It was in 1966 when Steven Siracki founded his realty business. He became a realtor after selling his farm and being told by several others, “You ought to be in real estate.”
Currently the business is owned by his son, Duane Siracki and operated by Duane’s daughters, Carol Coggins, broker and Debbie Wolff. The offices are in, what was until recently, Duane’s and Shirley’s home on Kinsman Road in Middlefield.
Shirley recalls moving in and how her home would morph into needed office space. “We started out with the office in the breezeway, and then they needed more room. I remember saying, ‘My dining room table stays and guess what, it didn’t.’” Their home was always a business. Shirley would prepare a sit-down lunch for all staff every day for many years and hours had to be flexible. “We had long-distance truck drivers who cannot sign papers except at midnight or whenever,” says Duane.
Today Duane and Shirley spend many months of the year in Florida. Partially retired; they no longer live on Kinsman Road. The family house is now used strictly for office space. The entire family shares memories and stories of days gone by.
One such story goes as follows, early one morning, as Shirley was walking through the house, she noticed a grey-haired gentleman sitting in the kitchen. She thought, “Well I guess this is nothing unusual, he is just a client.” “My shoes were by the back door and this gentleman took his shoes off and put them by mine,” adds Duane. Everyone was a little befuddled at his presence. Turns out, he was terribly confused and thought the Siracki home/office was a rehab center which was located nearby.
Carol and Debbie share their early memories. “I would remember transferring notes from Dad’s little scrap papers into a log, the old heavy black rotary phones, the excitement of being allowed to use the old typewriters and the days when clients had to come and get keys because there were no lock boxes,” says Carol.
“I can remember sitting at Grandpa Siracki’s desk says,” Debbie. “And feeling pretty good because we were allowed to play with the markers.
“And those old copiers which used wet ink and see-through rolls of paper,” recalls Duane. “In the early days, Dad and I would take a piece of paper and super impose house pictures, add descriptions and then drive the posters around to the other realtors and sharing each other’s listings. At that time, realtors would advertise listings in newspapers and would work on an honor system regarding which realtor would get paid for the service. This was before the multiple listing service as we know it today. Today, there exists a County Board of Realtors and Steven, Duane and Carol, three generations, have all served as presidents.
When Duane was president, there were approximately 200 realtors in the county, and 900 when Carol was president and now that Lake and Geauga Counties’ have merged there are many more.
Duane and Shirley wanted their girls to experience life beyond realty. Carol served in the Navy for seven years and returned to join the business in the property management division of the company.
“I was never going to join this business,” says Debbie. “But I changed my mind after my kids were raised and 18 years ago I got my license.”
Years ago, Duane saw a need to manage properties for folks that were struggling. “I always wanted to be in property management. But what moved me was this, I knew of a very young widow and her older husband had passed away. She came in this office with tears flowing out of her eyes, saying, “Duane, is there any way you can help me? My tenants aren’t paying the rent. They’re not paying on time. They’re paying partial payments. They’re giving me a major hard time, and they’re not abiding by the lease. Duane continued, “So I went out and sought legal advice, I needed to know about trust accounts, banking, liability and responsibilities. I then began helping this widow and people started telling other people and so on.” Today, Carol and Debbie manage properties in five counties and sell in the same areas.”
Daily, in the Siracki office, there are three to four staff taking care of sales and management of homes, land, farms, investment properties, commercial and industrial properties. Siracki Realty also manages Homeowner’s and Condo Associations. In addition to their employees, they contract experts for small and large maintenance issues such as plumbing and electric.
Looking toward the future, Duane has not yet planned a full retirement, his daughters will continue to run the day-to-day operations and this legacy business will surely thrive. For more information, visit sirackirealty.com or call 440-632-1904 to reach Siracki Realty, LTD.
