Golden Real Estate Was Honored Last Week for Its Business Success

Last Thursday (April 6, 2017) at the Denver Metro Association of Realtors’ 39th annual Excellence Awards, Golden Real Estate was honored for having the third largest number of closings among brokerages with 6 to 10 agents.

Golden Real Estate’s nine agents completed 133 transactions totaling $48 million in volume during 2016. This represented a one-third increase in volume over the previous year. We were the only Jefferson County real estate brokerage honored in this category. If the award had been limited to Jefferson County, we would have been #1.

The #1 brokerage in our category was ONE Realty, LLC, a downtown Denver firm specializing in Denver neighborhoods.

 

The #1 brokerage in terms of closings among those with 1 to 5 agents was Megastar Realty, an east Denver brokerage.  For brokerages with 11 to 30 agents, the leader was LIV Sotheby’s International Realty Downtown. For brokerages with 31 to 50 agents, it was Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Innovative Real Estate Group Northglenn. Among brokerages with 51 to 75 agents, It was RE/MAX Southeast, Inc.  For brokerages with 75 to 100 agents, it was Kentwood Real Estate DTC. For brokerages with 101 to 200 agents, it  was Porchlight Real Estate Group in downtown Denver. And for brokerages with over 200 agents, it was Keller Williams Realty Downtown, LLC.

 

Other awards worth mentioning include the Community Service Awards, both individual and brokerage. The individual award went to Karen Levine and Karen Nichols of RE/MAX Alliance for their commitment and fundraising benefiting the fight against breast cancer. The company award went to RE/MAX Alliance, which I used to work with, for its commitment to the Children’s Miracle Network, raising more the $1 million over two decades. It was a well-earned honor, which I’m happy to publicize here.

Published April 13, 2017, in the Denver Post's YourHub section and in four Jefferson County weekly newspapers.

Thanksgiving Is a Gift We Give Ourselves, Reminding Us How Blessed We Are

[Published on Thanksgiving Day, 2011, in the Denver Post]

With all the news from around the world, we hardly need a reminder that we have much for which we can be thankful.  Thanksgiving is our opportunity to remember that. I don’t know of any other country besides Canada which has a day set aside solely to contemplate one’s blessings.

When I give the opening prayer at my weekly Rotary meeting, I like to say that “We are blessed, and we are a blessing.” In other words, it is because we are so blessed that we are able to bless others with our gifts of time, love, financial assistance and service.  It is out of our gratitude for how blessed we are that we are driven to do good in the world — and Rotarians do a world of good!

What are you thankful for? It’s a metaphysical law that we draw to us more of what we think about, so let’s think positives, not negatives!

I’ll start with my family, especially my now-deceased father, Abbott Smith, who taught me values I still hold dear. He was never a Rotarian, but those values he taught me are entirely congruent with the values of Rotary.

My family moved from Maine to Colorado when I was in kindergarten, and for that I couldn’t be more grateful! Somehow I was lucky enough to be enrolled in St. Anne’s Episcopal School, where I was taught first and second grade by then-Sister Irene, the school’s now deceased founder. What a blessing that was!

Space doesn’t allow me to recount my other personal blessings, so I’ll limit myself here to listing some professional blessings. It starts with being introduced to real estate as a career by the fine people at Coldwell Banker, including Kathy MacLeod and Rich Sands. I still recommend that agents begin their career at CB, even though I moved on to RE/MAX Alliance and then launched Golden Real Estate.

Being rather outspoken, I know that I have irritated some of my colleagues in the business, especially in my early years, and for that I apologize. Nonetheless, I am grateful for what I have learned from many of them and from people in related industries such as lending, inspection, appraisal and repair. I am so much smarter than I was 10 years ago, thanks to them.

And, of course, I am thankful for the several hundred clients who have honored me with their business.  Without the experience I gained from serving them, I wouldn’t be nearly as knowledgeable.

My wife, Rita, has been my love and inspiration since we met in 2003, and I wouldn’t be the success I am today without her presence in my life. I wish all could have the kind of relationship we enjoy.