Well Done, Grandaddy

Jay Thompson retires from Zillow? NO WAY!?!?

The real estate world is abuzz today after hearing the news that the Grandaddy of real estate blogging has decided to retire from his Zillow gig.

Our good friend and mentor, Jay Thompson, has decided to stop and smell the roses. He will be leaving a job at Zillow group that was custom tailored to his strengths, his knowledge and his expertise. I can’t imagine a better fit for the Director of Industry Outreach at Zillow group than Jay Thompson. Just as he completely owned the real estate blogosphere for so many years, he has absolutely defined excellence in his role with a company that is loved and loathed by so many people in our industry. Jay’s knowledge and love of this industry made him far more than qualified to be one of the best known advocates in real estate.

See this photo of Jay? It is one of thousands and thousands of photos of him that can be found online, but it is one I get a kick out of seeing any time it pops up. Heck, it might have been 7 or 8 years ago? We were golfing at “Kenny Mac” here in Tempe with a few other “nerds” because Bill Risser lost a bet to Dean Ouellette and had to be his Caddy for the day. We laughed, we joked, we hacked up the course, and we probably talked about a little bit of real estate along the way. These friendships, these memories are what life is all about and few people know this better than guys like Jay Thompson. He’s walking away from what has to be a pretty good gig at the big Z, but life’s most important things are not found from behind a computer screen. The truly important things to Jay are his wife, his kids and, I’m pretty sure, his friends.

I’m 57 years old. I want to retire while I am still young and spry enough to enjoy life. To spend more time with those I love. To travel. To sail. To write, take photos, and finally learn to play my guitar. To slay fish. Maybe hack up a golf course now and then. I want more time to help others less fortunate than I am, to volunteer for causes I believe in. Taking a simple walk on the beach holding my bride’s hand is about as good as it gets. To do nothing, or anything. I’ll get to do whatever I want to do.” – Jay Thompson

Who knew that some random real estate agent could take to a keyboard and make a pretty darn good career out of being himself. Smart, funny, caring and professional. Turns out, that’s a pretty decent recipe for success.

Well done, Granddaddy…

Originally posted on Phoenix Real Estate Guy. If you are reading this anywhere but inside your RSS feed reader or your email client, the site you are on is guilty of stealing content.

(c) Copyright Jay Thompson. All Rights Reserved.

from The Phoenix Real Estate Guy http://ift.tt/2nMWVG9