People choose their profession for many different reasons. What drew Serena Whyte to become a real estate professional was her love of shopping for properties and seeing the houses — even before she earned her Realtor® license.

That was in 2007. She had been an executive at Macy’s for 18 years. She became a Realtor® just in time for the Great Recession. But with the expertise of a seasoned executive, she learned real estate at a rapid rate to he...