Fritz Pfister

On this Saturday June 20, 2009 I celebrate the 700th Let’s Talk Real Estate program. The year when the O.J trial began, there was the bombing at the Olympics in Atlanta, and Princess Diana and Prince Charles were divorced all happened in 1996, the year we began broadcasting Let’s Talk Real Estate.

It was a year in the local housing market that favored home buyers as home sales plodded along, while the national housing market was smoking hot, especially out west, due to a thing called the dot com boom!

The purpose for Let’s Talk Real Estate was then and is today, to serve as an educational forum for the local real estate consumer, and to provide the most current and accurate information regarding the local real estate market. Dispelling myths, and commonly held perceptions about how homes are bought and sold, exposing practices within the industry by a few, whom I affectionately refer to as the good old boys network, by introducing the ethics police, not naming names but actions for you to be on the alert for, and sharing the reality of our market place versus what you read, hear, or see in the media which only causes you confusion, are but a few of the aspects of this program.

My political commentary about rules, policies, laws, and actions of our elected officials that have and will impact your ability to buy and sell homes, and directly impacts the value of your home sparks debate and provokes thought. Some agree, some disagree, however either way this program allows an honest discussion of those topics.

The Christmas giveaway has been especially rewarding when delivering the winner’s gifts, to witness their joy, and the ability to have helped numerous local charities throughout the years are some of the most personally rewarding experiences.

I say thank you to all who listen to the program, and am humbled and grateful to the hundreds of families over the years that have chosen me to be their Realtor, and to the hundreds that have recommended my service to family and friends, all from listening to this program. To you I am sincerely grateful. To the nearly thirteen hundred people that have attended my home buyer and home seller seminars that grew from the seeds of this program, I am humbled by your attendance.

To the over fourteen hundred families that hired me in the successful sale or purchase of a home since we began this program and to the over 2000 in my career since 1987, placing second to none in the local market, thank you. To my team, wife Kristie, Denny Pryor, Keith Haynes, Amy Mason, and Teresa Singer thank you, without you this record setting performance could not have been achieved. For you have proven to other agents what seemed impossible only a short time ago, what can be achieved and accomplished for the families within our market. For truly no one person ever accomplishes great things alone.

Ladies and gentlemen you and I owe a great deal of gratitude to the sponsors of Let’s Talk Real Estate. Without these fine businesses supporting this program it would not have been possible. Folks like Tom Swift of Hillier Storage and Moving, Dana and Marsha Stumpher of Amerispec Home Inspection Services, Rob Levi of Central Illinois security, Mark Coats of Marx Fireplace and Lighting, and the whole gang at Town and Country Bank Mortgage Services especially Tim, Deb, Pam, and Dawn who bravely call in every week to update you on the interest rates never knowing what crazy question I may ask them, and now to Chuck of Slabjackers construction. Great businesses , and people all.

My I say that it is truly a humbling experience to sit at the microphone every week to provide you with the information that can help you when you are buying or selling a home. A time that is proven to be one of the most stressful and emotional during your lifetime. For many the most important financial transaction in their lives. My hope and prayer is that the information you have received and will receive from listening to this program has indeed benefited you, your family, and friends. Thank you for the opportunity to serve. Thank you for listening.

It is my intent to continue to provide you this service as long as I am able. However I do understand that if you want to make God laugh, tell him what your plans are! So today we bring you the 700th program, and with God willing hundreds more.

The opinions expressed are solely those of Fritz Pfister, and not RE/MAX Professionals of Springfield or RE/MAX International.