I knew when I was a kid that real estate was the career for me.  I focused my undergraduate education around real estate getting a bachelor's degree in Business Administration and an Associate's degree in Real Estate.  Back in the day real estate wasn't considered academic enough to warrant its only bachelor's program.

 Immediately following college I began my career as a real estate researcher, did loan sales by phone and then landed a job as a real estate appraiser at Home Savings.  Back in the mid-1980's Home Savings had the best appraisal training program in the country.  I worked my way through training and up through the ranks to the chief appraiser of the Riverside office.  However, as an appraiser I worked all areas from the border of Mexico through all of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Francisco Bay Area counties.  The most important things I learned as an appraiser were how to read a neighborhood, how to determine value, and how to look at the big picture of the real estate market and recognize trends that would or could affect value.  Being an overachiever I often volunteered for the difficult properties, difficult areas, and special projects.  By the time I was finished as an appraiser I was fearless in the face of value determination on any kind of residential property.

Back in the 80's and into the early 90's appraisal offices were often located within the lending office of the larger banks.  As a result I had daily contact with loan agents and underwriters giving me a unique sensibility as to how a lender will determine the risk of a particular property or a particular buyer and how to proceed in the best interests of all involved.  My appraisal career spanned a manic up market and the bowels of the down market of the early 90's giving me a comprehensive understanding of market behavior in both normal market extremes and in between.

 I spent a couple of years dabbling in property management which taught me the importance of systems in determining the viability of future tenants.  My appraisal background served me well in the determination of market rents and I was introduced to the complexities of rent control.

Various creative pursuits followed including extensive travel, language and culture study, a period as a writer among other things before I came back to my first love - real estate - on the sales side in 2001.

 I LOVE HELPING PEOPLE whether its investors looking for a great deal to work into a portfolio and/or turn a profit or a first time buyer looking to break into the market and buy their first home.  I try to provide the best possible service and point my clients in the direction of the best possible information sources to adequately educate them to make the best possible decisions.