13 days.

I will miss my 17th anniversary with Chicago Title Agency of Maricopa County by 13 days, because on January 1st, Cindy and I begin a new adventure in Tampa/St Petersburg Florida.

I will be working with the Fidelity National Title – Tampa District operation. My role will be similar to the one I developed nearly six years ago here in Arizona. Education, training and consulting with real estate professionals will be my primary focus as I work with the FNT sales operation. I am happy to remain in the Fidelity National Financial family, but it is tough leaving the Chicago Title group in Phoenix. I have worked with amazing people since January 2000, both at Chicago Title and in the real estate industry. I am going to attempt the impossible by thanking as many as I can in this post.

Let me start with the PhoenixRealEstateGuy team. Nick Bastian, Shar Rundio, and Dean Ouellette thank you for allowing me to use your wonderful forum to share my message.

So, in the best chronological order I can muster, heartfelt thanks to:

Dwayne Prince and Bob Fortney for taking a chance on me. I had no experience in the industry when they hired me as a Sales Executive;

Jim Sexton for welcoming me into his John Hall & Associates office when all I could offer was donuts;

Bob Fortney and Laurie Milne for doing the unimaginable by making me a Branch Manager in 2001 after one year in sales;

Ari, Barb, Staci and Monica, the Metro Center escrow team that helped me learn the business and gave me a chance to earn their trust and respect;

Judy Powell and Alan Costley for their mentorship and continuing to take my calls;

Richard Klein for walking me through title issues and always finding a way to close the deal;

Steve Stevens, the best facilities manager ever for always caring about our branch and making us feel like we were his only responsibility;

Cindy Bennett for teaming up with me when we opened the Gilbert Branch in 2002;

Theresa Alberico for deciding to return to Chicago Title after a lunch with Cindy and me at Serrano’s in Gilbert;

Cathy Desso for joining her best friend Theresa in our new Gilbert location and never failing to make me laugh;

The many Owners and/or Brokers that trusted us with their team and their clients like Tom and Diane, Sandra and Bob, Dale and Matt, Jason and Kala, Del, Kathy, Kerry, Carmen, Tom, Bart and Jay to name a few;

Lisa Capes for bringing sales professionalism to the branch;

Lisa Christenson for filling the void left by Cindy’s retirement and her undying love for the Cubs;

Anna Everts for your intense desire to grow the branch and for insisting I sign up for Facebook, even though I balked and then insisting I teach Facebook to your agents;

Nick Bastian and Calie Waterhouse for not heckling me or ripping me online at the Chandler Chamber of Commerce social media presentation;

Jay Thompson for replying to a tweet in 2009, which led to many more things, including the creation of the Real Estate Tech Tank (RETT) in the vacant office next to the Gilbert Branch;

Shane Hollenback for saying hello at WordCamp and the incredible NASCAR experience;

Nick Bastian, Dean Ouellette, Shar Rundio, Jay Thompson, Kristin LaVanway, Shane Hollenback, Phil Sexton, D. Patrick Lewis, Dru Bloomfield, Irene Hammond, John Wake and others I know I am forgetting for the warm conversations and knowledge sharing that defined RETT;

The entire REBarcamp PHX crew for all of the hard work to bring this fresh and unique event to Phoenix agents. Hope to be back for the next one;

Justin McHood for making think so far outside the box it hurt;

Patti Counce for spearheading the idea that led to the creation of the role I now hold. Her ability to build support within the Admin team was crucial and so is her friendship;

Laura Amada for seeing the value of creating the position and being the first operation in the company to do so;

Susan Rains for keeping the numbers straight and always making feel warm and welcome;

David Miller for sending me to that CCIM social media class in Chicago with Todd Clarke and for seeing the value and relationship building opportunities of social;

Eric Wolfe and Dave Tornell for introducing me to progressive commercial brokers;

Everyone that sent prayers, thoughts and love during my cancer journey;

Our IT Guys, Nick Miller, Austin Premiere and previously Rick Geiger for putting up with an Apple loving, Google using dude in an Exchange environment;

The WCR crew that valued our relationship, including Tricia, Lyn, Kathleen, Kathy, Carli, Michelle and Stacey;

Lisa Tyler and Diana Hoffman for the one event tryout in Las Vegas that turned into a two your tour with the National Escrow Admin team;

Jill Bright, Becky Erickson, Brian Peitz, Shawna Hovis-Mayer, Jenn Zandell, Aerin Jacobs and all the past Sales Executives for calling me their “tool,” a term of endearment, I think;

Dana Crone, Alan Costley, Lalena Piro, Cathy Moreno, Dawn Woods, Jeanne Murphy, Stephanie Fife, Melissa Cocanower, Dewayne Huffman, Judy Powell, Jennifer Langford, Alan Costley, Terri Blackmun, Michelle Owens, Alyssa Perry and all of the past Branch Managers doing the difficult job of escrow. Without your support, I could not succeed;

Holly Mabery, Evan Fuchs, Paula Monthofer, Gary Nelson, Beth n James Adams, Mary Roberts, Lori Doerfler and the rest of the crew outside Phoenix I now call friends for warmly welcoming me into the circle of volunteers that rock Arizona and the suite at State Convention.

Matt Consalvo for allowing me to work in close collaboration with ARMLS;

Barb Freestone for her support and the opportunities to work with the Arizona Association of REALTORS, especially when she assigned a topic I had never presented before;

Gene Urban for the deep conversations and for magically sneaking me into his office for presentations;

Janet and Tonya at SEVRAR, Rebecca at SAAR, Diane at PAR and Roger at WeMAR for all of your support;

All of the local guests on The Real Estate Sessions podcast. Jay and Holly kicked off the show 17 months ago that now approaches 80 episodes;

And a huge thank you to my wife Cindy and our son Kevin, for understanding when hours were long and stress was high. Their support was critical.

So thank you all for helping and guiding and mentoring and laughing and agonizing with me through the last, nearly 17 years. I look forward to continuing these relationships online (what a concept! Building and maintaining relationships online!) in the years to come.

Lastly, we have room for guests in our new home. We can’t wait to show our Arizona friends around our new hometown of St Petersburg. Whether you prefer gators or manatees, we look forward to your visit!