Shannon Wiser has joined the Coldwell Banker Plano office. She was previously affiliated with Ebby Halliday Realtors. In conjunction with the move, she also formed her new group, the Wiser Realty Group. The desire to start her own group was a major factor in her decision to switch affiliations. She believes that Coldwell Banker’s business model best matched hers. Now she is looking forward to serving as a mentor for other agents, particularly those new to the industry.
“A lot of people think being a real estate agent is an easy job but it’s not,” she says. “It’s important to set expectations about what being a Realtor is.”
Wiser has been involved with real estate since 1992. She was in management for a while and worked for an advisory investment group for eight years. For nearly a decade her friend Robin Merlo, a top producing agent in the West Plano area, had been asking her to become a Realtor. Wiser declined since she had young children at the time. Instead, she worked as Merlo’s office manager.
In 2010, Merlo passed away unexpectedly not long after Wiser had her third child. It was devastating for Wiser. Even though Merlo was only six years older than her, she’d looked up to her almost like a mom.
“She was pivotal in mentoring me and helping me become the agent that she was,” Wiser says.
The tragedy also motivated her to finally become a Realtor. She obtained her license in April of that year and ended up selling $3 million in only eight months. She found the job extremely rewarding and enjoyed getting to meet people from all walks of life. According to Wiser, being a Realtor is not about selling homes as much as it is about making relationships along the way. Most of her clients end up becoming friends.
A Calling Answered
Into 2012, Wiser’s then four-year-old daughter had gone to a Build-a-Bear store where kids can help create their own teddy bears. That night as Wiser was putting her daughter to bed, she said it would be nice to send teddy bears to orphans.
Wiser began looking online for opportunities to do so. The thought of sending 500 stuffed animals to a Uganda orphanage popped into her head. However, as happens with many well-intended plans, life gets in the way.
Four years later, Wiser was hosting a client appreciation event that a priest just happened to be attending. While speaking with him, the teddy bear idea came up again. He encouraged her to pursue it again and even offered a small check of support. It was never cashed.
In 2018, Wiser had a cancerous lump in her throat. The health crisis led to many thoughts of what she needed to do before her time was up. The idea of sending teddy bears was again at the top of the list.
That finally led to the creation of Teddy Bears from God. As fate would have it, Wiser soon connected with a minister on Facebook who could help coordinate getting handmade teddy bears and Christmas cards to orphans in Uganda.
Since then, Wiser says that she realized her idea could be bigger than just stuffed animals. The group has helped raise money for water filtration systems, crop assistants, and land purchases in Africa. She is now in the process of establishing Teddy Bears From God as an official 503C nonprofit. This year they plan to assist an orphanage in Costa Rica and fulfill their mission to continue and expand their work.
