I was born and raised in Silicon Valley, CA. I can remember riding my bike down to Apples building in the late ’70s and watching the Apple guys play basketball in the parking lot. Apple was the place for a dream job. I never thought I would ever get a job there. In fact, the only thing that would have ever tempted me away from real estate back in the early 1990’s was a job at Apple. Which is what happened. After 4 years in real estate, I took a job at Apple and ended up as the Higher Education Systems Engineer for the SouthWest region. I covered the area in Florida from Tampa to Key West. Maybe I will write about those times at some point. It was a gas. But, the imagined dream of life at Apple did not quite match the reality, so I found myself wanting more. I suppose that was the first glimmer of my return to real estate.
I suppose I should also mention my family. I am blessed with an amazing wife and three little boys (set of twins and their big brother!). When it comes right down to it, they are the reason behind just about anything I do. My feeling is that in the really big picture, the only job you truly MUST NOT screw up is being a parent. If you fail in that, all the rest of it really does not matter a whole lot. It is all about them, and I would not have it any other way!
I stayed in hi-tech for a few years, but eventually returned to real estate right at the turn of the century. This time around, I decided I would get my brokers license so that eventually, I could open my own office.
I took a bit of a detour when I moved to London, England in 2005. It was simply too good an opportunity to pass up. So from 2005 to 2007, I lived in South West London. Some of you who have been there might know the area around Hampton Court Palace. We lived right near by.
Despite the distance, I managed to keep at least a small hand in the real estate business back home in California. I started my podcast, wrote on the “local” market in California, and maintained my website while still living in London. I also provided folks with a place to search the MLS via my website. When clients contacted me to see properties, I would just refer them to agents in the area they were interested in that I knew were not idiots. A valuable service when you realize how many idiots there are in real estate. I was even able to provide consulting services on real estate.
I guess you can call me a third generation real estate person. My grandfather got into the business after WWII. My father actually got into it after I did, but I think it still counts. Everything I thought I knew about the real estate business I learned from my grandfather. The biggest lesson I have since learned is that he was truly unique in how good he was at real estate while maintaining the highest standards of honesty, integrity and true interest in his clients needs. Whenever I wonder what to do in any given real estate situation, I will ask myself what Papa Jay would have done. If I even come close, I can never go wrong.
As things stand now, I am back into the world of real estate full time. I still love the technology angle and often find myself adapting one technology or another to my needs in real estate. This can range from creating custom applications for myself and my clients to working with old friends from the tech field to put together new tools to be used on the internet.
Since you are reading this, you have found the place where I choose to express myself on all the various things that interest me… not just real estate. For my solely business face, check out my site at www.soldbyrobert.com. That is where I post all my real estate related “stuff” in a form intended for the general public.
Many I have talked to say I am taking a big chance by being willing to open up and candidly discuss things in a blog like this. Fine. I can live with that. In the big spectrum of chances one can take with their lives, this has got to rank pretty darn low. But, I have never been one to be shy about what I think. I want to believe that regardless of my views on politics or religion, people will work with me because they know I mean what I say and if I tell them something, it is truly what I believe – that has got to be worth SOMETHING.
Eventually, I am going to piss people off. I actually think this is a good thing. If I piss you off, lets talk about it. I am always willing to hear a well thought out counter-point to what I have to say. Emphasis on “well thought out”.
