Realtor® Tim Kinzler: An Inspirational Powerhouse
BOCA RATON, Fla. – Talk to Timothy M. Kinzler, CEO and team leader of Keller Williams Realty in Boca Raton, for just a few minutes and you’re ready to conquer the world. Kinzler has a unique energy that attracts others and gets them motivated to succeed.
“People need to know how much you care before they care how much you know,” says Kinzler. “I was always taught to be professional, personal, productive and profitable with passion.”
Realtor® Rick Macdonald: Helping Kids Find Success

Jacksonville Realtor Rick Macdonald accepts the Humanitarian of the Year award from 2011 Florida Realtors President Patricia “Patti” Fitzgerald during the state association’s annual Convention & Trade Expo.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – About 10 years ago, Rick Macdonald was just trying to get his elementary-school-age kids to appreciate all they had when he took them to Jacksonville’s Cleveland Arms Apartments, a low-income housing project in a dangerous part of town.
Read More »Realtor® Kathleen Peck: Helping the Visually Impaired

After losing her eyesight in 2006, Naples Realtor® Kathleen Peck, honorable mention winner for the National Association of Realtors®’ (NAR) 2012 Good Neighbor Awards, set out to help others like her. Photo courtesy of NAR.
NAPLES, Fla. – Sarah Hardwig recently played tennis at her summer camp – a typical camp activity, right? Not for nine-year-old Hardwig who’s been legally blind since birth. The camp Hardwig attended is for visually impaired children, the only one of its kind in Collier County. The tennis? They use a sound ball so the kids can hear it coming at them.
Read More »Realtor® Sue Wolverton: Mascot, Pilot and More

Sarasota Realtor Sue Wolverton follows through on her goals in business and in life. While crossing items off her “bucket list,” she has ridden an elephant, piloted a plane, gone scuba-diving, been a mascot at a University of Oklahoma football game and learned to fly an aerial ballet at the Sarasota Circus.
SARASOTA, Fla. – Her bucket list is 100 items long, but about half of the items are already crossed off: That’s because Sue Wolverton, senior vice president, Southwest region, of Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate LLC in Sarasota, says if she can dream it, she can do it.
Read More »Realtor® Claudette Bruck: A Real Estate Angel for Others

Family is important to Realtor Claudette Bruck, who is shown here visiting with her three nieces and some of their children.
TAMARAC, Fla. – A Dancing Mickey Mouse was at the top of a little boy’s Christmas list. And, Claudette Bruck, CCIM, GRI, a real estate professional with Multiple Choice Realty Investments Inc. in Tamarac, wasn’t going to sleep until he got it.
Read More »Realtor® Dennis Lambert: A Songwriting Sensation

BOCA RATON, Fla. – The year: 1975. Singer/songwriter Dennis Lambert was at the Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) Awards dinner in New York City preparing to accept an award for songwriter of the year.
“I won for four or five of the most-performed songs on the radio,” he says. Lambert even invited his parents to attend as his guests. “My mom got up. I didn’t think much of it, until she returned, tapped me on the shoulder and introduced me to John Lennon,” laughs Lambert. “It was the funniest thing. John Lennon did an imitation of my mom’s New York accent, then told me how proud he was that I won the songwriter award,” he says. “As you know, whenever a Beatle showed up at an event, it was a big deal.”
Read More »Realtors® Mike and Betsy Owen: Humanitarian Aid to Those in Need

A picture is worth a thousand words: Mike and Betsy Owen, shown here giving polio immunization drops to children in slums in Chandigarh, India, or helping polio patients at a hospital in India. Also pictured, Betsy Owen helping to plant and replenish hardwood trees in Africa, on land donated for the effort near Dar es Saalam, Tanzania.
BOCA RATON, Fla. – At an age when most people are slowing down and considering retirement, Mike and Betsy Owen with Coldwell Banker Real Estate in Boca Raton decided to work harder than they’ve ever worked before in Khao Lak, Thailand—a place devastated by the tsunami of 2004.
Read More »Realtor® Cathy Whatley: Leading with Heart

A former president of Florida Realtors® and the National Association of Realtors®, Cathy Whatley shows she is as adept at speaking to a group of colleagues as she is at taking care of business at Jacksonville-based Buck & Buck Inc., Realtors®, where she is broker-owner and president.
“The most important thing we do as real estate professionals is to best represent the buyer and seller to ensure the transaction will close,” says Whatley, broker-owner of Buck & Buck Inc., Realtors® in Jacksonville. “There are times when I will take on responsibility and not receive compensation for doing it and that’s OK, because what I’m doing is in the best interest of the buyer or seller.”
Read More »Realtor® Mary McCall: A Compassionate Caregiver
TAMPA, Fla. – Mary McCall, CRS, GRI, isn’t what you call a born salesperson. In fact, the broker-associate with RE/MAX ACR Elite Group Inc. in Tampa, says, “I never really liked the idea of selling anything, but I had two teenagers and college costs looming, so I started working as an office manager for a real estate firm.”
Realtor® Kristina Vavrek: Singing about a real estate career
OCALA, Fla. – Der Gemütlichkeit. It’s a German phrase that means “well being and happiness enjoyed with good friends and good times.” And Kristina Vavrek, a Realtor and broker with Harmony Homes Realty LLC in Ocala, says it’s the essence of the Swinging Bavarians, a German Bavarian polka band in which Vavrek is a member.
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