FAMILY MATTERS

BY BARBARA BALLINGER

Baseball exec comes home

Christopher W. Holvoet of Mel Foster Co. Real Estate in Davenport, Iowa, No. 2 in his office of 50 salespeople in 2003, expects his sales volume to approach $6 million this year. For balance he gets away occasionally for long weekends with his wife and has carved out volunteer time for the United Way.



Did he miss the trip? “Sure, but I would have felt worse if I’d missed the recital,” says Holvoet, 37, who understands the importance of balancing work and family after a grueling 12 years in minor-league baseball management. During summers, he worked 12-hour days and was absent from home 10 days at a time while with the Texas-Louisiana League and later with the Quad City River Bandits, a Houston Astros farm team.

When he and wife Peggy, 32, decided to start a family four years ago, Holvoet felt he should be the one to look for a new, more flexible career. Peggy loved her position as a human resources specialist for a military depot in Rock Island, Ill., near their Davenport, Iowa, home. “I wanted to help us duplicate my happy childhood,” he says.

But he wasn’t sure how to transfer his sports management skills to another field. After buying a house through the Mel Foster Co., he was advised to consider real estate. “The director of recruiting thought I had the right people skills and persistence to be successful,” Holvoet says. Even though he knew he’d have to work long hours and many weekends, the idea of not traveling and having the flexibility of being his own boss outweighed the disadvantages.

And it has, though it still takes juggling for the couple to find time for each other and their two daughters, now four years old and 21 months. Peggy leaves for work each weekday at 6 a.m. Meanwhile, he gets the girls to daycare, arriving at his office three miles away by 8 a.m. If older daughter Michaela has her afternoon dance class, he takes her and then returns to his office. He tries to curtail his weekend work.

Occasionally, though, he must forgo family plans. Luckily, his wife has support from nearby family.

What’s helped him prioritize demands are his company’s training programs. Broker-associate and mentor G. Doug Lockhart, ABR®, CRS®, teaches Holvoet how to set boundaries and work efficiently. A part-time assistant has helped him cut time spent on paperwork. Says Holvoet, “I’ve also learned to say no if I have something important to do with my family. I reschedule. Most people understand.”

Broker Scott Case, CRS®, says “Chris is one of the most balanced salespeople I’ve seen. “He’s able to do it all because of his innate ability and the goals he sets.”

NAR is promoting work-life balance through a new “FamilyTime ” program it produced with the Million Dollar Roundtable, an insurance industry group. Pricing for the DVD begins at $5. For more information, call 800/874-6500 or read the online product description at the REALTOR.org store.