My Bio

I am a proud Scottsdale Arizona Resident and Realtor. I am a senior partner at the JD Samuelson Group, of John Hall & Associates. The JD Samuelson Group has been a leader in Scottsdale Real Estate innovations for more than twenty years. We pride ourselves in our client service and our client list. Our clients are inspiring individuals, each with their own stories and goals, and we consider ourselves incredibly fortunate to be a part of those stories and assistants to those goals.

As a Senior Partner I work with an outstanding office staff, helping clients with virtually every conceivable real estate situation one can imagine. It's a funny business. You sell a person their first home, and seventeen years later you are helping that same person purchase a new factory for their business. This business is about relationships, and I am proud of the relationships we have forged with our clients over the years.

I invite you to visit our website at JDSamuelsonGroup.Com to see firsthand some of the futuristic innovations we have brought to the Scottsdale Real Estate market. We are known nationwide for our technical innovations, some of which have been featured on Good Morning America and various local news stations. Some of our latest innovations...well...they're top secret! You'll have to hire us to play with them!

I am a father of two incredible young ladies, a terrible dancer, and probably not the guy you want to hand a microphone to. Can't dance, can't sing, and the world is a better place for it.

My Beliefs

I do hold a few core beliefs in regards to Real Estate, my chosen profession. These beliefs weren't given to me on stone tablets atop a mountain but rather just magically came to me while I drug numerous transactions barefooted across the broken glass and rusty nail strewn plain we call escrow. These are MY beliefs, and though you are welcome to borrow them, I in no way suggest you should build a crib and adopt the cute little fellers:

1. I believe...that a housing market that offers the ultimate combo meal of "lower prices" and "greater selection" should be called a "Good housing market". Heck, throw in "fantastic", "amazing", and "incredible" just to add some ‘adjectable' variety to the giddiness which should be spawned by such a marriage.

2. I believe...that real estate is dependant on jobs, and the very first "location, location, location" that a prospective buyer should be concerned about is "job, job, and that place I go to pick up the big fat paycheck". Too often the equation of (drive + occupation = money/ family time) is overlooked.

3. I believe...That a low offer is better than NO offer. I was once rejected outright on a purchase "attempt" by an agent who claimed that presenting my client's best offer would be an insult to their sellers. Which is why....(see below)

4. I believe...that ALL offers should be presented in person! Why would I want to let a surrogate enjoy the pleasure of insulting an overpriced seller? Put me in the room, close the doors, dim the lights, let us now talk about what this property CAN be worth today if the sellers are willing to be realistic. Presenting contracts in person is dramatic, exciting, and a whole heck of a lot more memorable than hitting the SEND button on a fax machine. It's also why I get paid so much.

5. I believe...that my job's main objective is to educate my clients. By making clients wiser, smarter, and better in the world of real estate, the little things like buying and selling in a timely fashion just kinda sorta fall into place.

6. I believe...that humor is the most underused tool in a Realtor's limited arsenal. At the core of every living, breathing human being is a funny bone itching to be manipulated. Market with humor and reap a whirlwind of traffic.

7. I believe...that waiting for the media to declare "it's a good time to buy" is like waiting to hear Tammy Faye Baker exclaim "I lost seventy five pounds by removing my make up". For the record: Tammy is dead. So too is the media's grasp of the real estate market. We, as real estate professionals, are the light and the way. If you want a positive marketplace, then cork the whine bottle and start preaching positive specifics at the root level. Educate your clients. We are at a HISTORIC moment in real estate history. Remember how hot that head cheerleader was in seventh grade? Well that's how you will remember today's real estate market thirty...err...twenty...I mean five years from now!

8. I believe...that we fail our clients when we don't pay attention to the drivel and squawk that emanates from the ‘press at large' concerning "real" life changing events. Take gas prices as a "for instance". When the cost of gas surpassed three dollars a gallon, making fuel nearly half as expensive as Kiwi water, did you dissuade any of your clients from pursuing properties that were outside the twenty dollar a day commute circle? Shame on you! Neither did I...dammit, we failed our clients at that moment. Let's keep that little slip between us. Shhh.

9. I believe...that now more than anytime in HISTORY, spending a little money to make a property more desirable, and more FUNCTIONAL, is wise beyond measure. Buyers are stretched farther than Starr Jones' brassiere, yet I walk into listing after listing that feature less kitchen appliances than Gilligan's hut. If the buyer can barely scrape together the down payment, is he really the best candidate to spend homecoming night at Sears picking out a washer and drier? Do your sellers a favor and be sure they are selling a Turn-Key product. Otherwise, be prepared for a long term relationship.

10. I believe...that tomorrow will always be better than today. Why? Because it is new. It is unknown. It is shrouded in mystery. And it is whatever I want to make of it. Today, pffft, today is tomorrow's yesterday. It's like so "last minute". Some say it's happening, but I say it already did. Move on.

11. I believe...that number ten was absolute fluff to increase the list content.

12. I believe...that vacated properties that have the utilities turned off should be required to strap a ship's anchor around the toilet lid so that unsuspecting post Taco Bell meal participants who are just learning that every Taco Bell combo meal should be labeled "Number Two" do not, and I repeat, DO NOT christen the abandoned porcelain bowl with their Nachos Smell Grande. I am in Arizona. Homes with the utilities shut off can reach 135 degrees internally. Please...put a brick on the lid, not under it. My nose gave up smelling at one point this summer.

13. I believe...that behind every new client is a new adventure. What a blessed gift this occupation is. Human Beings have long lives sub-divided by life changing events. Buying a home, be it first, second, twenty-third, is representative of a new chapter in this adventure we call life. I am afforded the opportunity to bear witness to the birth of a chapter, often many chapters, of a person's life story. My clients are my family. Better than family actually. Clients have money.

14. I believe...that certain real estate advertising terminology should be banned outright. Mr. and Mrs. Clean must be on the lam because they appear to move on a daily basis according to my MLS: "Mr. and Mrs. Clean lived here". Really? They moved again!?! Oh if I could count how many times "Smells like New" was really "Smells like Gnu". Spell-check people! For the record: A view that is "stunning" sounds about as appealing as "chopped nuts". Buyers just want the truth. They are smart people, they can digest the truth. They appreciate the TRUTH. "Smells like ass" is acceptable. Thanks for the warning.

15. I believe...that the job of Realtor carries a responsibility that many who claim the title as their profession simply do not recognize. This job, done right, requires an individual to sacrifice personal gain for client satisfaction. Think about that. Digest it. Giving up personal gain, be it financial or just time away from family, so your client can benefit to the best of YOUR abilities. If you GET THIS, you're an old timer like me. If this sounds foreign...good luck at Circuit City.

16. I believe...that if you are not using television media to promote the positive aspects of the Real Estate market, then you are part of the Real Estate market problem. My work with ABC15 here in Phoenix has been rewarding beyond imagination. The news people are demonized, much like we Realtors, because of their industry's public perception. But my work with the ABC15 crew has been rewarding not just because of the great people we get to work with, but because we have been able to educate the public on foreclosures, price trends, and the TRUE meaning of "Buyer's Market". Our efforts have made an impact. Ok...perhaps just a dent. But I get approached at Church, on the street, and in Professional circles about the news pieces we have done thus far and people thank me with the same familiar phrase, "Thanks for telling it like it is." Wow.

17. I believe...that the term "fundamentals" is spelled incorrectly. It is FUN and MENTAL attached by DUH. Fundamentals are now a hoax. Homes in Phoenix today are selling for FAR less than replacement cost. Does that make sense? Years from now the prices of today will sound like fantasy tales to the buyers of tomorrow. "Wait a minute, you are trying to tell me that you could buy a brand new home in Phoenix for seventeen dollars per foot?". Yup. And it would sit on market for weeks. Ah yes, those were the days...if only I had bought more!

18. I believe...that there is an artist in every one of us and that our work as Realtors provides the perfect canvas, our imagination the perfect paint. Embrace your skills and let them dance while designing a marketing campaign, staging a house, creating a listing, shooting your photos, or while crafting hard to understand language that you bury in the nether regions of a contract.

19. I believe...that if you don't take the time up front to get to know and understand your clients, you will not be able to help them. It's a go-go-go world we live in that is high on caffeine and sugar, inundated with 24/7 news, e-mail chain letters, blogospheres, Dow updates, melting ice caps, yellow stars, blue moons, purple horseshoes...STOP!!! Take your client to lunch. Sit with them, eat with them, visit with them, and talk about what it is that they NEED.

20. I believe...that Real estate is a brutal, ego swallowing, humor depriving, security smashing, death defying hellride through a nonsensical void of ever changing razor sharp mutilating parameters that can disembowel even the toughest and strongest individuals amongst us if they let the negative minutia overwhelm their focus. Does Lance Armstrong wear a rubber bracelet that states " No balls, therefore I pedal quicker!"? No. His rubberband buddy says "Live Strong". What does that mean? It means BELIEVE strong, THINK strong, and REACT Strong. Our clients are counting on us to do just that. With or without balls.

As Jerry Maguire once said, "We live in a cynical world." Don't join it. Encourage yourself to be a positive influence. I think humans, for the most part, desire a certain amount of negativity in their life to achieve balance. Let them get that negativity from sources other than yourself. God made you the perfect conduit for a brighter day. Smile. Be happy. Enjoy your work. You'll inspire your clients...and here's the secret: They will inspire you back.

Areas of Expertise

Expertise? I am an expert at being creative, embracing change, and seeing where the puck is going to be.

I begin every morning in the exact same fashion. I log onto the MLS and sift through EVERY SINGLE listing that was posted in the previous 24 hour period. This is a fast moving business when it comes to GOOD DEALS. As a service to our clients I find the best deals available, every day, so they have them in hand before anyone else does. A typical morning will find me sorting through 600- 700 new listings...and on a good day, I'll find anywhere from a half dozen to a dozen GOOD DEALS. I then post them to our website, go for my morning run, and wait for the sun to rise.

The repetition of performing that task everyday has benefitted me tremendously as an agent. It has allowed me to develop a keen insight as to how specific areas of the Phoenix metro market are performing. For instance, when the banks began dumping their REO inventory in June of 2008, I saw the drastic price devaluation occurring right before my eyes. When the neighborhood of Maryvale became a dumping ground, literally five to ten REO listings being dumped onto market DAILY, I teamed up with ABC15's Home Smart team and we let the public know what was going on.

Someone once told me that Real Estate was not an easy business, but it's not that hard. I find it's a simple business if you just get your clients what they NEED. Understanding what they NEED is the true art of being a Realtor.

Testimonials

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