MASON CITY – The exodus from American Realty in Mason City continues, after a long-time realtor and wife of a city councilman quit her job there to move on to greener pastures.
Abigail Lee announced this week that she is gone from American Realty, which is owned by city councilwoman Jean Marinos and her husband, Jim. Lee is the wife of councilman John Lee. She has been a realtor since 2007, when she started out with American Realty.
Now, Lee has had enough of American Realty, and sources say the two sides may not have parted ways amicably. Lee was promptly deleted from the American Realty website after quitting, and NIT is told there was a disagreement over commissions or payments totaling thousands of dollars owed to Lee in a real estate deal – and Mrs. Lee was irate. Records show Mrs. Lee reserved a domain name for her business website in April – so her plot to get away from Jean Marinos has been in motion for weeks, at least.
In announcing her new business – Lee Realty – Abigail Lee went all out on social media Wednesday.
“Big news to announce… I’m driven, excited, motivated, and ready to work harder than I ever have before!!” Abigail Lee exclaimed Wednesday via social media. She is feverishly building her business, and chances are, it won’t be good news for American Realty once she snaps up their potential customers. (She can be reached at 641-512-2208 if you are looking to buy or sell a house.)
So, not only did Mrs. Lee quit, she has become a big-time competitor of her former bosses. Realtors have left American Realty in recent years – and they don’t appear to be getting replaced. There used to be a dozen or more realtors working in that office. However, a number of them quit on Jean Marinos and formed Exit Realty, which appears to be going strong. Now, American Realty’s website shows only 5 realtors working there, and two of them are the owners.
Now that Abigail Lee has spurned Jean Marinos, some are wondering, will this rift cause trouble for the Mason City council? Will John Lee and Jean Marinos be able to get along, or will personal business – anger, perhaps? – get in the way? We’ve seen a divided council before. It’s entertaining, to say the least. Could this scenario rapidly descend upon city hall, causing even more chaos there?
For Abigail Lee, one local business owner issued a warning.
“If I’m Abigail Lee, I’m watching my back and keeping an ear to the ground, listening real close,” said NIT Publisher Matt Marquardt.
“I used to do business with Jean Marinos. She decided once she got back into politics, that she didn’t like me, she didn’t like NIT, just because I gave other council members a voice. She rudely and abruptly ceased doing business with me, all because I (very politely) asked her some questions about her election. Pretty soon, I found out (before and after) she was elected to the city council, she was going around talking to my advertisers. She had the mayor with her, and they went to see my biggest advertiser, told him to shut his ad down. It was a dirty trick – illegal, really – and very, very sleazy. I just hope Mrs. Lee is ready for the possible fallout from crossing Jean Marinos.”
