Name to A Face: Gina Ossello "Getting It Sold"

Gina Ossello was born and raised in Butte, Montana, where she attended elementary through high school.

As a young girl, she always enjoyed horses, both for enjoyment as well as for competition. During her school years, she competed in both the English and Western riding styles. Basketball and track also became very important in her early years.

When she graduated from high school, Gina enrolled at Colorado State College with the intent to get her major in Animal Science. Her love for horses continued and she quickly decided she wanted to breed horses. However, she began to realize that there might not be enough money in it to make it a lasting career.

She trained under a woman in the British Horse Society. While she learned to show horses, she began to think about venturing to the East Coast. After experiencing what the East had to offer, she found her way to Cripple Creek, Colorado, where she worked in her brother's casinos, while still riding. She met her husband, Shawn Hoagland, on a blind date in Colorado, though he lived in Bozeman.

When she turned twenty-seven she decided Montana was calling her hom. She and Shawn found a home in Whitehall in 1997; Whitehall being familiar to Gina as her family already had property here. She loved Whitehall and thought it was the perfect place to settle down and raise kids.

She began working as a mortgage broker, where she was able to meet several real-estate agents who she learned her future career from. Gina liked the idea of working for herself and having the commissions, so she switched her profession. She has continued as a real estate agent for the past twenty years. She started with real-estate, mostly in Butte, but has since expanded to primarily Jefferson Valley and the surrounding areas. She usually says her range is about seventy miles from Whitehall. She loves the work as she has been able to find friends in some of her clients and other realtors she works with, such as Dawn Lewton and her assistant Shelly.

Her job has been filled with adventure as the market goes up and down, especially this past year as the market went insane. She has been shocked just how many people are shopping about for homes with acreage. Gina says that the volume of sales she has seen this past year surpasses even the 2006 Boom.

She has been kept busy with real estate and her position on the school board, but she always finds time for her three children. She loves the beauty of the valley and says that it is the prettiest valley in Montana. She has found many good friends here in Whitehall.

The only thing she would like to see improved is the town's aesthetic, especially on Main Street. Gina would also love to see more kid-friendly activities although the chamber does a good job with its efforts.