Born and raised in Winnipeg, Lee Almstrom is a 30-year industry veteran in both the residential and commercial sectors. Throughout her career, Lee has built a solid reputation on truly personal service, and of going beyond the call of duty to ensure clients’ needs are first and foremost.
Following studies at the University of Texas, Lee began her real estate career at a brokerage in Oakbank, Manitoba, but within a year, met with a handful of offices in Winnipeg. When she came to RE/MAX Professionals, she met with the late Eileen Lewis, then-president of the Winnipeg Real Estate Board and wife to Broker/Owner Stan Newman. Lee recalls immediately calling her mother to share her aspirations of being just like her. Lee and Eileen became good friends, and she subsequently joined the brokerage she’s called home ever since.
In the late 1980s and early ‘90s, as a female, Lee noticed a feeling of adversity in the industry: at the time, the WREB confirmed that approximately only 30 per cent of REALTORs were female. Three decades later, Lee has observed a significant shift in the numbers, where women generally enjoy successful real estate careers due in part to their desire to achieve, and their innate empathy and ability to connect with people. Lee has always been deeply grateful for the opportunity she has every day to help others, whether in buying or selling a property, or resolving issues that may have arisen long after the sale.
Lee’s genuine desire to help others extends beyond her services in real estate with an extensive history of charity work in the community. Since the beginning of her career, Lee has designated a portion of every commission to the Children’s Miracle Network, and in 2005, helped raise over $10,000 for the Children’s Hospital Foundation in a head-shaving promotion. For several years, Lee has helped organize the Manitoba Real Estate Association’s Easter Dinner at Siloam Mission, as well as collecting food, children’s gifts, and helping serve food. She is currently an active board member of an organization that helps vulnerable populations in the community, from at-risk youth to newcomers to Canada. Lee always remembers her mother’s words of “treating people how you’d like to be treated,” a spirit instilled in her from an early age.
Lee’s greatest joy is travel (and has a 26-year old who has taken that to the next level!). She has lived and worked internationally (in Stockholm, Sweden, El Paso, Texas, and Honolulu, Hawaii), but currently resides in Osborne Village here in Winnipeg with her partner Bruce, with whom she shares a real estate brand. Bruce has over 30 years’ experience in the commercial sector and teaches commercial real estate worldwide. Their commercial/investment clients are extremely well-served as a result.
Determined, invested in others, and truly humbled by the honour of being called upon to help people with one of their biggest life transactions, Lee ‘s experience and compassion have earned her a solid reputation in the real estate industry.