Sandra Valencia remembers the call came on a Sunday, around noon. It was 2020, the height of the housing crisis brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, and the real estate agent was on the phone with a client, the client's father, and a seller's listing agent. The home in question had almost two dozen other bids, and Valencia was determined to get her client the property.
In the middle of the call, Valencia saw that her doctor was trying to reach her.
"I went, 'this can’t be good'," Valencia recalled. "I said to my doctor, 'I know you need to talk to me, but I've got to conclude this other conversation.'"
Before she could hang up to continue with her client, out came the diagnosis.
"Nobody likes to hear the 'C word'," said Valencia. "I just sat on the phone, speechless."
Within minutes, Valencia was back on the line with her client, securing the deal to get the woman into her new home. Her client needed her in that moment, and Valencia wasn't going to let her down.
"When I finished sobbing, I closed the deal. And then I turned my phone off and sobbed for two more months."
The reality sunk in for Valencia afterwards: She had breast cancer. It was the latest in a series of blows to the generally positive, self-professed "Jersey Girl."
Valencia had switched careers just a short time prior, leaving her role of CTO for Chase's auto financing division on Wall Street to follow her passion for real estate. She relocated from Manhattan to North Jersey, where she was born and raised, following the abrupt death of her step-mother and became her late father's caretaker. Valencia later survived a head-on car crash that occurred on her birthday, and navigated financial stress caused by life's rigmarole. She finally felt like she was able to pour herself into her real estate career.
And then, this.
When her diagnosis was revealed, Valencia was resolute: "I'm going to beat this thing," she decided.
Just as she had tackled all the other adversity in her life up to this point, she got to work.
Valencia underwent surgery and radiation in the months that followed, and continued to work full time. Never one to focus solely on herself, Valencia knew people were depending on her to help them. She's a people person through-and-through, after all, always ready to go to the ends of the earth to support others.
These days, Valencia's cancer is in remission. She continues to take medication, and deal with side effects and doctor's appointments. But she'll take those little speed bumps any day, compared to the alternative.
"I'm just super happy to be alive," admitted Valencia.
Real estate, too, proves to be a remedy for Valencia. The Christie's International Real Estate Group agent "enjoys working with people, and helping them get to new chapters" in their lives.
"That's really what drives me," said Valencia, whose work as a global Realtor has helped individuals from other states, and those from other countries looking to buy in the U.S. "I love helping people. It's rewarding to me … I know how stressful [homebuying] can be. I know how you need somebody on your side, who will have your back. It's more for me about helping people move from one stage to the other, and being there as somebody who's helping you make that huge life change."
Valencia — who also works with the sales team at The Atlantic Club, the luxury beachfront condominiums along Ocean Avenue — hopes to continue to grow her presence in Monmouth County, which she describes as her dream location. She also wants to eventually start a non-profit that focuses on helping kids, dogs, and people with cancer. It would just be another way for her to be a friend to all — especially those who need it most.
As she moves toward her goals, Valencia will continue to share with others her philosophy of what it means to be healthy.
"Being healthy is about being happy. It's about the energy and the vibration you bring into your day, every single day. It's about gratitude. It's about the way you look at things. It's just about kindness, and treating everybody else the way you want to be treated, the way you think makes sense and, and also having an understanding that not everyone is going to be like you, and that's OK, and that doesn't make them any better or worse than you are."
She knows from experience life won't always be easy, but she’s ready — and excited — for the rest of the ride.
"Everything happens for a reason."
Sandra Valencia is based out of Christie's Fair Haven office (732-800-5050). She is also the founder of the LeTip networking chapters of Long Branch and Fort Monmouth.
"Being healthy is about being happy. It's about the energy and the vibration you bring into your day, every single day. It's about gratitude. ... It's just about kindness, and treating everybody else the way you want to be treated."