Making a Difference

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Making a Difference

Bert Waugh
Broker/Owner
Prudential Northwest Properties
Portland, Oregon

Years in real estate: 24
Number of offices: 18
Number of agents: 628
Average sales price: $309,500
Average listing time: 40 days

If I wasn't in real estate I'd probably be: "…Working with disadvantaged kids. Maybe have a ranch to provide an environment for them to turn around their lives."

My personal motto is: "People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel" and "Always try and fill someone else's bucket."

The best professional advice I've ever received: "You can affect more people's lives by running this company than by touching one seller at a time."

You are a former Broker of the Year, recognized for not only performance in you market, but for your philanthropic efforts as well. Tell us about your team. I'm incredibly blessed with the total team I have here. Working with the most talented and gifted people around, who work hard and know and understand the mission of value and service for our agents, as well as our clients and customers, is the best situation anyone could ask for.

How do you influence your associates to become involved in their community, beyond the strict scope of business? We took a team down to New Orleans and were able to financially help Prudential Gardner, Realtors down there. I also went to the camps in Northern Uganda in another capacity, and I came away knowing why we do what we do. Coming back and talking to the company has helped inspire them to support this cause voluntarily, above and beyond everything they are already doing on other fronts.

Why is it important for your staff to volunteer? The big benefit is I've got tremendous longevity from my people. Many of the resource center staff have been with me for 15-20 years. I think that's because they believe what I believe-the more you open up your arms to give, the more you receive. Walking that walk and talking the talk all these years has made us an extremely caring and responsive organization.

Tell us about Transitional Youth-the agency you have established and have been helping to support in recent years. I started the organization in 1991 and its outreach program in 1993, and it's totally ingrained into the culture of our office. Our agents choose to contribute through closings and extra fundraisers in the offices and branches. We have opened three boys' houses and one girl's house in recent years, and we have some pretty aggressive expansion goals. Our motto is "Home is where the start is…," and our plan is to add new houses and a ranch by the end of this year. We have gotten a number of the kids back in school and several are going to college. Eventually, our kids can transition into independent living situations with scholarship and assistance for higher-education pursuits, and a fund to help them get their own homes after they complete college.

-John Voket