Where They Belong: Four local agents draw from diverse backgrounds
May 2026
The Grand Traverse region has no shortage of real estate agents and brokers.
More than a thousand are out there buying and selling little slices of northern Michigan paradise one closing at a time, and each has a different story about how they got there and what drives their passion for the industry.
The TCBN connected with four agents with a story to tell.
The Fed
Drew Reynolds, Century 21 Northland
In the late summer of 2001, Drew Reynolds had completed his U.S. Army service and was working for the U.S. State Department as part of the protection detail for then-Secretary of State Colin Powell.
“(On 9/11) I was on the roof of the State Department, which as the crow flies is probably a half mile from the Pentagon, and when the plane hit, it shook the building I was on. I turned and looked in that direction and saw the smoke cloud rise,” he said. “That day kind of changed everything in my life.”
Driven by a desire to combat such heinous acts, Reynolds signed on with the FBI and spent 17 years in counter-terrorism through his work as an intelligence officer.
“The Army taught me how to handle a crisis, but the bureau taught me how to investigate and get ahead of one,” he said. “Serving in that capacity allowed me to contribute to national security in a way that felt more surgical – it was less about the show of force and more about the persistence of the work.”
While he lived and worked in Washington, his mom and later sister moved full time to the Grand Traverse region (the family is from Vassar, near Frankenmuth). Reynolds made many trips to visit them and he grew enamored with the area.
“I fell in love with coming up here to visit, and then I met a woman who is now my wife,” he said. “We were doing the long-distance thing back and forth … but we knew this is where we wanted to be at some point.”
They made the move a few years back, and Reynolds began his real estate career in 2022. As an outsider, he’s had to work tirelessly to get his name out there.
“The hardest part is not being from here. Being a realtor in your hometown, everybody knows you and it's easy to build a client base. I didn't have that. I don't have that still,” he said. “So getting to know people and getting my name out there is kind of hard, especially in the market up here where there's a lot of other realtors.”
But he’s finding success, and it’s in no small part due to his performance for his clients. There’s plenty from his past life that directly bolsters his professional performance in real estate, particularly an extreme devotion to detail.
“With national security … there’s no margin for error. Everything has to be exact when you’re working on an investigation. If it goes to trial and you screwed something up, it could all fall through,” he said. “And that’s the same here. I've got to make sure everything's going right in that transaction to make sure that there's no surprise when we're at the closing table.”
He also feels his background serves him with high-net-worth individuals.
“Up here you’ve got the luxury market where people really want their privacy, and I’m uniquely qualified to handle sensitive, high profile transactions,” he said.
Finally, he believes his prior career makes him a great asset when it comes to ironing out a deal.
"When I'm talking with the other agent and trying to negotiate on my client's behalf, I'm able to read that person," he said. "I had to do that for years. Being able to read somebody's body language or their face to really figure out what that buyer or seller on the other side of the table is really looking for is a big help."
The Pediatrician
Amy Couturier, RE/MAX Bayshore
Amy Couturier spent the first chapter of her career serving children.
Couturier is from California and met her husband while in medical school at Michigan State University. They eventually moved to California, where she worked as a pediatrician and he as a radiologist, but they sought a different place to live after they started having kids.
So in 2020 they came to Traverse City, where her husband signed on with a local radiology group and she started a direct primary care pediatric office called Up North Pediatrics. She ran the practice for four years, but decided to close down last year.
“It was really hard to be solo without a partner, so that was a big lesson learned,” she said. “And in pediatrics, the highest demand is after school, and that really started to get hard with my personal life with three kids. So I was getting burned out and it was hard to grow that business.”
After some time at home with the kids and helping with her husband’s new medical venture, she decided to try her hand at real estate. It was not a random choice.
“I actually grew up in real estate. My dad has been a realtor for 40-plus years out in California, and my brother is actually his broker,” she said. “So it’s always been in the back of my mind.”
There are plenty of similarities between being a physician and a real estate agent, Couturier says, perhaps the most significant of which is that both are constantly looking out for the best interests of their clients/patients. Being a strong advocate is key in both roles.
But she’s also excited about representing medical professionals in real estate transactions. Not that they’ll be her only clients, but she feels especially qualified to work with them.
“I just felt that this is a group of people that I could really serve well. My colleagues (in medicine) are people that could use that fierce advocacy that maybe we don't get in real estate,” she said. “I know the healthcare community and the needs of doctors, healthcare providers, nurse practitioners, everybody on the spectrum.”
Aside from the more straightforward matter of finding places to live, she hopes to help these clients invest in real estate to support their healthcare careers.
“These are people who really need that great equity in their investments because that's going to save them from the burnout of healthcare,” she said. “If they can leverage their investments in real estate, it can augment the joy of the thing they really love.”
It’s for that reason that she’s not entirely closing the door on medicine herself.
“If I can create something … that would let me practice in a way where I’m not worried about insurance reimbursement so much that I can actually do the job that I really love without having the pressure of the finances too, it would be great,” she said. “Medicine could be the beginning and end of my story.”
But in the meantime, she’s very happy to be in the family business.
“My dad is just so happy and so proud. He’s been wanting me to do real estate forever, since basically the day I was born,” she said. “So he’s like ‘Awesome. Finally, we get to talk real estate.'”
The Rising Star
Tim Wharton, RE/MAX Bayshore
Tim Wharton did about $11 million in business last year, enough to rank in the top 25 by himself (his numbers are included with that of his brokerage, the No. 1 ranked RE/MAX Bayshore) and be named a Rising Star for Michigan by RE/MAX.
Not bad at all for someone who less than two years ago dove into real estate after a career path that focused on hospitality and sales. It’s both good and bad though, because now he’s got pressure to keep it up.
“It’s a blessing and a curse,” he said. “It’s great, but it really sets the bar high.”
Wharton grew up here and worked at several restaurants before getting into car sales and then working for a company that sold sustainable chemicals. He was there for 17 years before the process of selling his new house – and urging from his friends, B.J. Brick and Tommy Corbett – led him to launching his real estate career.
He credits those same friends, now his coworkers, for creating a culture that facilitated his great success in his first full year.
“This is the most collaborative job I’ve ever had in my life. It’s unbelievable,” he said. “There’s great camaraderie, and it’s just so rad. We’ve developed a culture where everyone is comfortable with asking questions and asking for help. 'Can you show this house while I’m at the doctor?' 'I’m away and I got this lead, can you help?' 'Do you need me to do a showing for you this weekend?'”
Still, how did Wharton break $10 million as a brand-new agent? He credits the many relationships he cultivated over the years as key to opening the doors to new business as he stepped into this role.
“When people found out what I was doing, they were like ‘Hey, my friend’s looking (for something),'” he said.
He loves that this job gives him the ability to help others, something he realized a while back is key to his own well-being.
“What has really elevated my sense of light, happiness and purpose in life is really truly being in service of others,” he said. "I like talking to people who are nervous about this process, and taking really good care of them to the end of the process and beyond, and to watch their shoulders drop (with relief) through the process.”
And what better thing to assist with than a real estate transaction?
“This is the most personal thing ever, and it's the biggest transaction 99% of the population will ever make,” he said. “I don't find it to be daunting – I find it to be inspiring. And if I can be a part of that, I'm so happy to do so.”
The Community Servant
Gini Pelton, Century 21 Northland
Gini Pelton has used a hashtag for quite some time: #JustAskGini. And people take advantage of it, even if it doesn’t involve real estate.
“I probably had 20 calls this week on every sort of thing you could imagine,” she said. “Where do you board a dog? Who cleans carpet? Who should do my lawn. Sometimes I’m Googling the stuff while they’re asking me.”
Pelton, who is based in Manistee and does deals in Manistee and Benzie counties, doesn’t mind one bit. It’s all part of her natural tendency toward community service, which manifests itself in her past and present volunteerism for dozens of nonprofits or community groups. You’d be hard pressed to find a Manistee community organization she hasn’t served at some point.
She also coached T-ball, baseball, soccer and football over almost 20 years with the Manistee Recreation Association and co-chaired the development of Manistee’s popular Lighthouse Park.
“Giving back is just part of my being. I grew up as the oldest of 10, and my parents were really big volunteers and were always involved in their community,” she said. “I feel like no matter what you do, you should be giving back to the community, whether it’s money, time or talent. If every adult in a community just picked one thing to commit to, it would solve everyone’s problems.”
Pelton spent much of her career working as a housing specialist for the state government, though she also worked as an accountant for a law firm, managed an H&R Block tax office and owned a retail store. Her claim to fame? She was the first female car saleswoman in the state in the 1980s.
“That’s what they told me at the time, and I’m sticking to it,” she said.
She began her real estate career in 2012 and has been both deeply involved with and awarded within the industry. She’s earned Century 21 top agent honors every year and has served as president and vice president of the Mason Oceana Manistee Board of Realtors. Her background makes her a natural for this business, she said.
“I have the history of my father being a real estate agent and then myself working as a state inspector and agent in housing for so many years,” she said. “So I am very knowledgeable on (building) structure.”
Though she has a soft spot for several places in our region, particularly Beulah and Frankfort, she feels Manistee is one of the best places in the state to buy and sell real estate.
“The other fun thing is I live in a historic town, so it's really cool to go into some of these homes, whether they were railroad homes or lumber baron mansions,” she said.
Last but certainly not least, she also deeply enjoys building relationships with her clients.
“My husband always gives me a hard time. He’s like, ‘Do you have to adopt every single one of your clients?’ And I'm like, ‘Yeah, I do,’” she said. “They all have to be my friends. I would not be happy if I didn't walk away knowing that all my clients were my friends.”
