This is my final column and I’ve been proud to serve as the 2024 President of the Morgantown Board of Realtors. Our Board of Directors had difficult behind-the-scenes issues to address, to include addressing a major national level change to our industry. I personally had challenges due to truly unexpected obstacles, but writing for the Sunday paper, was something I truly enjoyed…even if coming up with a year’s worth of Real Estate related content, was challenging at times!
I want to thank Past President, Eve Leombruno, for writing for me one week, when I was temporarily sidelined. This weekly column was partly responsible for my appearance on the ‘Positively WV’ podcast. That’s produced by Jim Matuga and his team, and he was the guy years ago, who initiated these MBOR columns in the Post. Thank you for this outlet, Jim! I also appeared on the ‘Appalachian Matters’ podcast and was interviewed on radio.
This outlet helped me to connect to people. Yes, there are still people who read the paper! Now, I admit, I was surprised when someone would tell me they read my columns. The funniest occurrence was when Dr. Jacob Conjeski was just about to inflict some necessary pain into my shoulder, although the humor ceased when the pain commenced! I was also approached after performing a concert and was once complimented while sitting in the barber’s chair, after addressing a controversy.
One goal I had was to add to your Real Estate toolbox. I presented tips and advice for those with varying experience. However, my bigger goal was to show you who Realtors truly are. I talked about that in last week’s column, and you can go back to read that or previous columns dating back several years. If you have an online subscription to the Post, you can find these in the ‘E-Edition’ and then by searching through Sundays, usually around page 25 or so. You can also find archives on morgantownrealtors.com, on the blog tab.
Beginning next week, you’ll start seeing columns from 2025 President, Aaron Marko. He’ll introduce himself, so I don’t want to steal much of his thunder. Having said that, many of you already know him. He’s worked in the restaurant industry for years, is very well known for self defense and firearms training classes, is very involved in his church, but is also a Realtor. I truly hope he’ll have a year full of positive topics to address and I’ll be here for him behind the scenes as needed. Best of luck in ’25, Aaron!
Thank you to the rest of the ’24 Board of Directors, Chaille Adkins, Stephanie Christiansen, Brenda Page, Emily Gregalit, Brett Matak, Jessica Dunlevy, Jerrica Moldowan and Executive Officer, Emily Cole. Also, I also want to extend a special thank you to the CEO of WV Association of Realtors, Ray Joseph, for some crucial sage advice!
I’m proud to say MBOR is in a good place. So, to quote ‘23 President, Eve Leombruno, from her final column one year ago, “That’s a wrap!”