Thank you for 2014!

   Unfortunately for all of you out there in North Central land, I expanded this column for just this one month. I PROMISE I will not do this again ... but I've got lots of thanks to shout out. First and foremost, I want to thank all of my loyal clients who allowed me to sell more than 150 homes in 2014. In 35 of those sales, I represented both the buyers and the sellers, which can sometimes be a little challenging. Because I really enjoy what I do, it makes it fun even though it takes working crazy hours to be organized and to do all that is necessary to help my clients through a sale.
   I am very appreciative of the North Central sellers who trusted me to list 167 homes this year. Thanks also to Porchlight Homes for hiring me to list and sell a new gated 15-home subdivision on 7th Avenue between Bethany Home and Maryland as well as a new 10-home subdivision just near Northern and Central avenues called Sendero Villas. I am proud to say that we closed out both subdivisions and the reaction and demand for new homes was incredible.
   For many years my North Central clients have asked me expand my business into the Biltmore, whether it be North Central friends or clients who have decided to downsize, upsize or are just looking for a change and want to stay in the same general area or have family members who want to sell their Biltmore homes. I appreciate their trust and have been willing to help them. In fact, I've sold more than 50 homes in the Biltmore ranging from a $200,000 patio home to a $5.8 million dollar sale on the Biltmore Estates golf course. Thanks to your encouragement, I am excited to be making the Biltmore part of my ‘hood beginning in 2015. Take a look at my new
website that highlights the Biltmore:www.biltmoreazagent.com. I will continue to have my North Central website at www.centralphx.com. Terry and Alan Bandler, who have lived in North Central
for many years, are my first clients to support me in my business expansion. They are buying a home that I listed in The Biltmore Hillside Villas, located on Glendale/Lincoln just west of 32nd Street. The beautiful guard-gated home was owned by Mary DeConcini. Once Ms. Bandler works her her magic, the home will look brand new.Thanks also to Lisa Walker, the Bandler's family member who also decided to move from a beautiful North Central home that I sold a few years ago. She also trusted me to find her new home in The Biltmore Hillside Villas. Look for the Bandler's trophy home located on West Frier to go on the market in the first quarter of 2015.
   I also want to thank Leslie Phillips for allowing me to sell her parents’ Biltmore home, located at 5048 N 25th Place, which I sold to them nearly 14 years ago. Finally, many thanks to the Pattersons for allowing me to sell their Biltmore home at 3039 E Stella Lane. The support from my North Central friends and clients has been overwhelming as I embark on this exciting expansion opportunity!
   I want to also thank Patty Johnson of Connections Marketing & Communications for guiding and structuring the Biltmore expansion for me. Patty and her husband, former Phoenix Mayor Paul Johnson, have been longtime friends and clients of mine. She is the best person to organize the marketing of The Biltmore.
   Thanks also to the 26 North Central and Biltmore area businesses who allowed me to place my sports magnets (D-Backs, Cardinals and Suns) in their stores. We are all so lucky to have such an eclectic and supportive mix of retail, restaurants and specialty stores. Just look around. There is lots of construction and expansion of more new businesses that plan to open in 2015. Why live anywhere else? If you would like to have the magnets in your stores, please give me a ring.
   Another thank you goes to the incredible HomeSmart agents –– not only those in our Central and Biltmore offices but each of you throughout the Valley (we have nearly 5000 HomeSmart agents here). I was reminded how amazing our entire team is about three months ago when I received a call that one of our agents almost lost his wife during a scary and tragic incident. He let me know that as his wife was getting into her parked car in their own driveway, she was shockingly yanked out of the car in a car-jacking. Unfortunately, her head hit the concrete. She was in the hospital with severe brain and head injuries for weeks and although she is now back at home, she will never be physically the same again. Hearing the story, I felt the need to try to help the family defer some medical costs but the husband said all he wanted was some good old Italian food because he had been eating McDonalds for three straight weeks. With help from HomeSmart's own Carol Perry, we brought him some of his favorite Italian food and we launched a non-profit charity called We Care HomeSmart. Through We Care HomeSmart, the funds we raise help HomeSmart agents whose immediate family members have suffered a serious medical setback and the family needs a little help. At our various HomeSmart regional meetings, we collected $13,000 in just four weeks. This is an amazing testimony to the camaraderie that our HomeSmart agents and partners share. Thank you to the many good people at HomeSmart and thank you to our chairman, Matt Widdows, for matching a significant portion of our donations. Anyone who would like to donate is also welcome to participate. Just let me know.
   I certainly cannot end this year without thanking this paper, the North Central News. I have been advertising here since it was founded 15 years ago and it has been an incredible boost for my business. The circulation is 22,000 issues mailed to North Central homes and businesses and another 4,000 copies that are distributed in area news racks. There is no better vehicle to reach all of you with important community information, whether it's about the new companies, real estate or community activities. Please do not tell the North Central News how much I appreciate them or they might increase my advertising fees!  
   Finally, I want to thank my family beginning with my two dogs –– Jakki, a 13 year old Weimeraner and Layla, a 3-year old Boxer rescue. Oh yeah ... I also want to thank my 23-year-old daughter, Juliann, a Xavier High School grad, who graduated from Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University with freakin’ HONORS and just began her master’s in sports psychology, and my 25-yearold son, Sean, a Brophy grad,who recently started with one of HomeSmart's partners who help to sponsor our meetings, Homeowner's Financial Group. Sean is currently a business and marketing partner for the company and studying to be a loan originator. I hope to be able to refer him business within the next few months. Congratulations also to Jesse Milleson, who jut graduated from the University of Memphis.
   And, finally, my former disc jockey at the Jockey Club, who never listened to her boss
(ME) for five years (sometimes even cussed at me when I asked her to play certain songs or to
turn the volume down) ... my beautiful wife of 28 years, MaryAnn. She often tells me how
lucky I am for having to put up with my family for so long ... and you know? She is right!
   I also truly appreciate my assistant, Kathy Wright, who has tolerated me for 15 years. I
owe a lot of my success to her hard work.
   Thanks to my family and thanks to all of you for making 2014 such a successful and healthy year. I cannot believe another year is just around the corner. Cheers to 2015.