San Francisco's Grace Perego, a REALTOR® success story
AUGUST 2008 - In 1927 real estate was a profession dominated by men. One woman who dared to succeed was REALTOR® Grace Perego from San Francisco.
At NAREB's Twentieth Annual Convention in 1927 she had the distinction of addressing the delegates in Seattle. Perego stressed that women were not limited to success in residential real estate. "It is true that many women make their start in the real estate business selling homes because they seem naturally adapted to this line," she said, but added "the only continue in this field until they 'find' themselves and develop a broader knowledge of real estate, then they invade any branch they choose."
Perego began her career in 1913 building flats and apartments. During World War I she traded a building for a ranch, expanding into rural real estate.
In 1945 she subdivided land in the center of San Francisco that would be called Perego Heights. In the 1940s she broadcast a weekly radio show on home maintenance and interior decorating, and covered the same subjects in a column for the San Francisco Chronicle. She taught Apartment House Management in the University of California Extension Division and authored a book, "Apartment House Ownership and Management."
Twenty years after the Seattle Meeting Perego spoke to the Women's Council at NAREB's 1947 Convention in San Francisco. Her career would span six decades and over fifty years.
