With a background in homebuilding and design, Joanna Matthies, broker associate with @properties in Downers Grove, considered earning a real estate license a natural extension of her passion for helping clients find their dream home. “With my eye for design and home construction background, I can help potential homebuyers envision their dream space and sellers stage their home to showcase the very best of its features,” she says.

Since 2001, Matthies has owned a Downers Grove-based, custom-homebuilding business, Matthies Builders Inc., with her husband, Dave. The couple builds high-end, single-family homes in Downers Grove, Hinsdale and the surrounding communities. “I bring a vast knowledge of the area and trends,” she says.

Down-to-earth, Matthies relates easily to the buyers and sellers she represents, from first-time to luxury, in the western suburbs. This past year, her second in real estate, she became a member of her previous company’s Chairman’s Club and a top-producing agent in her office. “My 20 years of custom homebuilding brings such a benefit to clients looking for homes and gives me the upper hand against other agents in the industry,” she declares. “I can give design and financial advice on potential design changes clients would want to do on a new home they are purchasing.”

The majority of Matthies’ clients are referrals, the highest compliment anyone can give her. “My work style is a very solid balance of being a smart businessperson but also being able to relate on a personal side with my clients,” she remarks. “I bring a sense of ease and balance to my transactions.”

To give back, she and Dave, parents of three boys, have hosted an annual fundraiser for the past several years for Ronald McDonald House Charities. Their youngest son was born with a rare congenital heart defect, and they appreciated staying at Ronald McDonald House in Oak Lawn through his multiple open-heart surgeries.