05/03/2024
I want to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt and sincere gratitude to the many Buyers and Sellers who have allowed me to represent them with their real estate needs over the past year and the Diamond Circle of Excellence award I recently received really belongs to "them" and not to me! After 49 years of being in this business and owning my own company, it "never gets old" for me to be able to help a young couple buy a home so they can cut their own grass, do their own improvements, and to have their home go up in value (gain equity) vs simply receiving a cancelled check from paying a Landlord. Or to help a Seller who is befuddled by the relative complexity of "all the steps now required" to sell a home, and to help navigate them through that process as easily and painlessly as possible while achieving their goals!
As I look back at my real estate career, it seems like yesterday when I just "knew" I wanted to be a banker in 1974......majoring in Business in undergraduate school, then obtaining a Masters in Business Administration degree immediately thereafter, knowing that the bank in Pittsburgh where I was offered employment had offered a "whopping" $24,000 annual salary for a new bank manager trainee with a masters degree... then suddenly becoming very sick with ulcerative colitis, which "postponed" my banking career, and through a series of events and circumstances, (which I have come to realize were fully orchestrated and facilitated by God looking out for me), quickly shut down my banking aspirations and "guided" me into a real estate career here in my hometown of Suffolk, and here I am 49 years later......totally loving what I do and having been blessed to have my own company surrounding by five other full time local agents who are also seasoned professionals and who are totally competent with every aspect of this business!!
I've always said and maintained that this business is a "relationship" business.... it's NOT just about "selling a house".....it's interacting with people to create a relationship of mutual trust and respect so that I can THEN "help facilitate" selling that person's property with total integrity, honesty, and absolute hard work! Like many other professions, this business is a "people" business......not simply "bricks and sticks".......it's the DNA part of the entire entity which makes it special for me and the real estate commission or "dollars" segment is way down the line of importance of priority. The money part will work itself out... the primary part is to work hard, go "all out" for your client, and to do so with absolute honesty, integrity, utmost professionalism, and with that client's best interest at heart! It never fails and it's so simple, but sadly too many real estate agents I've known over the past 5 decades make it "hard"... .and sadly many of those never stayed in the business long....
I have always based my real estate profession on the foundation of what I call the Lord's "Kingdom Principles", ...part of which can be found in Christ's Sermon on the Mount located in Matthew, and specifically Matthew 7:12, which is commonly known as the Golden Rule, "treating others as one would want to be treated", and it's so simple and such an applicable truism for this business and I'm guessing ANY business or profession!
I was invited to give a commencement speech to a local high school graduating class not long ago, and my focus was on the "dash".......that dash that is oftentimes found on a cemetery headstone.... where one has the year of his/her birth...followed by a dash.......then the year of death. My speech content was "what did that person do during the time of his/her "dash".... did that person somehow make this world a better place.... did that person take time to laugh, love, and play. Did that person make a positive difference and influence in the lives that were touched by their time on earth, and so on. I've said many times that every heartbeat God gives us is truly a "generous gift' and we should live accordingly. My prayer is that the almost 5 decade "work part" of my dash, has been one where I have made a difference.... where the Lord has used me to make someone's life better in some way, to bring a smile to an unhappy face, to comfort a downtrodden soul, to bring encouragement in the face of depression, and to make someone realize that no matter how bad things may appear to be in any given situation, all one has to do is "look around"... and realize that things could be much worse!
Yes, I am truly grateful to God for allowing me to be in this real estate profession for so many years, to still love it as I do, to have had the honor and privilege to represent the no doubt thousands of people who have entrusted me with their properties, and at the same time, to have given me the opportunity to "fulfill my dash" during the entire process!! Truly, I am a blessed man and eternally grateful. I am humbled by it all, and I again, thank those who have allowed me into their lives and given me the chance to help. God bless each of you!!!!
Send a message to learn more
