Natalie Kurz was looking to leave her native Michigan for the warmer climate of the Southwest. She thought she’d move to Las Vegas. But her father vacationed in Sedona and called her to say that he’d found where she’d live for the rest of her life. He was right. Within a year of that phone call, she left the Midwest and found a home and a job in Sedona. She’s been a licensed realtor for 26 years and managed a real estate brokerage for local broker Roy Grimm. Natalie also created and owned her own property management company.
Prior to real estate, she was a cosmetologist. She had her own salon, produced hair shows and eventually became a regional manager for one of the biggest wholesale distributors of beauty products in the Midwest. “Basically, I sold shampoo for a living,” she says. She met the broker Roy through a mutaul acquaintance not long after moving to Red Rock Country, and he persuaded her to go into real estate. Roy put her through real estate school and mentored her then and now. “Each day for me is a brand-new canvas,” says Natalie, a manager and senior sales executive with Stewart Title. In her professional life, she’ll help fellow agents market a property, build a business, attends open houses, hosts continuing education classes for realtors and holds big events. She works on bringing deals together, helps with escrow transactions and does all of her own graphic design work. “I literally am changing hats all the time, and I can do it seamlessly because I’ve walked on every one of those roads,” she says.
Natalie also has a significant track record of performing community service. She served on the board of the Humane Society of Sedona for over six and a half years. She’s raised funds for both the Humane Society and the Sedona Community Library. She described both organizations as causes that are closest to her heart. “What makes my heart the most happy is bringing the community together for a common cause, for a nonprofit,” she says. “Oftentimes, people forget about the homeless animals. They forget about the children and the senior citizens. I try to be a leader and a voice for those voices that sometimes aren’t heard, and I myself, I practice what I preach. I have six dogs, and I make all of their food homemade.” She supports the library because it serves as a place that brings the community together. “I am 100% a relationship person. I don’t chase numbers. I don’t chase deals. I like to connect with people, and I want to make a difference every single day. I want to make a difference in at least one person’s life,” says Natalie. “I want my legacy to be the difference that I made. The lives that I changed, and the lives that I touched.” – Teresa K. Traverse
