Some careers begin with a carefully crafted plan. Kris Kimerle’s began with a memorable experience.

Growing up in Columbus, Ohio, Kris moved with her family to Springfield, Missouri, during her sophomore year of high school. Along the way, her family worked with a Realtor who made an impression on her. The experience was enough to plant an idea that would eventually become a career.

“I told my parents I wanted to sell real estate some day because of that experience,” Kris recalls.

It would be years before she followed that instinct. Kris attended Mizzou where she earned an undergraduate degree in Health Services, followed by a Masters in Health Administration and a Masters in Business Administration. She began her career in healthcare, completing an administrative fellowship at St. Louis Children’s Hospital before moving to Missouri Baptist Medical Center.

Her healthcare career was demanding and rewarding. Kris managed many of the hospital’s owned physician practices and eventually became Director of Physician Services. Then life brought another important transition: motherhood.

Three years after having twins, Joe and Leah, Kris made the decision to step away from her career for a season.

“I decided I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom for a few years while the kids were young,” she says.

As it turned out, that decision led her right back to the career she had envisioned as a teenager.

One afternoon after Kris had left Missouri Baptist, she ran into a friend who was the wife of a mega agent she knew through church. During their conversation, Kris mentioned that she would like to work for her friend’s husband someday.

Her friend had a different idea.

“She said, ‘You should call him. He’s got a big team of buyer’s agents and you can take on as many or as few clients as you want.’”

Kris initially resisted.

“I said, ‘No, no, no. I just left a wonderful job to be a SAHM.’”

But by that evening, she was on the phone with the agent. Within a week, she had signed up for her pre-licensure course. In 2001, she received her license and was handed her first buyers the day she received her license.

“Off I went, not really knowing what I was doing,” she says.

What Kris lacked in experience, she quickly made up for in determination. Soon after joining the team, she found herself competing in a three-month contest for the team’s buyer’s agents. The prize? A digital camera — a coveted prize in 2001.

“I am a very competitive person and I wanted a digital camera,” Kris says with a laugh. “So I worked and worked and ended up winning the digital camera.”

She represented about seven buyers during her first six months, creating what she describes as an extremely steep learning curve. By the end of her first year, clients were asking her to represent them on listings, too.

Twenty-five years later, Kris is still going strong.

Kris has been with RedKey Realty Leaders for 12 years and has remained an individual agent throughout her entire career. She doesn’t even use a transaction coordinator.

For Kris, that is intentional.

“I like my clients to have one person to call for everything,” she explains. “I am a very detail-oriented person who likes to know exactly what’s going on in my transactions at all times.”

Her business is built around the kind of personal service that has become increasingly important to her over the years. She wants clients to know what is happening, what comes next and what they can expect.

“I thrive on exceeding their expectations and taking care of things they didn't even know needed to be taken care of,” she says.

That philosophy has shaped the way Kris has built her business.  She explains, "I have never been big on marketing myself. In fact, my marketing always focuses on the houses I'm selling and my clients' stories, not me. They've hired me to sell their house or help them find their next home and that's what I want to highlight.  I just feel like if you take excellent care of your clients and truly care about the people around you, they will do the advertising for you."  

She goes on to say, "I've been incredibly blessed with so many wonderful clients over the years— longtime friends, current and past neighbors, our church community of almost 35 years, the people I do exercise classes with, families we've known for years through our kids' schooling and activities, etc. You know...just the people you're going through life with!"

Kris’s professional life is closely connected to the people she loves most. She and her husband, Jon, are celebrating their 35th anniversary this year. Their twins just turned 30, and the family now includes four grandchildren.

Daughter Leah and her husband, Michael, live in Chesterfield with their children, Lily, Tate and Brooks. Son Joe and his wife, Maddy along with son, Smith, live in Athens, Georgia, where they are involved in campus ministry at UGA.

“Time with family is my #1 hobby!” Kris says.

After 25 years in real estate, Kris still loves the work. She still learns from every transaction and she still believes relationships are at the heart of everything.

Her advice to the next generation of agents is simple: “Take excellent care of your clients first and foremost. Don’t ever lose that focus!”

For Kris Kimerle, that philosophy has never gone out of style.