Yaminah Shah

I grew up in southern Sweden, where my parents were very hard working. At the age of seven, I moved into our first new home with my family. I still remember the excitement of seeing my new bedroom while my parents dealt with the title contract and paperwork. After graduating from Vaxjo University in International Relations, I married my husband and immigrated to Queens, New York. There, I gained experience in contracts, titling vehicles for car buyers at Honda Financial. In 2005, my husband moved us to upstate New York to pursue his training. Again, I found myself in a new town around new people. Except, this time, I was pregnant with twins. For three years, I raised my twins and worked part time as an assistant to the hospital’s in-house real estate manager. Every July, the new batch of medical interns would arrive with their families; we would assist them with living arrangements and settling in. In 2008, we relocated to Las Vegas. At first, our family of four rented an apartment in Northwest Las Vegas. However, we soon learned that our third child was on his way as I was pregnant. Additionally, after years of relocating, for the first time, we felt “at home”; we were ready for a serious commitment. We immediately began looking for a home to purchase. Unfamiliar with Las Vegas, we found it challenging deciding where to buy. We submitted multiple bids with no luck. After six months of very exhaustive searching, a new home builder accepted our offer; we found ourselves struggling with multiple appraisers and a lengthy escrow process. However, despite the challenge of completing my first home purchase, I found myself viewing real estate listings in my free time. After dropping my children off in preschool, I would often visit open houses. At some point, it