I want to take this opportunity to step away
from the business of real estate and let you know who I am, as a
person. Ironically, though, I guess the real estate business is
the place to start. I'll keep it short!
I started working in real estate investment
and property management (for personal and family-owned properties)
in the late summer of 2003. I received my real estate license
in January, 2004, and I've really enjoyed it. I worked with
McElmurry Real Estate for two years, and then with Coldwell
Banker, JME Realty (now Coldwell Banker, United Realtors) for nearly
another two. Now I'm an Associate Broker with Century 21,
Professional Services--specializing in residential and investment real
estate. I love the service side of what I
do. The whole job, really, is about helping people, and when
everything is said and done in this world, that's all we have
left--not the money and the things, but what we've done for others.
Okay,
let's get away from real estate. I'm also a pastor. It's
a combination that has made some people laugh, but I don't know
why. I'm an associate pastor with Calvary Chapel Fairhope, a
local non-denominational Christian church. We're not
well known in Alabama, but we're all over the country and the
throughout the world. We have some of the largest churches in
America and some of the smallest. The size of the congregation
doesn't matter, it's the heart of the people. We're a
Bible-believing church that teaches verse-by-verse through the word
of God, and I love it.
I'm a Realtor, a pastor, and a published fiction author. People laugh
at the very idea.
I told you
I've had people laugh when they found out I'm a Realtor® and
a pastor. There's yet another combination that leaves people
scratching their heads. Elsewhere on this site, I mention the
fact that I write real estate articles--well, that's only to be
expected. The head-scratcher is that I also write
fiction--mysteries and suspense, fantasy and science fiction. Christian fantasy
and science fiction is a fairly new genre to most people, though it
is at least as old as C.S. Lewis. I've been published in
places like "Fantasy Magazine" and "The Sword
Review" and even in a place with the unlikely name of "The
Dead Mule School of Southern Literature". I like
fantastic elements to hook a reader and draw them into a story, but
then I want to focus on the characters--to understand and to know
them and to see what the story becomes because of their role in
it. Like with anything else, people are the heart of
fiction.
I've saved the best for
last, and that's my family. I have a beautiful wife and
daughter, and God has blessed us mightily. Though I was born
in Alabama, I spent about twenty-six years of my life in other
places, mostly California. I met my wife there, and that's
where our daughter was born. My wife is from Hong Kong.
We don't get back there as often as we would like, but
sometimes I just send my wife and daughter for a week or two.
It's hard to be separated from them for that long, but that's because
family is important--and that's true for her side of the family, as
well.
Well, I've gone on long enough,
but I think it's important that you get a feeling for who your
Realtor® really is. I hope I get to know you, too,
real soon.
Don't be a stranger,
Wade
Ogletree
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Wade Ogletree
Century 21, Professional Services
24390 Hwy 98
Fairhope, AL 36532
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Wade
Ogletree, Associate Broker