My Friend, Realtor of The Year.

Thursday night Amanda, Elizabeth, and I had the privilege of attending the Central Carolina Realtor Association’s Holiday Cocktail Party. The venue was the Capital City Club, and was attended by a fine collection of industry leaders.

Little did some of us know that the annual awards would be distributed this night. That said, I want to congratulate and applaud all of our winners!

I was especially proud of my friend, 2015 Realtor Of The Year, Doug Bridges. What’s the big deal about Doug winning, you ask? I’m not sure, really. I think it’s because I’m so impressed about a man grinding and excelling at a top level for 40 years, and still able to find time to serve our association. Further, I know first hand that Doug is hungry and driven to do even better for his clients, and grow his business.

About five or so years ago Doug contacted me out of the blue asked if we could meet for lunch. “SURE!” I thought, “What could this be about?” I suggested Mr. Friendly’s and he replied, “Sounds good.” Our teams sat at a booth facing each other where we had an old fashioned brainstorming session (Now known as masterminding). I’ve probably been flattered less than 10 times in my 10 or so years as a Realtor. One of which was when Rhett Wolfe called me to have breakfast to discuss our futures, btw. I’m just sayin’, for a 40 year top-producing, well respected, veteran of the industry to ask another younger Realtor that he’s never met before to hang out was a thing for me (and obviously still is). Doug wanted to talk ideas and different ways to incorporate tech in our business models. I enjoyed the time, and what we chatted about was good stuff, but bigger picture he was giving me lessons and flattering me by wanting to hear what I had to say. He just didn’t know it.

Fast forward to tonight’s event and my friend is “Realtor Of The Year!” What does my fond memory or this post have to do with Doug winning this award? Absolutely nothing. I’m simply sharing a moment of professional respect for a friend.

Here’s the real rub of what I’m getting at; Being the top producer in a real estate market is awesome. There are two/three categories in our industry for this: Sales Volume, Sides/Units, GCI (Gross Commission Income). That’s straight up, “sales.” On the flip side, the “Realtor Of The Year” Award is voted on by industry peers. In short, this is a very distinctive honor.

Well done, Doug Bridges! I can’t think of a more deserving Realtor in our marketplace.

Your friend,

Franklin Jones

PS: Now let’s do a deal together!