Istvan T. Sonkoly was born in Komlo, Hungary. His first memory was of his mother and father running with him down the cellar because the Russians were attacking the city (1956 October). He was just under two years of age. When he was seven, the family moved to Budapest and he grew up under the Communist rule.
He went to college and majored in Philosophy and Art, but left to marry and support a wife and two children. In 1986 he escaped with his wife and two daughters and was granted “Political Asylum” in the United States. He took a crash course in English with a tutor and learned to operate and program a CNC computer and worked in the electronics industry while studying for his real estate exam in 1991.
In 2001, Istvan learned of a problem his home land was having with the “House Mafia”. Istvan worked diligently to find a solution, attempting to bring the Title Insurance Industry to that country. He was invited to speak before a Parliamentary Sub-Committee, assembled to address the huge and growing problem.
Istvan has continued to do all that he can to bring the benefits Americans enjoy, to the people of his original country. Istvan is now married to Sharon Beck and together they form “The International Team”. (www.TheInternationalCouple.com)
They have conducted several real estate training courses in Budapest and working to establish a Multiple Listing Service for the benefit of agents and citizens in Hungary. These endeavors brought him in contact with the CEO of the largest real estate company in Hungary and was invited by that company to come in and train their agents.
Istvan and his wife trained the owners, managers and agents of the three top real estate companies in Hungary and maintained that training for a period of six years, traveling twice a year from California to Budapest. Istvan’s artistic eye made him a natural candidate to bring the art of “Staging to the real estate agents in Hungary.
He introduced “Staging” and the “Open-House” principle of marketing for the first time in that country and it is now a wide spread marketing application. Istvan has two daughters, both who live close to him. His eldest, Agi, graduated from the University of California at Davis with a major in Math. His second daughter Gyongyi (Pearl) graduated from California State University in San Diego majoring in Human Resources and Communications.
Istvan’s hobby’s are books, cooking, movies and teaching people how to buy and sell real estate. He is a “Top Producer” in the Keller Williams Realty (ten plus years) Office in Danville, California and continues to flourish in that field.
Istvan, his wife and his two daughters all reside in Concord, California in the San Francisco Bay Area.
