The foundation of a farm life shaped Nick Flerlage more than almost anything else in his life. He grew up on a tobacco farm in rural Southern Maryland, the youngest of five children. His Dad was a retired Army Sergeant who enjoyed the farm life, and his Mom was a homemaker who managed the household and their mini Dachshunds. Although their primary crop was tobacco, they also grew corn, soybeans, hay, and a huge garden. Nick spent many hours on their Massey Ferguson tractors, and recalls planting, topping, cutting, spearing and hanging tobacco to cure. A lot of the structure in his life came from those summer days on the farm with his father. And much like his career today, there was always work to be done.
When Nick was a teenager, he learned his first lesson in overcoming adversity when he suffered a motorcycle accident, and spent two months in traction and another two months in a body cast. He had to learn to walk all over again. Not long after, he left home at the age of 17 to conquer the world, and has been paving his own entrepreneurial path ever since. He graduated from the University of Maryland with a Business Management degree and an MBA at their R.H. Smith School of Business. After college, he began working as a biologist at the National Institute of Health. While working there, he co-authored articles in various different biological journals.
His foray into real estate actually began for the right reasons, but at the wrong time, meaning just before the most recent housing bubble. As everyone else seemed to be getting out of the industry, his entrepreneurial spirit and zest for a dynamic profession led him into it. And even though it was during a down time, he followed the Warren Buffet strategy of swimming against the tide and hasn’t looked back since.
Today, Nick and Beth, his wife of over 30 years, work side by side and specialize in helping active professionals or retirees to locate or market local homes to suit their changing needs. They are recognized for their superior knowledge of the Venice lifestyle and its active communities. It’s actually how they earned the title of ‘Lifestyle Locators’. They are consistently in the top 3% of all agents, have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, and voted ‘Best of Venice’ 12 times. The achievement they are most proud of, however, is the Spirit award, given to those who have greatly contributed to their community.
