Nikki O’Connell grew up and lived most of her life on the West Coast. Surrounded by Spanish Colonial and Art Deco styles, her innate love of diverse architecture was really awakened after living in downtown Chicago for several years, and after traveling extensively in Europe. Her career in the tech field had her teaching technology and writing technical code, consulting for numerous industry guilds in Hollywood and Los Angeles. But it wasn’t fulfilling her right-brain creative side, so she went back to the books to feed her love of architecture with interior design and drafting/AutoCAD degrees.
Nikki’s stepfather had deep roots in Southern New Mexico as the son of a mining engineer. He and Nikki’s mother moved to Grant County in the 90s, building a beautiful, rammed-earth home in the mountains above Silver City. After her first visit to see them in Silver City, Nikki started spending more time in New Mexico than California. It was just a matter of time before she relocated to Silver City – it was a natural fit, and she never looked back!
With the convenience of the university, Nikki returned to the books to round out her technical background, completing her bachelor’s degree of fine arts with a focus on graphic design. She eventually ran the graphic design degree program at Western New Mexico University in Silver City, but was still not focusing her career on what she really loved.
When a seasoned local broker hired Nikki to stage a Silver City home he was listing, he reminded her of her love for houses, inside and out, and encouraged her to find a way into the field. A few months later, she was a real estate broker! After twenty years of designing, marketing, advertising, social networking, and working with multimedia, Nikki began to direct her eclectic energy to helping people find the “perfect property”.
Nikki has become skilled at knowing the area and at working with people who want to find the right home for the right price, with all the unique amenities that matter to them. She understands that buying a home is one of the most important and exciting decisions many people will ever make, and loves being an integral part of that. When it comes to selling a property, her technical and design backgrounds and marketing strategies are focused on preparing the home for sale. Whether helping a customer with buying or selling, her management, pricing, and negotiating skills guide her customers - and her experience working with lenders, overseeing inspections and, of course, assuring that documentation is accurate and concise are essential. Working very successfully in her calling as a real estate broker is not only exciting, but to Nikki as much as to her customers, real estate still feels like coming home!