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We are your "everything real estate" educational place for real estate licensees, loan officers, and all professionals who assist the consumer in the real estate transaction.

 

Our Staff and Instructors

 

Founding and managing partner Steve Hammond is a 40 year veteran of the real estate business. He has been co-owner and president of the largest real estate organization in Maine with over 50 offices. In his career, he helped a company grow over 350% in 20 months to be the largest office in its state. Steve is known for his calm, thoughtful approach to problem solving and business building and is sought out as a consultant, instructor and coach by companies and agents alike.


 

Geoff MacLean

TRELG founding partner Geoff MacLean brings 40 years of practical brokerage and company leadership experience to all of his teaching and consulting. He successfully mediates disputes for the REALTOR® organization, licensees and consumers. Geoff serves as a consultant for many real estate companies and is experienced as an expert witness in real estate brokerage matters. Geoff has been a chair of the Maine Association of REALTORS® Professional Standards Committee since 1996 and he was twice named REALTOR® of the Year for his local Board of REALTORS®. Geoff teaches the Maine Designated Broker prelicense course as well as a wide range of continuing education courses in the classroom, livestream and online.

Ed Getty

Ed Getty

 

His knowledge, unique candor, and sense of humor make founding partner Ed Getty a well-respected and highly rated instructor and consultant. With 40 years experience in sales and management, Ed has achieved total sales production of over $100 million. He has served as president of his state’s REALTOR® organization and was twice named REALTOR® of the Year for his local Board of REALTORS®. Ed teaches the Maine Associate Broker prelicense course as well as a wide range of continuing education courses in the classroom as well as online via video.


 

Jane Greer

Jane Greer

Founding partner Jane Greer has decades of experience designing and delivering classroom, hybrid and online learning in a variety of workplaces including the real estate, insurance and financial services industries. She holds a Master's Degree in Education with a focus on adult education and an undergraduate degree in engineering from Dartmouth College. Jane is adjunct faculty at St. Joseph's College in the MSEd program and holds the Certified Distance Education Instructor (CDEI) designation. Speak to any of her students and they will confirm that her classes are engaging, thought-provoking and fun! Jane is a long-term member of the Association for Talent Development (ATD), and has presented at the Real Estate Educators Association national convention.

Christy Arnett

Christy Arnett is the Operations Manager for The Real Estate Learning Group.  Christy has a strong background in office administration and customer support.  She currently holds an Associate Broker license in Maine and is a REALTOR®.  She is ready to assist you with all things related to Real Estate education - from scheduling a CE class at your office to helping students enroll in our continuing education and pre-license courses. 

Kelli McGlinn

Kelli McGlinn is our Director of Education.  She holds a B.A. in Psychology and a M.S. in Special Education from the University of Southern Maine. Additionally, she has a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study in Educational Leadership from the University of New England. Kelli has over 25 years experience in education ranging from instructing individuals from birth to adult level learners. She is an avid learner herself and is challenging herself to apply her skills in a new forum. Kelli has a keen interest in the real estate field and is eager to work with The Real Estate Learning Group assisting newcomers and experienced learners who continue on their lifelong journey of professional learning.

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Andrea McGowan

Andrea McGowan is an Administrative Assistant for The Real Estate Learning Group. She has a long history with TRELG stemming from her time at Husson University, where she helped manage our classroom space. Her background in higher education, coupled with her strong customer support experience, aligns with our mission, as does her strong desire for learning and improvement. When not at work, you may find her exploring the outdoors with her family or running the streets and trails of Greater Portland with her friends and the family dog.

Walter Boomsma

Walter Boomsma teaches pre-license courses for The Real Estate Learning Group. Previously, he owned a human resource consulting business that developed and delivered training programs  for numerous companies, civic and educational groups. Walter serves as a substitute school teacher for Kindergarten through sixth grade, as Communications Director for the Maine State Grange, and as a NAMI Certified Mental Health First Aid Specialist and Suicide Prevention Instructor. He has authored several books including Small People—Big Brains and Mr. Boomsma’s Substitute Teacher Workbook

https://bit.ly/WaltersInstructorPage

Julie Williams 

Julie Williams

Julie Dawson Williams, who was named 2017 REALTOR® of the Year by the Greater Bangor Association of REALTORS®, is the principal owner of the Bangor-based real estate firm ERA Dawson Bradford Co. Her experience includes listing and selling properties for her own clients, as well as recruiting and training new licensees. A graduate of Bowdoin College, Julie teaches pre-license courses for The Real Estate Learning Group.

Susan Russell

 

Susan Russell loves the challenge of pairing her clients with their perfect homes. In her two decades in the real estate business, she has developed a reliable network of resources and has closed multi-millions in volume each year. She greatly enjoys teaching as it gives her great pleasure to assist and support those around her. Susan served as President of the Women’s Council of REALTORS® in Portland and sits on her neighborhood board in Pine Point, Maine. She enjoys everything the beautiful State of Maine has to offer from the sandy shores to the ski slopes, and loves to be outside.

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Tyra Mitchell

 

Tyra Hatcher Mitchell is a licensed Broker with North Star Realty. Active in the Maine Association of Realtors, Tyra held several positions, including President of the York County Council. She served as a Board Member of the Maine Association of REALTORS and is a current Board Member of the Maine Association of Realtors Foundation. In her free time, she volunteers as a Master Gardener; educating students and communities about vegetable gardening and food insecurity in Maine. Born in Maine, she has lived in Thailand, Brazil, and Guyana but is happy to call Maine her forever home.

Matthew McDonald

Matthew J. McDonald graduated from Maine Law and the University of Southern Maine. After a few years in private practice in many areas he settled into real estate law. He began working at Cumberland Title in 2004 and bought the company in 2008. Since then Cumberland Title has grown to five offices around the state of Maine. His courses are known for their entertaining stories and information that surprises even the most experienced brokers.

 

Kim Hatem

Kim Hatem is a licensed agent/broker in Maine and New Hampshire and has many years of experience in the real estate, customer service and banking industries. She's been licensed since 2002 in Maine and 2021 in New Hampshire to sell real estate and has worked for both LL Bean and Casco Northern Bank, NA(BancBoston). Kim currently owns her own agency, North Star Realty in Scarborough, ME and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern Maine. She is an approved instructor for delivering education to Maine and New Hampshire real estate licensees.

 

 

Robert Staab

Bob Staab has been a mortgage lender for 39 years.  During that time he has been an owner and Vice President of a large New England Mortgage Company and two large local banks.  He has originated and closed over 9500 loans as a loan officer.  He has also managed two different processing and underwriting centers. 

 

 

James A. Hopkinson

Jim Hopkinson is a founding partner of Hopkinson & Abbondanza.  He received his B.A. from Bates College in Lewiston and his J.D. from the University of Maine-School of Law in Portland.  Jim is a member of Maine State and Cumberland Bar Associations and is admitted to practice in all Maine Courts including the U.S. District Court.  He is co-author on a treatise on real estate law in Maine and also provides expert witness testimony on real estate matters.  Jim has lectured at the University of Southern Maine, Institute for Real Estate Education, American Institute of Banking and the National Business Institute. 

Richard J. Abbondanza

 

Richard Abbondanza is a founding partner in the Portland law firm of Hopkinson & Abbondanza.  He received his undergraduate degree from Amherst College, cum laude, and his law degree from Catholic University of America.  He is a member of the Maine Estate Planning Council, WealthCounsel, a national association of estate planning attorneys and advisors, and a graduate of the two-year Laureate Program of the Southern California Institute and is admitted to practice in all Maine courts.  Richard regularly speaks on the subjects of estate planning, retirement planning and real estate and business succession planning.   

 

Jeff Chute

Jeff Chute has been in the Real estate business for 35+ years. Beginning in Massachusetts he started out as a school teacher, eventually leaving that profession for Real Estate. Starting as an agent in 1984, he eventually he started and owned and operated his real estate office for several decades. Along the way, he expanded into Real Estate Instruction, being awarded Massachusetts Association of Realtors ‘Instructor of the Year’ in 2010. Moving to Maine, he is currently Designated Broker for Ocean Park Realty in Ocean Park. He has participated in several interviews and authored articles for various trade publications. In addition, he has done some consulting as well as expert witness work. He has taught the ‘ABR’ and 'SRES’ courses for REBAC, NAR’s educational department. He holds distance learning certification from IDEC.

Bill Trask

Bill began his real estate career at Century 21 in 1995 after a 6-year tour in the US Army.  In 1998, he opened a Mark Stimson office which was sold to DeWolfe, then Coldwell Banker, then Better Homes & Gardens.  He opened a Maine Real Estate Network office in 2013 which was later sold to Bean Group.  He founded his own company, Maine Real Estate Experts, in 2020.  Bill served as President of the Greater Portland Board of Realtors® in 2005 and was recognized as the Greater Portland Board & Maine Association of Realtors® “Realtor® of the Year” in 2006.  Bill currently holds his GRI designation and formerly held the ABR, ABRM, CRB, & CRS designations.  He is a veteran of over 1300 sales totaling over $170 Million in production.

Shawn Casey

As a former owner of Cumberland County Mortgage, there isn't much about the mortgage industry that Shawn isn't familiar with.  With his in-depth knowledge of both purchase and refinance loan programs, his decades of financial services experience, and his unparalleled experience with credit issues, there aren't many scenarios Shawn hasn't dealt with.

Jim Nadeau

Jim Nadeau, a Veteran of the U.S. Air Force, holds the three National Flood Insurance Program designations: Certified Floodplain Manager, Certified Floodplain Surveyor, and Associate in National Flood Insurance, serves as Chair of the State of Maine Board of Licensure for Professional Land Surveyors, is Co-chair to the Federal Emergency Management Agency Sub-committee of the External Affairs Committee on the behalf of the National Society of Professional Land Surveyors, and is a delegate on the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying. He also serves as the Land Surveyor Member on the Technical Mapping Advisory Council (TMAC), a federal advisory committee that makes recommendations to FEMA, and in 2018, received the Francis Crowe Society Distinguished Engineer Award from the University of Maine, in recognition of outstanding professional service to the Field of Engineering.

 

 

Melinda Torrens

 

 

Melinda Torrens stumbled into a real estate career almost by accident but quickly fell in love with every aspect of the industry!  She has worn many hats throughout her 20+ years as a real estate professional.... Top Producer, Marketing Director, Mentor, Education Consultant, Closing Agent, Regional Broker Team Leader, and the Designated Managing Broker of two companies (one Residential and one Commercial) across Northern New England for a large international firm. Her passion for real estate and education led her to advanced studies in Adult Education with a focus on online and blended learning programs.  Melinda has worked on a variety of projects with The Real Estate Learning Group over the past decade.  When she's not geeking out on real estate, you might find her on a sailboat or performing in your favorite live music venue.

Franz Honer

 

Franz Honer teaches New Hampshire pre-license and CE courses for The Real Estate Learning Group. He started his career from the ground up as a real estate office administrator at the age of 16, obtained his Maine Sales Agent license in 2001, Maine Associate Broker License in 2003, and New Hampshire Salesperson license in 2014. His passion is helping people achieve their goals and ensuring they have all the information and knowledge they need. Franz holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the University of Southern Maine.