Information that you may or may not want to know about me...
I'm a Madison County native. Matter of fact, Madison County public records state that my grandfather's great grandfather (Valentine Hill) and great grandmother (Betsy Fisk) were married in Madison County on January 29, 1823. That means I'm of the sixth generation! When you hear someone say "As Old As The Hills" around here, they maybe referring to me and my family. As with most baby-boomer-rural-North Alabama natives, my youth was centered around school, church and farming.
My family is important to me. This year marks a 39 year milestone in our marriage. Cindy and I have two sons, the world's best daughter-in-law, a grandson and a granddaughter. You'll be hard pressed to catch either when they are not smiling.
Growing up on a farm, I'm no stranger to chopping and picking cotton or raising livestock. Like most others my age in our rural community, life consisted of farming, school and church. Our social life was either school or church activites, with the latter always taking priority. School provided sports. However, my Dad's philosopy was "If we have time for sports, we have time to work a bigger crop." Dad took the role as his children's character builder very seriously. I consider myself most blessed to be his son. I cherish his memory so dearly. Our Church Music Director became my music mentor and instilled in me an everlasting love for Southern Gospel Music. We had a youth choir that journeyed throughout the Tennessee Valley singing at various churches. In my early adult years, I was fortunate to sing in a quartet with my Southern Gospel mentor. Never did I dream that joining that youth choir would have such a lasting impact on me that continues, even today. After high school, I got a job in a bank and attended school in the evenings. My first job title was "Supply Clerk and Miscellaneous Bookkeeper." In those days, there was not a single computer in the bank. Working my time in various positions and learning the various avenues of banking, I ended up handling commercial, construction and real estate loans. My banking claim to fame is that, at the time, I was the youngest elected bank officer in Huntsville.
During these banking days, cable TV came to Huntsville. I was approached to host a live Southern Gospel Music TV Show that aired two nights a week. The part-time TV job lasted about 2 years. This evolved into my meeting my best friend that became my wife. Cindy is a Tennessee PK (preacher's kid). Her family name is synonymous with Southern Gospel Music. Her Dad pastored a country church and custom built homes. My Dad died 7 weeks before Cindy and I married. The night before the funeral, her dad made me a promise. He could not replace my Dad, but he promised to be the very next best to me. He never broke that promise.
After 7 years of banking and two sons later, I made a career change to tire manufacturing. The pay was better and it freed up time to spend with the family...for a while. The extra time allowed me to get involved in community activites as PTA President, Optimist Club, Youth Sports, etc. Then business ventures came along. We opened a video store and pizza restaurant. Cindy was the manager. I worked night shift at the tire plant and helped her during business hours. I guess, just to make sure that we had no spare time, we invested in a motocross track that consumed two weekends of each summer month, too.
After 10 years in small business, we decided to sell..so we could slow down. But then, I decided to run for an elected full time Union Job at the tire plant. I ended up being elected 3 terms to the position. I was the Employee Involvement Facilitator. That is a fancy name for teaming employees together to find ways to make the plant run more smoothly and turn out a better product. I was given freedom by the Union President and the Company CEO to design and implement a system that I named PRIDE (People Representing Involvement, Dedication and Education). I picked 11 elite people (coaches) from the plant floor to work with me on a part-time basis to organize and coach rotating teams within the 1,600 employees. Besides making major improvements, we documented and flow charted each process performed by every production employee of the whole Huntsville organization. This also afforded various team members, my coaches and me the opportunity to host tours of our facility and make presentations to leaders of the major automobile manufacturers. In turn, we traveled to the various auto plants around the U.S.
Shortly before retiring after 27 years in the tire industry, I obtained my Alabama Real Estate License. I went to work on a team that consistently remains the top producer in the RE/MAX Dixie Region. For several months, I was the top producer on the team. For a short while, I left RE/MAX and went to work for a local real estate firm and gained knowledge in on-site sales. I returned to RE/MAX and represented a local builder in on-site sales and honed marketing skills.
I obtained my Alabama Real Estate Broker License and Tennessee Real Estate Affiliate Broker License. I graduated from the REALTOR® Institute of Alabama (GRI). And along the way, I satisfied educational and experience requirements to be named as an Accredited Buyer's Representative (ABR) and a Seniors Real Estate Specialist (SRES). I believe that my clients are worthy of my continually furthering my education.
Our daughter-in-law, Heather decided to follow her favorite father-in-law into the business. About the same time, a new company to the area, Crye-Leike Realtors, decided to establish in our market. After an interview with the Vice President of the company, Heather and I decided to join the Crye-Leike Family. We were the 5th and 6th agents to join the company. We were not only the first agents to sell a Crye-Leike listing in the area, we represented the buyer, too. Unfortunately, the Crye-Leike venture turned us down a bitter-sweet trail.
Heather is not afraid to take on any new challenge. She has grown in real estate knowledge tremendously faster than I did. I am so blessed to have her beside me in business. Together, we service six Alabama counties and two Tennessee counties.
At the end of our first calendar year with Crye-Leike, I was the top producer in sales volume and income. The second week of the new year brought the announcement that a second area office and a New Homes division would be opened during the first half of the year. I was named as Sales Manager of the Madison Office. My duties included overseeing day-to-day resources for other agents in the Huntsville-Madison Market.
In April of 2009 I was appointed Managing Broker of the Madison Office. The company acquired another firm and the Madison Office was moved to their location. Within 9 months, we tripled the number of agents in the Madison Office.
In February, 2010 we decided that the best fit for our
personal and business standards was to return to RE/MAX. We soon learned that there was something new in the makings with the owners of the franchise. Studies of real estate business models across the nation were on going. Changing times required a re-thinking of the real estate business. It was time to "build a better mouse trap." At the right time (August, 2010), our company gave up the Re/Max name and formed a new company named "SUMMIT REALTORS." The new company offers more hands on care for our clients, staff and agents!
We continue to enjoy meeting and serving new Purchasers and Sellers. It's exciting to work with people re-locating to our wonderful world. Most can't believe how far their dollars will go in real estate here. It's a joy to list properties and apply the science of marketing and watch them sell. And it's a "heart smile" to help the first time homebuyers.
God has blessed me with a wonderful yesterday, a joyous today and even a brighter tomorrow. |
