Board member Jolene Baker is a licensed broker and the Director of Property Management for Coldwell Banker Cascade Real Estate, CVHT board member Jolene sees the need for housing daily. For her, putting roofs over peoples’ heads is not only a career—it’s a passion and mission.
Throughout her 17 years in the business, she has helped hundreds of individuals and families find their first rental home and then move onto their first home purchase. “Whether it is a rental or purchase, there is nothing more rewarding than handing my clients their keys, knowing that I help make a difference in their future,” says Jolene.
Her real estate knowledge and deep passion to finding solutions to meeting our valley’s housing needs helps the CVHT board understand the financial position that our community members are up against.
“Our sales prices have outreached our local working families’ financial positions. If we want Chelan to continue to be this amazing place to live, work and raise a family, then as a community, we need to help that happen,” explains Jolene.
“Watching people leave the area or not be able to move here is heart-breaking,” she says. “I would like to continue to educate those more fortunate that sometimes it’s not about the financial profit an investment can make but how it positively impacts the longevity of the community.” She believes that giving back to our locals and helping build a strong foundation for the future of the Chelan area is most important.
Growing up in East Wenatchee, Jolene hadn’t spent much time in Chelan until she met her future husband. “He had spent every summer at the lake since the mid-80’s. In the summer of 2005, he introduced me to the amazing world of Chelan. I not only fell in love with man but also with Lake Chelan,” says Jolene.
In 2013, they purchased a summer cabin on the South Shore that quickly became their family’s “Happiest Place on Earth”. Four years later they decided to become full-time residents.
“After moving into our little 500 sq ft cabin (2 adults, 2 kids and our dogs!), we engrossed ourselves in the schools, sports, community events and the people of Chelan. To have the opportunity to raise our kids in a small town was more then we could have ever hoped for.”
With both children involved in sports and activities through each season, Jolene and her husband are heavily involved in the community. They also own a seasonal coffee shop at the Lookout, which employs high school and college kids each summer. “I truly enjoy teaching them life skills of employment and watching them grow into themselves.”
In addition to being on the CVHT board, Jolene has served on the board for the Women’s Resource Center in Wenatchee for over seven years. “I like to think it gives me the opportunity to be a part of the full circle of housing—homelessness, into rentals and then into their first purchase. Their success stories keep me going.”