Tell us a little bit about your path to becoming a realtor.
I started out in architecture college prep in high school and went to the University of Denver for a Business major and a leadership minor. After school, I worked for Lowes Hotels management training program, then moved to Chicago and worked for US Chrome in outside sales for their racing division. I moved back to Columbus in 2013 to get into real estate, I worked at Lindey’s across the street from V&R while getting my license and starting my business. For the first 5 years of my Real Estate Career, I built my business while assisting Jeff and Marilyn in being their third Realtor for showings, writing contracts, etc. Learning the business from the two best in town working with them on a daily basis taking what I could from each mentor something that I could apply to my own business and building my knowledge and expertise rapidly. I got thrown directly into the fire on a daily basis.
Flashback to when you were 10 years old. What do you want to be when you grow up?
An architect. I loved building Legos without the instructions, being creative. I also liked electronics and technology, playing with the old computers as/and before the internet became a household staple with AOL.
Why did you choose to become a realtor?
I have a passion for communication, meeting people, and relating to anyone. My business is about building quality relationships and I really enjoy that piece. Real Estate is a people business as much or more than a home business. I worked in service or sales since I was 15 years old and never had a real 9-5 job. For me, being in a job where the effort you put in affects the income you get out was ideal because I knew I could outwork most and hold myself to a high standard.
What’s your favorite thing about living in Central Ohio?
I think it’s the quality of living most. Affordable, easy to get around, amazingly friendly people. Somewhere no matter that we are the 14th biggest city in the country I run into someone, or lots of people I know at every Crew Game, Cosi with my kids, a local restaurant, or at the grocery store. I moved back here to Columbus to be closer to family because after living in Denver and Chicago during the first decade of the 2000s, Columbus was growing and had a lot of things to offer now that I had gone out and searched for in those bigger cities.
What excites you the most about the Central Ohio housing market?
We are really going through a sort of adolescence or growth spurt. There are so many shifts that are happening. People moving from out of state in mass. There is a shift towards local neighborhood centers like Bridge Park, Downtown Hillard, Creekside Gahanna, Main Street Bexley, Astor Park(around the new Crew Stadium) etc, that is adding exciting amenities to each individual neighborhood, there’s always something new and cool to explore in each pocket of Columbus. The appreciation over the last 10 years has been really extraordinary and I expect that to continue and provide equity for home Buyers and opportunities for home sellers as interest rates settle post-COVID.
Describe your typical day for us.
Get my two boys off to school, often start my day with a workout or studying the recent news or equity markets, and learn something new. Then before lunch start diving into growth pieces of my business and marketing. After Lunch is client follow-up, showings, and phone calls. If I’m not in appointments late afternoon, I’m always with my boys, playing outside with them or goofing around in their toy room. Then I cook dinner for my family 4-6 nights a week, cooking is the way I express creativity on a daily basis and take a deep breath from busy days. Get the boys to bed and then 3-5 nights during the work week I am back in my home office for a few hours to dive into a little bit more work while things are quiet and I’m not getting that many phone calls or emails.
What sets Vutech | Ruff, Cuter Real Estate apart from other brokerages?
I think the collaboration in a team of experts is what is the most important piece. We are a team of experts teaching each other, helping each other be better every single day. That makes us powerful, knowledgeable, and ahead of the market and provides more opportunities for us and our clients. We have agents in almost every market around town and therefore insights everywhere. Because of this I can sell and help my clients in every market, not just one small zip code.
What special skills or talents do you have that others may not know about?
Cooking. I love to learn new things and skills across the board but that translates to cooking especially because on top of that is a level of creativity. I rarely cook with recipes and I seek opportunities to learn new skills in the kitchen, experiment, and provide for others new food or meals. Get’s 1 or 2 new recipes a week, for better or worse lol.
Tell us a little bit about your family.
I have a beautiful wife and two young boys. My kids are turning 2 and 5 in October. We live in New Albany. We enjoy playground time, playing with neighborhood friends, sports inside and outside the house, going to COSI and The Franklin Park Conservatory. My wife is from New Orleans and we often go there for holidays including Mardi Gras every year to enjoy the culture and spend time with our friends and family down there. My wife and I have been married since 2016, as a couple we enjoy traveling, outdoor walks, trying new restaurants and dishes.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
I enjoy family time, cooking, watching lots of sports(Soccer, football, F1, basketball).
What are three things you can’t live without?
My family, a sporting event to be excited about, and something new to get excited about (technology, food, something new to learn).
If we are talking about physical items: My iPhone (to explore the world and stay in contact), a pair of Jordans, and a car to get somewhere out of the house.
What do you love about your job?
I love the opportunities to work with all sorts of people and help them navigate one of the most challenging transactions of their lives, I get to make so many new clients/friends per year. My office is the city of Columbus, not just our German Village location or my home office, it changes every day and can be wherever I want. There is always something new to learn, every single day. It’s a constant new challenge that I wake up and attack every day. There is nothing boring, normal or consistent. I get to be all over the city weekly. I also enjoy owning my own business, working on the growth of a small business and everything that goes along with that, above and beyond showing houses, I have to know how to be a great marketer, investor, communicator, digital/print advertiser, deep knowledge about conditions of homes and sociological predictions.