The sweet (and successful) life of Afton Miller, neighborhood real estate pro

By Donna Marganella

Afton Miller

“I came to San Diego on a gamble,” says Afton Miller. That was back in 1984 and the gamble has obviously paid off.
A veritable institution in central San Diego real estate circles, Miller is now at the center of the Afton Group, a team of real estate professionals long on experience and enthusiasm. A tour of neighborhoods such as North Park, South Park, Normal Heights, Kensington, and Talmadge features a proliferation of “Afton” signs that sometimes seem to blanket these neighborhoods.
“I still get out there and go ‘door knocking.’ I’ve always done it and it’s a great way to connect with people in their neighborhoods,” Miller says. “I love seeing what improvements homeowners make, how they make a home their own. And most people are proud to show off what they’ve changed and added.”
When asked about her success, Miller is quick to credit the team behind her which she describes as “incredible.” Team Afton includes fellow agent Nancy Sleaford and assistant Merrilee Breight. Miller has also had the support and camaraderie of her assistant/office manager Pam Curtis. “Pam and I have worked together over 20 years,” Miller says, sounding proud of this successful partnership. “That’s unheard of in real estate but it’s been a recipe for success for us and I know it’s one of the reasons I’ve accomplished what I have.”
Miller moved to San Diego from Vancouver, B.C., leaving behind a career in social work. “I knew that I wanted to be self-employed and that I was going to work in real estate,” she says. “I made an assumption, mostly based on gut instinct, that San Diego would be a good place to get into real estate. Given its proximity to the coast, I assumed San Diego could be a lucrative market.”
The other attraction for Miller was San Diego’s proximity to Mexico. “For a long time I’ve had an affinity for Mexico and all things related to it,” she says. Soon after her arrival, Miller enrolled in Spanish classes. While she admits her Spanish is still limited in spite of her studies, Miller did benefit from her language classes. She married her Spanish teacher, Gilbert Uriarte, who is originally from Mexico. “I was his worst student,” Miller laughs. “And I would hesitate to call myself fluent but both of my children are.”
Over the years, Miller and her husband made many trips to Mexico, where she says “we’ve traveled extensively” throughout the country. When children came along, daughters Page and Aruzhan, travel was still a priority. “We just took them with us,” Miller says, displaying her unflappable nature. Her love of travel continues unabated and when asked what she would do if she weren’t in real estate, Miller is quick to answer. “I’d probably be a traveling vagabond,” she says. She still enjoys trips with her husband and family typically 10-day excursions. She cites a three-week trip to Peru as one of her longest vacations and a highlight of her traveling career.
Miller does admit to a bit of culture shock after moving to San Diego noting the difference between a culturally-diverse Vancouver with laid back, 1980s Southern California. “The city was not very sophisticated back then, not a lot of nightlife and certainly not a downtown like there is today.”
“Vancouver at the time was a much more international city with all kinds of ethnic neighborhoods — everything from Asian to Pakistani,” she continues. Thankfully, she says San Diego has changed and is much less conservative and more diverse, “especially in the older neighborhoods that I love.”
After so many years in the business, Miller has been through the up, down, and all around of our volatile markets. But she notes that successful Realtors learn to take it in stride by sticking to the basics: working hard and working smart. “And you’ve really got to put in the time and be persistent. But you also have to be brutally honest,” she says. “No matter what the situation is, if you want to help people, you have to be honest.”
“Real estate is a funny occupation, really different from anything else,” she continues. “Education is not an indicator for success. You can be educated or not, and do well or not.” It all comes down to people skills, which Miller sees as more important in determining a Realtor’s potential for success. “You have to ask a lot of questions and you really have to know how to listen,” she says. “You have to be good with clients and with other agents as well.”
Plus, the transaction has to make good business sense. “I ask a lot of questions and when something in the equation doesn’t add up, I ask some more. It’s a good way to get to the truth of the situation without being off-putting, so I ask and ask until it does make sense.”

When it comes to short sales, which many agents avoid like the plague, Miller is circumspect. “I have done and will continue to do short sales,” she says. “It may not be my first choice but in many of the older neighborhoods that’s the reality of the situation and if someone needs help selling their home I feel obligated to help them.” This is a key attraction to the profession Miller still enjoys. “I genuinely like people and enjoy helping them but I’m happy to admit I like the money too,” she says laughing.
Miller’s commitment to helping people in her core neighborhoods includes funneling some of that money back onto the community. A long-time sponsor of the Bird Park summer concert series, Miller is the tall, sunny woman handing out Krispy Kreme donuts at every event. “I try to do what I can and spread my donations around,” she says. “And I usually end up writing small checks to lots of people to help in a variety of ways.”
It all adds up to a sweet life, which seems apt in light of Miller’s given name. Named for her maternal aunt, Afton is also a river in Scotland, made famous by the Robert Burns’ poem, “Sweet Afton,” which says, “Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream.”
Sweet dreams and a sweet San Diego life, indeed.