With a background in sales and service roles, Alex Kruser has always felt at home in people-centered businesses. “I love working with people and fulfilling a need, but I hate pushing a product,” said Kruser, a broker with Fulton Grace Realty. “Real estate has allowed me to focus on selling myself, helping to fulfill the basic human need of having a roof over one’s head and helping to make an often-stressful process as seamless and comfortable as possible.”

A Chicago Association of Realtors Top Producer from 2015 through 2017, Kruser naturally connects with clients, a trait that has been most instrumental to his success. “I’ve always loved problem solving and negotiating,” he said. “Navigating through a tricky situation is an aspect that I truly enjoy.”

His triumphs in the past year included helping a single mother of two teenage boys, who had been through tough times, purchase a single-family home. “It was a liberating experience for them,” he said. “They leaned on me heavily throughout the process. By the end of it, I felt a bit like an adopted uncle.” Kruser also purchased and renovated his first multi-unit property, gaining hands-on experience that he is thrilled to share with clients.

He has a degree in music and moved to Los Angeles after college, where he joined a band and also taught music lessons. “My day job was as a valet at an extremely high-end condo building,” he said. “I parked Sofia Vergara’s car and played Jennifer Love Hewitt’s hardly used baby grand piano on my lunch breaks.” After returning to Chicago, Kruser worked in corporate recruiting, did sales for a construction company and waited tables before he found his niche in real estate.

In addition to being a member of Realtors to the Rescue, Kruser’s favorite pastimes are riding motorcycles and traveling, both in the U.S. and internationally.