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Collin V. Sullivan
Collin V. Sullivan
Title: Realtor
Age: Over 40
Experience: 16 years
Born in Columbus, Indiana, Collin Sullivan started ice dancing when he was about 8 or 9 years old and loved it instantly. He was recruited by a coach in Boston as a teenager and except for a few short stints in other cities, he’s been here ever since. After retiring from professional skating, Sullivan coached skaters and flipped a couple of houses before getting his license and becoming a Realtor. For three seasons Sullivan was also an on-air personality for the HGTV program “Bang for the Buck.” Sullivan works in the Boston and Wellesley markets.
Q: How did you get involved in ice skating?
A: My mother took my sister and myself skating during a winter school break for something to do recreationally and I just loved it. I was probably too old when I started to learn how to do triple jumps, plus I was too tall to be a freestyle skater. I ended up being paired up with a girl and doing ice dancing and I loved it … it’s a little more creative than being out there all by yourself. Eventually I was recruited by a coach at the Skating Club of Boston when I was 17 and that’s how I got here. I’ve been here off and on ever since.
Q: Did you ever think about trying any other ice sports?
A: No. I was exposed to one thing, got in a groove, and stuck with it. I have never even tried on hockey skates in my life. Never even thought of a different direction.
I credit skating with a lot of the good things that have happened in my life and taking me to the right places. It brought me friendships and relationships that took me into other things. … My skating partner and I [eventually] turned professional. We had an agent and got to tour for a couple of years with Ice Capades. Then I became a sort of partner to the divas. A lot of the female skaters from back in the day, like Dorothy Hamill, Peggy Fleming, Oksana Baiul and Nancy Kerrigan, were doing TV specials and they would hire me to skate with them. It was like the cream of the crop – household names – and they relied on me to partner with them for a live show or a TV special. They trusted me and I don’t think another male skater has skated with all of those big names in one career. Many of them hadn’t skated with a partner in years. The guys in the locker room would joke with me, “Don’t drop her!” It was a lot of pressure and it was a great opportunity to perform.
Q: Did you go straight from skating to selling real estate?
A: No, there was definitely a lapse. When I retired from professional skating, I was coaching – and I still coach two mornings a week at 7 a.m. at Babson College. It allows me to keep at least one foot in industry and the art form that I love. It’s a really good mix, skating and real estate. You get the creative and physical and then you get the numbers and negotiation. But skating led me real estate. One of my skating student’s mother had relocated to the Boston area. At the time I had purchased and renovated at least one or two properties on my own and she encouraged me to get my license. I wanted nothing to do with sales at the time. Eventually I did get my license, and she became my mentor and coached and trained me to be good at what I do.
Q: Where did you start?
A: I started at Prudential in Wellesley, in 1999. I was young, eager, cold-calling people. I was fearless from skating and I was used to competing, so whether it was for a listing, a client or a sale, it was somehow in my blood that there was always going to be other people who wanted the same thing. Even though it’s not a natural segue from one industry to the other, I was prepared. Real estate is competitive, but skating is even more so because it’s such a limited field and it’s so hard to get there. I think there are more opportunities for more people in real estate. It’s a lot of rejection, a lot of “no” and unreturned calls, and it can leave you wondering why people do it.
Sullivan’s Top Five Vacation Spots:
- Little Sebago Lake, Maine
- Fort Lauderdale, Florida
- Vernazza, Italy
- Big Sky, Montana
- Pebble Beach, California
