Ron Bouknight

Originally, I became a licensed real estate agent because I felt hiring and paying an agent was an unnecessary expense and basically a waste of money. Let me explain. In the early 1980s, in addition to my corporate job in the IT industry, I was a part-time real estate investor. I bought and flipped homes long before HGTV was even a cable channel. I was young, cocky and, most dangerous of all, naive. I found homes that met my loosely defined criteria, purchased them without the help of a "buyer's agent," (because I thought I would get a better deal), fixed them up and sold them "by owner." If the property didn't sell, I would simply put out a "For Rent" sign. Meanwhile, in my full time job / corporate life, I had made the transition from programmer to systems analyst to project manager to sales support representative and was soon hired as a regional marketing director for a Fortune 200 technology company. It was a great time to be in technology. Tech start-ups were popping up everywhere. After spending several years in this role, I decided to leave my corporate job and strike out on my own. I started an internet on-line sales company and began shipping products all over the world. I attended the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas every January and made some money while having fun. Life was good. To put it in perspective, this was before Microsoft developed Internet Explorer and during a time when my little company had internet sales exceeding Amazon.com. Internet Explorer and Amazon made it; regrettably, my little dot.com did not. Fast forward to 2002. I was still doing technical consulting work and real estate investing. It occurred to me that if I got my real estate license, I could have the benefit of listing my "flips" on the MLS and avoid paying a commission. I decided to get a real estate license to help my investing "hobby." So that summer, I studied for and received my real estate license, and several years after that, I passed the broker's exam. But, something interesting happened along the way: I began helping friends, family and business associates find their perfect home. When they had a property to sell and they asked me to help them, I was able to utilize my marketing and sales experience as well as the contract negotiation skills from my consultant days to effectively market and sell their home or help them buy a new one. I changed my mind about the "usefulness" of a real estate agent. I realized that the value that really good agent brings to the table in a transaction is worth every penny. Not only will a good agent be able to save a buyer or seller money that in many cases, far exceeds the commission, but will artfully navigate them through what has become a complicated and potentially precarious process. And you know what? I liked it. I did this full time for over a decade working for several well known real estate brokerages in Atlanta, and then in 2013 I joined, what I consider to be, the finest real estate organization on the planet - Sotheby's International Realty(R) and their local affiliate, Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby's International Realty. It was the piece of the puzzle that had been missing from what most people would consider to be a successful career. I'm proud to represent Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby's International Realty, and I'd honored to be your REALTOR(R). Again, life is good.