With a decade of experience in residential real estate, Minerva Bieri is a seasoned agent that has guided hundreds of clients through the process of buying or selling their home. She is now joining forces with her husband Alex, to form The Bieri Team. Alex recently received his state license in real estate and brings a business background and real estate investing acumen to the team.
“The Team will be stronger than the sum of its parts,” said Bieri recently. “Minerva and I have built a life partnership over the past twenty-three years and our work ethic and team dynamic is based on that partnership.”
The couple met at Yellow Springs High school in 1997 and married three years later in Veracruz Mexico while in college. Alex was born and raised in Yellow Springs and has deep ties to the community going back to his grandparents who met at Antioch, class of 1949. He has worked in Human Resources and Recruitment at agricultural firm Michael Farms near Urbana for the past ten years while Minerva has worked in real estate with Coldwell Banker Heritage. Alex has also served three terms as Mayor of the Village of Clifton where the couple live with their two children.
“Officially I am undecided but seriously considering not running for a fourth term after this year,” Bieri said of his future in local politics. “It has been a humbling and at times gratifying experience to lead a small village government and be a part of the project of democracy, even at a neighborhood level. But I like the Jeffersonian idea of returning to civilian life before some kind of ruling-class arrangement sets in!”
The Bieri Team will also draw on their experience in real estate investing and knowledge of the local market. The couple owns and manages three rentals and is currently developing a vacant lot. They take pride in hands-on property management and keeping their rents affordable, focusing on long term equity over short term cash. Their first investment project was a small pre-Civil War brick home in Clifton they bought in 2013 with a completely gutted interior and a dirt floor. They spent two years rebuilding the home literally from the ground up. Alex remembers burning up a power planer while refinishing white oak beams and gaining a new respect for older homes built by hand.
“I had an epiphany about that time, that real estate has value beyond market forces or replacement costs; there is intrinsic value in durable shelter. This seems obvious, but when we see market ups and downs or speculative buying we sometimes forget that real estate is the best asset class in the world for good reason, as the name implies, it’s a ‘real’ and basic necessity.”
As a Realtor, Minerva says she has enjoyed the process of working with people from all walks of life that share the dream of making a new house their home.
“Whether it’s a deal for forty thousand dollars or four hundred thousand, I like to be able to help people take their next step,” she said, “sometimes I work with first time buyers, sometimes it’s seniors downsizing, or people trading up or taking on a project, or whatever it is, I’m right there to help make it happen and that’s a good feeling.”
The Bieri Team will work with Coldwell Banker Heritage, one of the largest and top selling brokerages in the Dayton area, who Minerva has been with for several years. The Team says they are currently reaching out to Minerva’s past clients as residential real estate is a “repeats and referrals” service profession, and they look forward to working with familiar clients and new ones, in the Yellow Springs area and beyond.