A simple question and the answer that came back to me years later, helping me realize a valuable lesson.

Sitting in class, the laminate desk under my hand pockmarked with carvings from students before me, I looked up and heard my teacher announce our next report, “who is your role model?” It seemed like such a simple question, something that I would’ve done years earlier in elementary school. Yet here I was, in eleventh grade, turning the question over and over hours later, after school ended, as I walked down the pavement to the student parking lot & drove home.

Once I descended from the last step and looked up at my house, the answer electrified me like a strike of lightning, my dad—it was obvious to me! He’d been in the military for decades & CW4 Ranking as Helicopter Pilot. He served through numerous wars all over the world, missing out on countless holidays and birthdays stationed in other counties to provide for our family and to protect our country. The more I thought about him, his calm, orderly demeanor, his resilience and mental fortitude, his straightforwardness with others, the more I knew he was exactly the type of leader I would model myself after.

I wrote my report and life went on, it flickered to the back of my mind—an echo. I’m the middle child and for me that meant I was the wild one, blazing my own trail. The more someone told me I couldn’t do something, the more I wanted to do it—something that didn’t go over well with teachers.

But that determinedness to do things my own way transformed into resilience and mental fortitude that helped me through the challenges I faced in the years after. One of those challenges was when I first became a licensed REALTOR®. I got my license in 2011, during the recession, the worst time for REALTORS® nationwide.

As I watched others flee the industry and hear my peers remind me how difficult this is & failure statistics, it made me want to stick with it even more. The first couple of years were rough in a down economy; I’d been put through the ringer more times than I could count and the light at the end of the tunnel seemed to grow dimmer. At the end of a meeting review meeting with my boss, it left me feeling like I’d been drenched in a bucket of ice water. Shortly after I had a moment of clarity & realization with myself. No matter how difficult, no matter who said otherwise, I decided that I could do this.  “Failure is not going to option”, I constantly reminded myself.

I doubled down on classes, experiences, everything I could to climb my way out of that tough time while simultaneously the housing market started to bounce back.

What I didn’t realize all those years before, writing that essay for school, was one of the most important things I learned from my Dad. It wasn’t just resilience or mental fortitude, it was that not only did I do well under pressure, that pressure was where I thrived. Blocking out that outside noise, those expectations that told me “you can’t do it”, that was my specialty.

I’m lucky to have the Dad that I do. He’s taught me so much over the years and by learning from his example, I’m the man I am today. He’s been a huge part of my life and we’re still close to this day.

I love being a licensed REALTOR®, helping people whether it’s their first home or their tenth investment property. Seattle’s been my home since the age of 6. I love this place and I look forward to helping you find a place you love here too.

Buying a home is stressful and it’s a time to expect the unexpected. That’s why I work hard to blaze through that stress and deliver the best results possible for my clients. Those moments when everything seems like it’s going to fall apart and all that’s left is the impossible are my specialty—I thrive under that pressure. I’m constantly learning all the new advances in the real estate industry and pride myself on staying up to date. It’s important to me that you benefit from all the options out there whether you’re buying your first home or fifth. My experience in working construction and flipping houses has enabled me to spot problem issues with a property, saving you time and money.  With almost 10 years experience I’ve become very versatile in Real Estate & all types of transactions from Residential, Investment or Commercial. My clients matter to me as does their long-term success, that’s why I stay around as a real estate resource to you after the sale is done as your REALTOR® for life.

Sincerely,

Chris Wood
Real Estate Broker