Members of the Cayman Islands Real Estate Brokers Association elected Jeanette Totten as president of the 2012 CIREBA Board of Directors. She is the first woman to serve as president of the organisation, which will be 25 years old in May.
Mrs. Totten, co-owner and broker of Cayman Luxury Property Group, said she is proud to be leading the CIREBA Board, which she has been on for 10 years, including two stints as vice president.
“The role of president is one that has been filled by those CIREBA members in the community that have shaped and developed our country. I am honoured that I have been nominated and chosen by my colleagues for this position and will work with the CIREBA executive team to showcase the talents that they have,” she said.
Also at CIREBA’s Annual General Meeting, Michael Day of Regal Realty was elected vice president; Jan Tomkins of Azure Realty was elected secretary; and James Bovell of RE/MAX Cayman Islands was re-elected as treasurer. Past President Jeremy Hurst of IRG Realty will continue to serve on the board of directors, along with JC Calhoun of Coldwell Banker CI Realty, Dale Crighton of Crighton Properties and Tony Catalanotto of Rainbow Realty. Heidi Kiss of Capital Realty was made the newest member of the board of directors.
This is not the first leadership position for Mrs. Totten. She has also served on top spots of the Cayman Islands Little League Association.
“I was the first baseball commissioner, man or woman,” she said, noting that she was commissioner of softball for several years before that.
Crediting Mr. Calhoun with spearheading the formation of the Little League, Mrs. Totten said her husband, G. Robert Totten, was architect and project manager for the Field of Dreams, a volunteer position for which he took off one year from work.
The Tottens moved to Cayman in 1982, and Mrs. Totten got into selling real estate in Cayman in about 1988. For 11 years before that, Mrs. Totten was a flight attendant, working for Hughes Airwest, Republic Airlines and Northwest Airlines, which later became Delta Air Lines.
The commute to and from Cayman and Detroit – her company’s hub – was to too far for Mrs. Totten after the birth of her son, so she delved into real estate as a career option. Her husband, who formerly worked in the construction industry, joined with his wife to form Cayman Luxury Property Group in 2004.
“Our initial emphasis was on second home and vacation home buyers, although we now deal with all sorts of real estate,” Mrs. Totten said.
“We consider ourselves a boutique-style real estate company specialising in customer service. We have 10 people in our company. Our aim is to stay small, yet personable,” she said.
As CIREBA president, Mrs. Totten said her goals include enhancing public awareness of CIREBA “as the only professional real estate association on the Island, where all members are licensed and abide by strict rules and regulations, including mandatory education on the prevention and detection of money laundering in the Cayman Islands.”
Other plans include upgrading the CIREBA website, and working with government to review issues such as minimum lot sizes and stamp duty in regard to chattels. Mrs. Totten said she will work toward continuing enforcement of new regulations on real estate signs.
“Adherence to these new regulations has greatly enhanced the appearance of the island. It is important that all real estate companies join in on this effort to remove signs that do not meet these new regulations,” she said.
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