Top Agent Magazine
2016 Featured Top Agent

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    San Diego Top Agent Melissa Cizauskas is passionate about making meaningful connections, whether it’s with her clients, colleagues, or the community. Affectionately known as “Melissa Rocks,” she has the rare ability to balance personality and professionalism to bring people together. Melissa received her initial experience in the real estate business working in title and escrow in the highly competitive market of California’s Silicon Valley. Within just a few short years she was named among the Top Five for all sales representatives in Northern California and was also named Salesperson of the Year for North American Title Company in Northern California. After taking a break to travel, get married and start a family, she returned to real estate and became a licensed agent in 1998.

Melissa now serves the north county San Diego coastal communities of Carmel Valley, Del Mar, Rancho Santa Fe, and Solano Beach with residential real estate services. “I love helping local families with their residential real estate needs,” she says. “I’m also a Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist.”

Melissa is proud to say she hasn’t had a property on the market more than seven days before going into escrow. She attributes this to a combination of her pre-marketing efforts, pricing strategy, staging, photography, and marketing within the community, as well as to her professional colleagues. “I founded a women’s entrepreneurs networking group, which has helped me build my business and visibility in the community,” she says. The idea to create such a group came to Melissa when she was holding an open house and meeting people from the community as they came through the home. “I was recognizing them from the gym or the grocery store and realized there was much more to learn about the people I ran into day-to-day.”

It’s no surprise then, that 95% of her business comes from these personal connections. “When you really know a person, you learn about what’s important to them, what matters to them most, and you have the great opportunity to assess how you might be able to help them,” she explains. “I want my clients to know that this is much more than just a transaction to me. It’s truly about helping them with one of the most important financial decisions they will ever make.”

Maintaining solid relationships with other agents in the area is another way Melissa enhances her business. “We share a mutual respect and commitment to serving clients,” she says. That commitment includes helping her clients do whatever it takes to get their properties to sell — from comprehensive marketing to staging. “I am very thorough in the preparation and presentation of my marketing pieces,” she says. “I want to represent my client’s home well. If that means staging or painting or putting in new carpet, I will do that.”

Melissa also describes herself as a “shrewd negotiator” who will work “around the clock” if that’s what her client needs. “People know me as a professional who is honest, trustworthy, hard-working and a real go-getter,” she says. “I handle all parts of the transaction to make the process as stress-free as possible,” she continues. “There’s always emotion attached to every escrow. Even if clients are moving on to something bigger and better, they’re leaving a home of memories behind.”

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For Melissa, There’s nothing that beats of the feeling of getting her clients to the finish line. “When they close escrow and are able to move on, or I meet a new homeowner at the door to hand over the keys, it’s so rewarding,” she says. “I think it’s because I work with families, not investors who are just checking off a box,” she continues. “I really enjoy the end result and love the fact that all my past clients become my friends.”

Melissa is a member of National Association of REALTORS®, California Association of REALTORS® San Diego association of REALTORS® and Women’s Council of REALTORS®. She is also a Certified Residential Specialist and a Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist. Staying visible in the community not only helps Melissa grow her business, but allows her a platform Copyright Top Agent Magazine

to advocate for causes she cares about. She was recently featured in 92130 Magazine in an article about setting goals and balancing being a working mom. She has also received the Entrepreneur of the Year award from the Women’s Council of REALTORS® San Diego, and has served as their Vice President. Additionally, she was included in San Diego Woman Magazine as a featured REALTOR® and her networking group was recognized as a Group of Distinction.

  • Melissa also hosts a local radio program called The Network, based on the success of her networking group, featuring local women who have the opportunity to share their expertise with listeners and talk about their charity work. Melissa’s own community work includes both volunteering and singing for convalescent care facility residents, and the homeless, at God’s Extended Hand, The Salvation Army, and Emeritus Care facilities. She is also in the process of setting up a program that will allow her clients to choose from three charitable organizations to receive a donation.

    Looking to the future of her business, Melissa is in the process of enhancing her brand and training her new assistant. This will allow her to provide even more clients with the quality care and service that she believes they deserve when buying or selling a home.