As you can see, there is quite a lot here.

And it sure didn't happen overnight.

It's taken years to put all of this together.

To find the best of the best in terms of inspectors, lenders, home warranty companies, title companies, etc.

To find local businesses that were willing to help in the fight against Veteran homelessness.

To find the right people at the VA that could tell me when a need came up for a Veteran.

Etc...

This was, quite frankly, an exhausting and at times, frustrating process.

But it's all worth it when a Veteran or Military member goes through the process and ......

My purpose for creating this page and especially this section, is because I believe it is extremely important to really get to know any person that you may consider entering into a working relationship with. (Most of my closest friends don't even know the information I'm about to share with you here.)

I grew up in a small town called Lake Orion, Michigan...about 20 minutes north of Detroit.

I had what most people would consider a normal upbringing in a working class family.

I was a typical boy...rambunctious, carefree, daredevil, invincible, etc.

Here are a couple of quick stories from my childhood...

When I was young, I thought it would be fun to parachute.

I'd climb up trees and jump down using a garbage bag as my parachute.

I'd climb higher and higher, thinking that if I could just climb a little higher, the garbage bag would slow my fall.

I never could quite climb high enough for the "parachute" to be effective. (Or, maybe the trees we had just weren't tall enough?) :-)

It wasn't for lack of trying though.

For my 12th birthday, I was given a used dirt bike.

It was a Yamaha YZ80.

It was LOUD...

It leaked oil...

But it was FAST!

I LOVED riding that thing!

Supercross was just starting to become a popular thing so I started seeing professional motocross riders, jumping and taking their hands off the handlebars in mid jump.

So you know what that meant!!

I would make a jump in my yard using the biggest tree stump as a base.

I went as fast as possible, hit my home-made jump and in mid air I quickly raised my hands in the air...

Unfortunately, the motorcycle I had wasn't built the same as the ones I saw racing on the tv.

The one major difference was their gas tank (in front of the seat) was made out of plastic...mine was made out of medal.

...and that's exactly where I landed.

Not only did I land squarely on that medal gas tank but my leg landed directly on the piping hot muffler!

It wasn't all bad though...

I played baseball, basketball & football growing up and I loved them all.

Through my childhood, it became apparent that I was best at baseball.

I went on to play through college and had free agent workouts with 7 or 8 MLB teams...Houston Astros, Colorado Rockies, Cincinnati Reds, Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers and others.

In the end I was told by a scout with the Braves that I had a "major league arm" and that they would like to place me in a southern league but that I was older than what they were looking for.

I decided against it...a decision I regretted for years.

Oh... there was one other impactful thing that happened that year.

Looking back, it was actually one of the reasons why this program exists...

I remember it like it was yesterday.

I frantically rushed downstairs to see what in the world was going on.

When I got to the bottom of the stairs I discovered that my mom was in the middle of a very heated argument with a vacuum salesman (and his "assistant") who wouldn't take NO for an answer. (I later found out that he had that "assistant" waiting outside in the car to call in if he was unable to close the sale.)

I panicked and shouted "It's ok! Dad's almost home and I'll go call the police right now!"

Fortunately, that was enough for the salesman and his assistant, to pack up their stuff and bolt out the door but that moment rocked me to my core and altered the way I think about selling to this very day.

I vividly remember driving to work that day, thinking to myself that I would never, under any circumstance and for any amount of money, treat somebody like that vacuum salesman had just treated my mom.

I vowed that I would starve before I treated somebody like that.

Fast forward some years to my career in real estate and I started seeing real estate "gurus" and brokers teaching agents unscrupulous business practices.

One of the most popular ones is to tell home sellers (people selling their own home) that they "have a buyer for their house". The goal is to make an appointment and try to list the house. (They never had a buyer...just a way to get their "foot in the door.")

Other shady things like agents "buying the listing"...a term used when an agent takes a listing at an unreasonable price and then starts trying to get price reductions immediately knowing the home would never sell at that price.

Even worse, I've seen agents not show homes to their clients because the commission being offered wasn't as much as other homes on the market...even if the home was perfect for the buyer and they really wanted to see it!

And probably the most disgusting thing I've witnessed...

A listing agent selling a home to their own buyer for $10,000 less than what my buyer offered.

Yes, I've seen some disturbing things in this business.

And it caused me to create something totally different.

A program that allows me to say THANK YOU to the men and women who protected our country and gave me the freedom to chase my dreams of playing professional baseball.

Without further ado, let me show you some specific results that some Veterans and Military members using the Veterans Only Program have achieved...