At a time when everyone seems to be debating the downshifting in residential real estate, some other real estate vehicles have been careening down Wall Street like a bunch of Lamborghinis in overdrive.

They’re called real estate investment trusts, or REITs (rhymes with “treats”), and they offer investors a way to get in on the property game without becoming landlords and having to answer calls to fix toilets.

These publicly traded corporations invest solely in real estate and are as diverse as the real estate world itself, with trusts specializing in apartments, offices, retail space, hotels, hospitals, self-storage, factories and even live-work lofts.

An Arizona agent’s eyes for the unique helps her land a $2.95 million deal and carve a niche within the luxury market.

In the REALTOR® Magazine Online exclusive series, Colorado broker Jeff Ordonez talks with practitioners who sold the highest-priced property in their MLS in a given month. This month, Susie DeConcini with Long Realty Co. in Tucson, Ariz., explains how she sold a $2.95 million home by showing off the property’s unique characteristics.

In October your listing sold for $2.95 million, which was the priciest listing in your MLS area. How did you get the listing?

Home sales in Southern California were down for the 11th straight month in October, slowing to the weakest sales pace in a decade, a real estate information service reported today.

A total of 22,117 new and resale homes sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month, down 2.4 percent from 22,654 in September, and down 22.4 percent from 28,489 for October a year ago, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

DataQuick reported that last month’s sales count was the lowest for any October since 1996 when 18,505 homes were sold, as sales for the month have ranged from 14,608 in 1991 to 32,522 in 2003.

1) How long have you been involved in real estate investing? What were some of your jobs before doing real estate full time?

I have been involved in real estate investing for a little over a year now.  I have been a stay at home mom for the last 10 years, and before that worked in a print shop for 10 years.

2) How did you first get started in real estate? What strategies do you use and why?