Life is about the journey … not about the ending. 

My earliest memory is when I was about 3+ years old.  For some strange reason, I recall that I was eating M&Ms one fateful day when I was told that my father wasn’t coming home anymore.  I later learned he was in a head on collision on a cold rainy day while driving to work.  He survived but was busted up pretty bad.  After a year or so of hospitalization, my parents’ marriage succumbed to the resulting stresses.

When I was 16, I left high school to go work full time in the construction business.  Back when my dear mother was raising two boys on her own and working two jobs to make ends meet it seemed the right thing to do.  My high school counselor said I was making a major mistake and that I’d never be able to go to college.  He didn’t know I don’t believe in the word “never” and fortunately I was

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It seems everyone had another life prior to real estate. Few people grow up saying, “I want to be a real estate agent!” Rare is the 18 year old that gets a license and does nothing but sell real estate the rest of their life.

I had a plethora of jobs in my youth. I got a job at McDonalds the day I turned 16 and have been pretty much working ever since. One summer in college I moved pianos. That job sucked. Another summer I had a brief stint installing guard rails for the Texas Highway Department. That was about as much fun as moving pianos.

I went to college for two semester’s right after high school. First was at Texas A&M at Galveston where I quickly found out going to a college where you could see the beach outside the English 101 classroom was not conducive to proper study habits. Rather than get kicked out, I packed up and moved to Austin to attend the University of Texas. There I quickly found out being 18, away from home and living in a college town that is jammed full of coeds, in a house with 5 other guys, was not conducive to proper study habits.

I pumped gas that semester in Austin (physically pumped gas – this was back in the day of full service gas stations) which did not pay well. One evening an ad came on the radio announcing that Motorola was hiring for entry-level workers in their semiconductor manufacturing facility. The pay was outstanding—$3.50 an hour (almost a buck over minimum wage!) and it had benefits – like vacation time, tuition reimbursement and health insurance. So I dropped out of college (“They can’t teach me anything!”) and applied for a position.

Fast forward 16 years. I was still employed at Motorola and Continue reading this post

Last week we kicked off the Lives of the Realtors series. So far we have heard from two amazing individuals, Ryan Ward and Mitch Ribak.

Later this week we will be publishing the past life of Phoenix Real Estate Guy, Jay Thompson.

Jay has had an interesting background prior to becoming a successful Realtor and one of the country’s top bloggers.

We will also be launching a new series about Realtors – A Day in the Life.
In the new series we will ask Realtors to talk about their current day to day practices, business philosophies, work habits, office set up and other daily items that make up a Realtors’ life.

Stay tuned, better yet, subscribe to the HomeGain Real Estate Blog. Continue reading this post

I consider myself very fortunate. I’m happily married with a very successful real estate career that is growing rapidly in a tough market.

Prior to beginning my real estate career, I was a restaurant manager looking to find a career where I could actually pursue something that I cared about and had passion for. I was already buying, rehabbing and selling homes so it was a natural transition to move into the listing and sales side of the business. Furthermore, working on those houses helped to provide a foundation that was more beneficial to selling real estate than any class that I ever took in college.

In October of 2003, my wife, Samantha, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Three days after the diagnoses, my wife looked at me and said “let’s buy a house”. It was the spirit that “not even cancer can stop us from realizing our dream” that still inspires me today to dream, work, strive and believe that nothing can stop the human spirit that has the strength to believe in themselves in the face of what can be the worst possible set of circumstances anyone can face – their own death.

Three years later, our daughter was born – the beauty and miracle that many take for granted was to us, almost a miracle. The chances that we could have a child were slim and many thought not possible. But the cancer battle and newborn child left us in less than great shape financially and the time I had spent caring for my wife emptied my pipeline of business and I was wondering if real estate was going to be a viable option for me and my family.

That’s when I made a fundamental paradigm shift into the online world – the “new” way of real estate, so to speak. Continue reading this post

It’s been an interesting road I have had so far in my life. My goal was always to be successful and I have been. I have also lost just a little more than I have made in my lifetime. I was thinking about that today.

Then I started thinking about the past 8 years in Real Estate and how it has all come to where I am currently. I started thinking about when I decided to get my license and really had no idea what to expect. I know it seemed like one of the easiest things in the world. Yeah right!

There was no way it was more difficult than running an Internet Company, flying 25 days a month to some hotel or conference and speaking about how radio groups needed to learn how to use the Internet to grow their business.

One thing most of you don’t know about me as my first Internet business was a Dating Service. Not only did I have the dating service, I had an advice column called AskMitch.com. Oh and there was the radio show, Ask Mitch The Date Doctor, that played on 45 radio stations around the country.

So, yes, my venture into the Internet back in 1996 came from my imagination that there has to be a better way to do business.

I worked for Great Expectations Video Dating Service as their Director from 1993 to mid 1996. It was the only time since I was 23 that I hadn’t worked for myself. I spent half of 1996 trying to find a company that would build a dating software for me that I could use over the Internet.

Funny thing was that at that time they all told me it wasn’t possible to do data integration over the Internet. I didn’t believe them of course so for a half a year I searched and talked to tons of companies Continue reading this post

HomeGain Series to Provide Insight into What Makes Realtors Tick

A good part of my job is talking with Realtors. In my conversations I learn some fascinating insights as to how particular Realtors came to become Realtors.

Knowing their backgrounds gives you an understanding as to why they approach their businesses the way they do.

Later this week we will kick off the “Lives of the Realtors” series with HomeGain member, Mitch Ribak.

Mitch will talk about his life before his successful career in real estate. Did you know that in a prior life Mitch ran an online dating service?

Stay tuned for more details…. Continue reading this post