Favorite Restaurant: Clinkerdagger

Favorite Candy Bar: Milkyway

Favorite Quote: “Let’s Roll!” (from 911 and has always meant something to me) or “Nothin’ but Net”

Favorite Charity: Salvation Army

Favorite Vacation Place: Maui

Favorite Lake: Coeur d’Alene

Favorite NFL Team: Seahawks

Favorite TV Show: NCAA Basketball Tournament

Favorite Book: Rich Dad Poor Dad

Favorite Alcoholic Drink: A Good Manhattan      

Favorite Motivational Speaker: Zig Zigler

Favorite Music: Country  

Favorite Car: Blue Lincoln

Favorite Sport: Basketball

 

How many years have you been a REALTOR®? 26

What was your total volume last year? Not too sure but Paragon says I had 77 sides

What awards have you achieved as a REALTOR®? Most recently, RE/MAX Circle of Legends

 

I grew up in Maple Valley, WA, and graduated from Tahoma High School. I had dreams of taking over my grandpa’s construction company, so I attended community college my first few years. Once I had the prerequisites completed, I was able to transfer to Washington State University to complete my degree. My time at WSU was amazing because I met the love of my life, Katie. Shortly after college we were married and in 2003 we had our first daughter, Ashley. Ashley is currently a sophomore at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, CA, studying Kinesiology on the pre-med track, and plays collegiate volleyball there. In 2008, we had our second daughter Avery. Avery will be a sophomore at Freeman High School and plays on the varsity Volleyball, Basketball, and Tennis teams, is involved in FBLA, and loves her kitties Tubby and Luke Skywhiskers. Our third child is our German Short-Haired Pointer, Trey. At night, he will eventually win over the couch after a long day of fetching balls. Like most families these days, we are busy and pack in as much as we can. We love family trips to Disneyland, Seaside Oregon, and sporting events. Real estate gave me the flexibility to coach my daughters in Soccer and Basketball. Once they were past the 3rd grade, we eventually dropped soccer and focused on Basketball. Spokane’s YMCA Youth Programs for sports, in our case Basketball, was outstanding and I loved being a volunteer coach. Once they hit the 4th grade, Spokane AAU kicked in and I coached teams until the girls were done with their 8th grade season. I cherished these times, it was a place I could turn my phone off for a 1.5-2hr practice and totally unplug, the perfect mental break and I was able spend time with my daughters, a win-win. Hoopfest was like Christmas in July for our family – another reason the Inland Northwest is such a special place! We love going to church on Sundays and sometimes I get convinced to stop at Krispy Kreme on the way home, however it doesn’t take a lot of convincing. It‘s unreal how I ended up in Spokane and that I’m even able to say I’ve been a REALTOR® for more than 25 years. God certainly had and has a plan for me with the people He has put in my life, there are no coincidences – and I’m very grateful!

Helping people, opportunities, and the ability to provide for my family so Katie could be a stay-at-home mom to our daughters. I liked the idea of opening my own real estate store without ever having to pay for the inventory. There are so many branches to real estate: property management, commercial, residential, and land development. There is never a dull moment and you learn something new every day!

Getting to know the Spokane area and finding clients. We did not have social media or even websites, and the MLS was a paper catalog back then! I flew to Charlotte, NC, to shadow a real estate coach back in the late 1990s and he taught me how to get started. I began my career knocking on doors and handing out a brochure; not my favorite thing to do.

After college and after Katie and I got married, we started out living and working in Western Washington. We looked at homes to buy and realized we would both have to work full time just to make ends meet. We visited a town called Liberty Lake often, as that’s where Katie’s close college sorority sister lived with her husband. I loved the small-town feel, not much traffic, the newness of the community, the lake, golf courses and so much more. Being young at the time and still newlyweds, we decided to leave the west side of the state and head to Liberty Lake. We both gave our notices to our employers and off we went to Liberty Lake. We rented a 1br/1ba apartment in Big Trout Lodge. Being the "dot-com boom" era, Katie quickly landed a job at Telect in Liberty Lake. She loved her time there and she was able to support us while I started a career in real estate. I didn’t know Hillyard from Manito, so I spent a few months just figuring out this town called Spokane and drove around until I felt I had a good understanding of the area. 

My college roommate’s wife grew up in Spokane and her dad was a REALTOR® and in Tom Crowley’s Better Homes and Gardens office up on the north side just off Division. I quickly learned it was a long trip from Liberty Lake to the office every day so even though I was grateful for the short time support I received from them, I started interviewing offices. I wanted to be surrounded by high volume REALTORS® so I was drawn to the RE/MAX of Spokane office and met Bill Main Jr. and the late Bill Main Sr, who help me get going with loans for software and support for anything I needed. At RE/MAX, I have met some of my best friends and mentors. These guys are true Spokane real estate Legends and if there was a Hall of Fame board at the SAR, they would be on it: Joe Kramer, Chuck Mehalechko and Mike Balogh. Joe and Chuck are mostly retired now but if you are fortunate enough to see Mike Balogh on a cross-sale you’re a lucky person and will have a smooth sailing transaction. I was first licensed in 1997 and for the first part of my career I chased repo buyers for Chuck M… Oh man, was that an experience and I learned a lot from Chuck. I’m forever in debt to him and to this day, when I talk to him, he is referred to as “Coach." 

Once the foreclosure market in Spokane was under control, I found interest in new construction. New construction was appealing to me because my grandpa was a home builder in the Seattle area, and I was surrounded by a family of general contractors. I loved being a buyer agent for new construction and did so on many occasions over the years. I finally had my first plat as a new construction listing agent in Medical Lake’s Fox Hollow and that began my career in new construction. After several years of missing Cougar Football Saturdays and many, many 7-day work weeks, we sold out and one development led to another. Since Joe Kramer’s retirement, I have been blessed to work for Steve Huettl, owner of Camden Homes and he is responsible for many of the beautiful homes you see in the Morningside, Greenacres and Liberty Lake areas today. Steve told me right away after working for him, “If you want to keep selling my homes, you need to live in one!” I took that to heart and so did he. A year later, I moved into our own Camden home. I’m currently Camden Home’s listing agent and I also service the sphere I have built over the past 20 years and more. Loyalty in this business is so important. It comes down to relationships and trust. I owe so much gratitude to my main lender partner, Ron Thomas with QHome Loans, and Closing agent, Shawn Burdette at First American Title. Both have been with me from the very beginning. Oh boy, as soon as I think we have seen it all, we soon realize we haven’t. Wendie and Lisa, our office staff at RE/MAX of Spokane are outstanding and they’re always willing to help, assist, and their attention to detail and contract processing are second to none in the industry, I can promise you that!

I like hanging out with my wife, two daughters and our Germain Short-Haired Pointer, “Trey." You may find us shooting hoops, playing beach volleyball at Brown’s Park, or at Lake CDA in the summertime. I used to love playing basketball but after several knee surgeries, I’ve taken up and really enjoy playing pickleball and golf. About every other summer, I love taking fishing trips to Alaska, and pursuing monster Halibut, and in the fall I enjoy going upland bird hunting.

I would hire a licensed assistant. I was always too cautious, thinking I did not have time to train them, and when they would get exactly the way I liked, they would leave, and I would have to start all over. It just seemed like a hassle, but I wish I would have done it. I’m kind of a busybody so technology makes it all manageable.