In 2013, Lee Odems was appointed to the Virginia Real Estate Board (VREB) and joined its Education Committee. This was a perfect fit for his passion to improve training and education in the real estate industry. His experience at the state level reinforced what he had already seen locally, that many Realtors pursued education only to meet minimum state requirements. Lee believed that deeper, higher-quality education was essential to Realtor success and to delivering the level of service clients deserve.
In 2014, Lee and his wife, Michele, founded Granite Street Training LLC to change that mindset. Their mission was to inspire Realtors to view education as a vital, ongoing part of their careers, not just a last-minute checkbox before license renewal. The name “Granite Street” honors Michele’s roots in Manchester, New Hampshire.
As the couple focused on running their property management company, they recognized that Granite Street Training needed a partner to realize its full potential. In mid 2019, Michele was in a class taught by Mark. After some discussion, Michele and Lee decided to ask Mark to be a part of their venture. They found the perfect partner in Mark Worrilow. Lee and Michele had known Mark for a while and decided he would be a good addition; Mark readily agreed.
Mark is a talented instructor with a big vision and a shared commitment to raising the bar in real estate education. Mark took the lead in course development and implementation, setting Granite Street on the path to greater impact.
Not long after their discussions and Mark’s entry into the company, Lee was diagnosed with cancer. Unfortunately, a cure was not in the cards. In 2020, a few days before Lee’s passing Mark was over for a visit and Michele and Lee shocked Mark by giving him Granite Street Training. They entrusted Mark with the company’s future, asking him to continue growing Granite Street Training and shaping the careers of as many Realtors as possible. Mark was both honored and humbled. Only after securing for himself that turning over the company was truly what Michele and Lee wanted did he accept.
Since that time, Mark has worked to make Granite Street Training a premier instructional partner with local and national associations, along with independent offerings to the general REALTOR® community. Mark and Granite Street Training are carrying on the vision that Lee and Michele envisioned when they started the Virginia Real Estate Board approved real estate school in 2014.
Granite Street Training offers a robust variety of professional training for Virginia continuing education and post licensure education as well as pre-licensing classes for the salesperson and brokers licenses. Additionally, numerous National Association of REALTORS (NAR) designation, certification and various other courses are offered. All these are taught by an elite and experienced group of real estate professionals from all real estate related disciplines. All classes are taught in person, via Zoom or in hybrid settings and although may not receive educational credit outside of Virginia, are still of value in furthering a real estate professionals education.
Mark and the other instructors look forward to having you attend informative, practical and engaging classes with Granite Street Training.