Sankari Subburaman’s story begins in Southern India where she grew up. When she was 18, studying for her undergraduate degree, she met Prashanth through a large group of mutual friends who were in the same class as her. “We just organically happened to like each other,” they shared of their relationship. After graduating, Sankari and Prashanth joined a large company in Southern India, and Sankari moved to Singapore for work. Prashanth wanted to join her and began planning to earn his Master’s degree in Singapore, but there was something else in store for them.  

Sankari’s job offered her the opportunity to work abroad in New York. Wanting to explore the US, Sankari decided to accept the job and planned to stay for about a year. Prashanth started applying to US schools and got accepted into the University of Washington in Seattle. So while he earned his Master’s degree and Sankari continued her work, the young couple made frequent visits to Chicago to meet each other in the middle. 

In 2011, Sankari and Prashanth got married and decided they had had enough of their long-distance relationship. Prashanth was offered a job with Microsoft and Sankari soon followed, moving to join him in Seattle and working as a Program Manager until the birth of their first child in 2016. 

Sankari took a break from work to spend time with their new daughter. Her break lasted longer than expected with the arrival of their son two years later in 2018, and the pandemic hitting not long after. In 2020, Sankari went back and forth between a few different options for work, but none of them seemed to fit what she was looking for. Eventually, she thought about taking a real estate exam. Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, Sankari was optimistic and decided to go for it with Prashanth’s support. In September of 2021, she got her real estate license and closed her first deal within her first 60 days.  

“Sankari always likes to help people,” shares Prashanth, “and she understands business more than she gives herself credit for. If she can do what she loves and make money at it at the same time, that’s great!” When Sankari went to pick a brokerage, she knew she wanted a reasonable brand name with good recognition and a balance between teaching and revenue sharing. She went with Keller Williams Realty and learned a lot through her first few transactions. Soon, she was able to do them on her own. 

Yet although what she learned was valuable, she knew that model wasn’t exactly the right fit for the market she wanted to target. The Subburamans reflected on their own real estate experience as Sankari built her business. They noticed that there was a significant gap in the availability of high-quality real estate services. The main difference in Sankari’s approach to real estate is driving clarity for her clients. She focuses on a data-driven approach to equip her clients with high-quality information so that they can make high-quality decisions. “A good agent can save you a lot of time,” she shares. “You don’t need to see 100 homes, you just need the tools and information to find the right homes.” This approach also helps her clients who are looking to sell. Rather than listing for what the seller thinks they should list it for, they do the necessary research to inform clients of how much their homes are really worth, getting a lot more value and helping more people. 

Sankari has seen exponential growth in her business in the last two years, largely due to her unique business approach and her ability to organically prospect for new clients. “I always try to bring this up in the first five minutes of a conversation with someone,” Sankari says. “She is very good at this,” shares Prashanth. “You don’t want to be that annoying person who is always talking about work and always pitching to you. She is able to thread this thin line to let people know she is a realtor by finding openings in the conversations that lead them to it.” 

As the Subburamans look to 2024, they hope to continue growing Sankari’s business and working on their social media connections. “We want to create a YouTube channel to generate revenue from social media as well,” they explain. “We want to make and upload videos to help buyers.” While they have long-term or yearly goals for Sankari’s business, they also have several short-term goals that keep them motivated. “Getting behind that number and sticking to it keeps us going,” Sankari says. “It’s a great sense of achievement every time we hit it.” 

Personal connections are another great motivator for Sankari. “We get satisfaction when a listing is sold and someone is now living in their new home, loving what they bought,” she shares. They often stay in touch with Sankari’s clients and enjoy the part played in such a big life moment for them. 

Balancing kids, life, and work is difficult, but the Subburamans take pride in their own “normal.” Even though they are consistently working on Sankari’s business, they enjoy the time they have with their children, Meera and Rishi, and their family in India, whom they often visit. 

“As we scale up and expand in 2024, I feel a lot of fear,” shares Sankari of the upcoming challenges, “but also a lot of excitement as we apply what we are learning!”