Pacific Oak located in historic John Page House

Published in the January 6 – 19, 2016 issue of Morgan Hill Life

By Robert Airoldi

Photo by Marty Cheek Susan Fixsen on the porch of her new Pacific Oak Real Estate Services office in downtown Morgan Hill. The historical home was built in 1908.

Photo by Marty Cheek
Susan Fixsen on the porch of her new Pacific Oak Real Estate Services office in downtown Morgan Hill. The historical home was built in 1908.

Susan Fixsen has long been an overachiever. And the Pacific Oak Real Estate Services broker and owner has plans for her expanded new downtown Morgan Hill office to do the same.

“Our aim is to be at the forefront of property marketing and to provide tailored innovative solutions that fit our client’s individual situation to ensure the best possible outcome,” said the 52-year-old businesswoman. “We believe in building relationships for life.”

Fixsen graduated form Eastern Washington University with a pre-med degree, a degree in biology, physical education and teaching certificate, and an athletic training certification. She earned her administration degree in education and has a masters in kinesiology from San Jose State University.

Her desire to become a physical therapist took a detour when she was waiting to get into the program at EWU. While waiting for admission, the avid golfer – she played golf and basketball in college – got a job offer as a physical education and science teacher in Sunnyvale and decided to take the job in the mid-’80s. That was the beginning of her education career that lasted 23 years, a decade as a school principal.

Being a single mom, she said, her three kids needed to come first rather than a 70-hour week as a principal. She got her real estate license and helped sell seven of her friends their homes.

Now, entrenched in the real estate business for the past decade, Fixsen has expanded her office in Hollister and opened Aug. 1 in Morgan Hill.

“We were in San Benito County and we had a vision of growing into the Morgan Hill area,” she said. “One reason we expanded here is that our agents are from Morgan Hill and San Jose.”

Pacific Oak Real Estate is a multi-purpose agency specializing in residential and ranch properties including vacant land, row crops, agriculture and multi-acre horse ranches, Fixsen said.

Fixsen had been planning to expand for about two years, but couldn’t find a suitable location downtown that allowed a sign out front. One day she was having lunch at Bubble’s Wine Bar with a banker and saw this two-story house across the street.
“I asked, ‘Is that a blue house and does it say it’s for rent?”

Shortly after, she met the owner of the historic John Page House and they struck a deal. The historic home was built in 1898 and was used as a boarding house for ranch and construction workers. It took some time to refurbish the floors and paint the walls, but she moved her business into the second floor during the summer.

She served as the principal at San Martin/Gwinn Elementary School from 2002 to 2004. Her sister has taught in the district for 13 years and works at Britton Middle School. Fixsen said she’s always been an active participant in Morgan Hill.

“Our family has been a part of this community for years and it was easy to expand here,” she said. “All my agents are members of the Chamber of Commerce and we will be joining the Morgan Hill Rotary Club.”

They are also involved in events such as the Safe Trick or Treat and the Christmas Parade to name just a few family-friendly community events.

PACIFIC OAK REAL ESTATE SERVICES

Location: 17100 Monterey Road, Suite 2A
Contact: (408) 505-5085, email [email protected] or visit www.pacificoakrealestate.com