathon," she added. "I took that as quite a compliment."

Sethna, who first received her real estate license at age 19 while living in San Diego, joined Hometown GMAC in 1999 after the Moller Ranch homes sold out. She plans to head back to the office at the end of the month.

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