ROSIE & CURT HARSCH
Real Estate Execs: Realty Executives of Nevada

Running a successful business offers many of the same challenges as maintaining a good marriage. Stress, time constraints, money issues, and human relationships play key roles in both marriages and businesses. When a married couple chooses to go into business together, the experience transcends both institutions. The challenges amplify accordingly.

Rosie and Curt Harsch have been married since 1979. Rosie began her Real Estate career in 1983 and Curt earned his license in 1989. Now, after 25 years in the industry, the couple have sold more than 1,000 homes. They comprise The Rosie Harsch Group, LLC, placing their license with Realty Executives of Nevada. Although they are free to move their license anywhere in Nevada, they have chosen to commit to a great company.

Not only do Rosie and Curt devote intense amounts of energy to their business, but they commit equal fervor to having fun. Curt’s voice tingles with excitement when he talks about the Phantom—The Las Vegas Spectacular at the Venetian. The custom-built Phantom Theatre includes a one-ton chandelier that provokes a wave of adrenaline when it falls and then stops 10 feet above the audience’s head.

Although Rosie and Curt love the grand sounds and décor of the theatre, their interests also swing in the opposite direction—toward the audio chaos of stockcar racing. Curt says, “We’re crazy about NASCAR,” to which Rosie adds, “Oh, yes. Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Little E [Dale Earnhardt, Jr.].”

The couple are in the habit of completing one another’s thoughts. They speak, work, and play almost as a single person. It almost seems inevitable that they would be growing a business together. The idea of joining hands in business came when the couple were engaged to be married. “The challenge,” says Curt, “was that we felt bad [because] we were apart. We wanted to work together.” Their first venture was a restaurant, Rosie’s Afternoon Delight, in Aurora, CO.

At the end of the 1970s, Rosie and Curt moved to Northern Virginia (Washington, D.C., Metro area). By 1983 Rosie had found her niche in Real Estate. Curt worked three jobs in order to seed the Real Estate operation, and by 1989 Curt was ready to join the business.

Once they understood the essentials of building a successful Real Estate company together, Curt and Rosie decided to help other married business partners. They began conducting seminars titled “Keeping the Fireworks in the Bedroom and Out of the Office.” They presented the seminars to several organizations including the Northern Virginia Association of REALTORS®, Floyd Wickman’s Real Estate sales rally in Las Vegas, and to other highly receptive audiences.

Curt says many spousal enterprises begin when the husband retires and joins the wife’s existing business. In those cases, problems can arise when the husband is accustomed to being in charge. For example, if the husband was a manager in his company or if he was in a position of responsibility in the military, he may have difficulty allowing the wife to conduct the business in her own way. To these men, Curt advises, “You have to come in with an attitude of learning, not controlling.”

Rosie says that additional stress is caused when couples give up their family time for clients who show little chance of closing a deal. She says that such couples “treat themselves like a Pop-Tart. Just pop up and go.” The solution, according to Rosie, is to pre-qualify clients before showing a home. That way you can take advantage of true opportunities without losing your family time to false opportunities.

According to Rosie, the most important aspects of working together are mutual respect and laughter. She says, “Curt makes me laugh all the time.”

One of Rosie and Curt’s guiding philosophies is summarized by the quote, “Great opportunities are seldom missed. They are passed down to someone else.” The couple attributes the quote to business philosopher Jim Rohn.

Rosie says that great opportunities arise when you approach your business from a position of service. She says that Real Estate is a wonderful way to make money while working your own hours, but you’re still selling your service as a commodity. Once you learn to view the transaction as a service, the transaction then becomes a profound experience between professional and client.

According to Susan Skaggs, one of Rosie and Curt’s clients, “I have worked with three REALTORS®, and Rosie is by far the best. She has excellent listening skills and her ability to negotiate a contract is outstanding. She returned my phone calls quickly and I always felt like I was her only client.”

Another client, Blake Douglas, elaborates on the way Rosie and Curt treat each transaction. “Rosie and Curt are bottom-line people,” he says. “They say what they believe and follow through, exceeding expectations. There is no guesswork working with them—they are real pros.” Blake was also pleased with the lack of bumps in the road. “Their follow-up, staying ahead and anticipating any problems, negotiating the very best deal—including my loan—was awesome,” he says.

As an example of the couple’s approach to customer service, Rosie cites the current market. She says, “If you understand that there is always a way to help people, then you won’t miss any opportunities.”

Rosie and Curt cultivated their philosophy with the help of leadership programs, one in northern Virginia and two in Las Vegas. Rosie graduated from the charter class of Leadership Fairfax (Virginia). After they relocated to Las Vegas, both Rosie and Curt attended Focus Las Vegas, an intensive two-day learning program. In addition, they applied separately and were accepted to Leadership Las Vegas, a 10-month program directed by the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce.

While at Leadership Las Vegas, the couple met and learned from the CEOs of casinos and major restaurants, panels of experts on transportation and social services, and other community leaders.

Rosie and Curt consider Leadership Las Vegas to be “the best thing we ever could have done.” They can now help their clients understand nearly any aspect of life in Las Vegas, including access to healthcare, the history of the city, the system of social services, how the government works, and the major economic sectors. Moreover, they gained a new network of personal friends and professional allies.

Each graduating class at Leadership Las Vegas selects a charitable project which the graduates will oversee into perpetuity. Curt’s class built and maintains a reading garden at an elementary school on Nellis Air Force Base. In addition to Curt’s construction labor, the couple also donated 500 books to the school. Rosie’s class adopted a weekend backpack program for disadvantaged kids. Each Friday kids can take home a backpack filled with food and a book. In addition to Rosie’s organizational efforts, the couple also donated 500 books to this program as well.

Rosie and Curt consider charitable giving to be an essential part of success. They have supported such organizations as Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and many others.

Since generosity is contagious, Rosie and Curt are grateful to live in Las Vegas. The community is generous enough to make giving easy. Rosie calls Las Vegas “a small caring community of two million.” Curt says, “We’re tickled to be in Las Vegas and in Real Estate. It’s a dream for us.”

Rosie and Curt have expressed gratitude to Leadership Las Vegas for their help in learning about the community, and also to Real Estate coach Mike Ferry who has been instrumental in their success.

The couple’s business sense can be traced back to their childhoods. Both Rosie’s family and Curt’s family were early franchisees for Dairy Queen. Ironically, to the couple’s knowledge, Rosie’s parents never mingled with Curt’s parents. According to Rosie, “The moral is that our parents were always enterprising and getting out on their own.”

After three decades of marriage and 25 years in Real Estate, Rosie and Curt show no signs of slowing down. They’re hard-hitting, they love their business, and they’re good at what they do. By respecting one another’s work and allowing each other to grow professionally, they have built a business that will prosper—as long as they both shall live.

Photography: Britt Pierson