REALTOR of the Year...Wow and Thanks!

Wow...what a morning! I was so surprised to be named the 2008 NSAR REALTOR® of the Year. What a humbling experience...

Imagine, for a moment, reaching into your pocket and taking out a coin. Place it in the palm of your hand and look at it. Flip it over. Its two separate and equal sides both share equal value and cannot be separated one from the other without destroying the value of the coin altogether.

This past year has been a lot like that coin and the opening of a Dickens novel. It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. Never before in my twenty five years as a REALTOR® have I been so challenged. I have never been this poor...or this rich.

Having faced both the market challenge and cancer simultaneously, I've found inspiration and support in many places and people. First, in my family and in my office family. I say office family because, whether they're related to me or not, they're family. Next in friends like Alan Indeck, Art Zweil, Nancy Yorgy, Kathy DeLorenzo, Maurine Turcotte, Marilyn Jarvis, and so many more.

I've also found inspiration in places (and in people) you wouldn't expect. After the fifth game of the Eastern Conference NBA Finals, Ray Allen was asked about how he cam out of his shooting slump. His answer was simple...and prophetic. He said, "I just kept dribbling the ball, got into position to make the shots, and I never stopped believing in myself".

I did nothing extraordinary this year to deserve this honor. I did what was expected of me in the Preamble to the NAR Code of Ethics, in which each of us is asked not only to uphold the Code, but to enforce it, live by it, and ultimately give back to the industry that gave it to us some ninety-five years ago. All I did was read it and take it to heart.

Our responsibility to do good is not diminished simply because our ability to do well is challenged. It is exactly at that time that we are charged to do the most good.

Things will get better. Flip your coin one more time. It doesn't take much to "change things on a dime". Until then, we just have to keep dribbling, get into position to make the shots, the sales, and never...never stop believing in ourselves!

Thank you for this amazing and humbling honor.

Go Boston Celtics!