I grew up in Spanish Fork, Utah and spent most of my childhood helping my Dad and Grandpa with their Land Surveying business when I was not in school or playing sports. In high school, I worked as a finish carpenter for Bardsley & Sons, Inc.
for 3 years. I have been around the Construction/Development/Housing industry most of my life. Within the past two years, I’ve gained experience as a stock broker for UBS Financial Services and I’ve been running my own property development company, Red Rock Development, LLC since April 2010.
Currently, I have been working full-time for DPR Realty, LLC. since August 2010. I work primarily in the southeast portion of Maricopa County specializing in Residential Properties; whether New Builds, Bank Owned/REO’s, Short Sales or normal properties. I am a member of the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) as well as the SouthEast Valley Regional Association of REALTORS®.
So Why LIVE IN ARIZONA?
In Utah, I basically grew up outdoors. As a teenager, I cannot remember a time when I was not out playing football in the backyard, riding my bike around the neighborhood to meet up with friends, or going up into the mountains for a campout. With the Rockies practically in your backyard, there was always plenty of other things to do such as skiing, hiking, hunting, fishing, or four-wheeling. In many ways, I miss it there, but all that I did not like there in Utah, I now don’t have to worry about here in Arizona. And guess what? I can do all of the things I mentioned above in Utah, here in Arizona! Not to mention, for the few years that I have been here, I have grown to love all of the Arizona sunny days. We get sun here over 360+ days a year! It is not called “the valley of the sun” for nothing! Sure the summer is hot, but it is much more of a “dry” heat than say the humidity you find back in the southeast United States.
There is so much to do here. While others are snowed in their homes and bringing out the snow plow just to get to their mail box, we’re driving with the top down in the car for an outdoor barbecue and swim party! It can get mighty cold here in the desert though, so don’t be fooled. Often times I’m torn…should I stick with the short sleeve Hawaiian shirt or do I go with a long sleeve? Board shorts and sandals or levi’s and a t-shirt? These may be some of your toughest decisions when you live in Arizona.
Arizona has something for everyone. I’ve enjoyed hiking at Piestewa Peak, Camelback and South Mountain where you find these amazingly huge lizards called chuckwallas, that have black bodies with an orange stripe around their tail, skiing and jet skiing at any of the several lakes we have nearby like Canyon Lake, Bartlett Lake, Apache, Saguaro
and Lake Pleasant to name a few. We have some unique areas that are great for day trips like Tortilla Flat, Greasewood Flat, the Red Rocks of Sedona, Mt. Humphrey’s in Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon. Check out Kartchner Caverns just south of Tucson for an awesome tour of the cave that will leave you slightly “batty” and follow it up with a visit to Tombstone where you can walk the streets where Wyatt Earp, Doc Holiday and the like had the famous gunfight at the OK Corral. While there, you’ll have to order rattlesnake at one of the many eateries, (it tastes just like chicken!)
We have sports, too! I went to my first Arizona Diamondbacks game in 2001; the year they won their first World Series. We have the Phoenix Suns that have always been a formidable team to contend with and – although I never realized it before – we also have a football team, the Arizona Cardinals! Who knew? If you like golf (and I LOVE golf), Arizona is a paradise. We have sooo many courses and they are rarely crowded so you can almost always walk on to the course of your choice, even on the weekends!
We have car shows like Barrett-Jackson, festivals like the Renaissance Fair, Greek and Bluegrass Festivals, Art Walks in Tempe and Scottsdale, Tempe Town Lake, outdoor shopping malls, luxurious movie theaters (Harkin’s is King!), museums, fine dining and entertainment, dancing, theater, concerts. During the summer, grab some friends for a relaxing day of tubing down the Salt River. And best of all – life in Arizona is AFFORDABLE!!!
There is so much more I could say about this great state we live in, suffice to say, this is home for me.
