Criminal justice, nursing, parenting – and now real estate. There is a new “agent to watch” in the Guilford market: LaurieAnn Hansen. Even though she has only been working in the industry for sixteen months, that brief time has been very productive in buying and selling in local

neighborhoods. Like many in Connecticut, across the country, and around the world, COVID-19

provided an opportunity for a reset in Hansen’s life, allowing her to pursue her hobby of working

with houses as a full-time career.

Hansen’s background began in criminal justice, but her time in the field was cut short due to a

hiring freeze at the state level in 2006. When she decided it was not meant to be, she shifted her focus to nursing. As it happens, life finds a way of providing new opportunities at the perfect

time: Just as Hansen graduated nursing school, she had the first of her two sons, eleven

years ago. She spent the next several years as a full-time mom – prioritizing parenting, spending time working on household projects, gardening, and enjoying summers at the beach with family. When the pandemic began, that time spent with family expanded; as the lockdowns and restrictions subsided, she began to plan her next steps. On the advice of her husband – a

Battalion Chief at the Milford Fire Department – she set her sights on local real estate as the next move in a life full of interests.

She began looking for listings in Connecticut, trying to find the basis for her own clientele. Her

first three sales came from referrals – closing quickly on her first deal just over one year ago. She closed seven transactions in her first year. Hansen says she wasn’t aware of that meteoric

trajectory until her coworkers pointed out the impressive run with which she had begun her

career. 

A major component of her rapid ascent is her activity on the internet. Hansen has become very popular on social media in recent years, with over 70,000 followers between TikTok and Instagram. She says she would like to integrate some of her real estate work into her online presence. She partners with Amazon to show off home décor on top of her usual content of contracts and closings. Hansen says TikTok has massive potential with younger homebuyers –

and the broad audience she has built may give her a leg up on the competition when these

younger TikTok users begin to look at where they may settle down.

In each interaction with clients – whether she is helping people buy or sell a property – Hansen

lives and works by her motto “love where you live.” She wants to bring people into spaces in

which they can build their lives, creating a dream home environment for all involved. She prides

herself on dedication to her clients during their professional relationship and pushes the

connection further by making herself available from the start to long after the closing. She says

that bond between herself and those with whom she works can be boiled down to one simple

phrase: once a client, forever a friend.