Beyond My Bio: Getting to Know Amber

You've probably seen my professional bio — the credentials, the awards, the DRE number. That's the resume version. This is the fuller story.

A Sacramento Kid, Even Though I Wasn't Born Here

I was born in Los Angeles, but I moved to Sacramento when I was five years old, making this region where I actually grew up — even if "grew up" meant something different for me than it did for a lot of my friends.

Growing up, I attended a new school almost every year or two, which meant starting over again and again — making a new set of friends each time, long before cell phones, the internet, or social media existed to help anyone stay in touch. I finally got to stay put from junior high through high school at Foothill — go Mustangs! — and for most of those years, home was an apartment, which honestly wasn't so bad; there was usually a pool and no shortage of kids to play with. My mom didn't buy her own house until I was 18, right around the time I graduated and moved out on my own.

All that moving shaped who I am. It's a big part of why I can connect with so many different kinds of people — I learned early how to walk into a new place and figure it out fast. It's also where my "why" for real estate comes from: helping people secure stable housing, the kind of home base I didn't have much of growing up.

That combination — deep roots in Sacramento paired with firsthand experience of what it's like to pack up and start over somewhere new — turned out to be surprisingly good training for the work I do now. I know this region inside and out, and I also know, personally, what it feels like to be the new person figuring everything out again — back when you had to do it without the internet or GPS to help.

Before Real Estate: It Wasn’t a Clear Path to get Here 

Before I became a Realtor®, I worked in a lot of different fields. Shortly after high school, I went to school to become a paralegal and worked in a law office where I quickly realized that wasn't for me. From there, I also worked for the City of Citrus Heights Police Department, the California National Guard, was a personal trainer (it’s actually how I met my hatband who encouraged me to get my real estate license) and spent time with an HOA property management company.

Every one of those jobs gave me skills I still tap into in real estate. But it was the HOA management work that gave me a front-row seat to the side of homeownership most buyers never think about until they're already living it — community rules, shared responsibilities, maintenance issues, budgets, boards, and the everyday realities of owning a home inside a community. That experience is exactly what helps me advise clients today on whether an HOA is the right fit for them, not just whether they can afford the dues.

Take one of my clients for example, a plumber who wanted to look at new construction homes. I asked him whether he planned to keep a company vehicle at home. He said yes — a fully equipped, wrapped work van. Under most HOA guidelines, that qualifies as a commercial vehicle, which often means it has to be parked inside the garage if the community has parking restrictions — restrictions that can eliminate certain neighborhoods entirely depending on garage size. He had no idea, and it's not something most buyers would ever think to ask or read the fine print for before making an offer. Without knowing to check, he could have bought a home in a community where his own work van wasn't allowed to park in his driveway.

It's part of why, when I talk with clients about a property, I'm not just thinking about the house itself — I'm thinking about how the house and the neighborhood fit their life and lifestyle, and whether a home really meets their needs.

Over a Decade of Doing This Work

I've now been a licensed Realtor® for more than ten years, and with Nick Sadek Sotheby's International Realty since 2019. I won't lie — there have been times I've questioned why I stay in a business this saturated and this challenging, especially being 100% commission-based. But then I get to work with someone who's selling because life threw them an unfair hurdle, a death, a growing family, relocating for a dream job — and it all comes back to my "why." I love helping people, and I love being the one who helps them make a smart decision when it comes to buying a home.

I've built a life around this community beyond real estate, but it was real estate that led me there. This career is what led me to founding my own networking group, joining Women Empowering Sacramento, becoming a member of the Sacramento Rainbow Chamber of Commerce and Pride Connect — a Sotheby's International Realty affinity group — and serving on the Board for the Real Estate Alliance. All of these groups have helped me build friendships, gain business partners, and put together a reliable network of professionals I can refer my clients to including, a Realtor almost anywhere else in the world. 

Why This Matters to You

At the end of the day, buying or selling a home is personal — often one of the biggest decisions of your life. I bring my background, my roots here, and my experience to every client relationship, because I believe you deserve someone who actually understands what it means to live here and takes the time to understand you.

On a Personal Note 

In 2013, I met my now-husband, Doug. We'd each been through a divorce, and we'd each lost our homes and had to start over — so in a lot of ways, we understood each other from the very beginning. About six months in, I moved in with him, and from there, our life together started to take shape one milestone at a time: our first dog together in 2015, our first home together in 2016, two cats in 2017, and getting married in 2018. We added another dog to the family in 2020 after losing the dog I had when we met, and after nine years in that first home together, we sold it in 2025 and bought a brand-new house in a 55+ community where we live today.

Starting over isn't just a professional talking point for me — Doug and I have lived it. It's part of why I understand, on a personal level, what it means to rebuild and why home matters so much.

If you'd like to talk — about a move, a sale, life in the city I call home, or just to say hello — I'd love to hear from you.

Amber Fortier | Real Estate Advisor | Nick Sadek Sotheby's International Realty | DRE #01990796