I bring to Real Estate a variety of experience mostly involving customer service in wholesale, retail and social support. I have a genuine interest in understanding people and listening to their needs and wants. I am a keen home renovator, 6 houses so far, with sales experience in the building and hardware trades. As such I understand many practical aspects of home ownership, DIY, materials, lifestyle block care, gardening, can see potential in a property and have a good sense of colour and design. I enjoy getting to know people and the Thames community. I also enjoy being a host mother to Japanese students and Airbnb guests which softens the ‘empty nest syndrome’ as my two children are young adults now. I have lived in New Zealand since I was a child and was born in Kenya, love scuba diving and fishing, pub quiz and bush walking. I am looking forward to being the ‘Gold Star’ that assists you to buy or sell your property with all the professionalism that Harcourts offer.

Churton's have lived on the Coromandel Peninsular since 1958, apparently that doesn't make us local. They say you're not truly local till you've lived in one place long enough to have grand children. Well my eldest grand child is now 9 years old so I'm now claiming to be local as.

I started as a Real Estate Agent back in 2005 in the small Coromandel Peninsula Township of Thames. I cut my teeth on residential property but got thrown into commercial property by the company Licensee who couldn't find anyone else with business knowledge to manage the commercial property leads and enquiries. Having spent most of my life in businesses of one sort or another the move to Commercial Real Estate was a simple progression.

Success came quickly as we were in bull market and I achieved my first $5 million in gross sales in a little over years.

November 2008 my wife Terri, who is a chartered accountant, got enticed to work for an Accountancy firm in Wellington and needless to say the family and I followed shortly after.

The Wellington Commercial Real Estate industry was a steep learning curve compared to Thames but I stuck to the basics and managed to carve a strong niche in the market. 8 years on and I've built some good relationships with those in the industry, many, I'll continue to work with long into the future.

2011, a call for help came from a struggling Alternative Education Centre in Wanganui called Wai Ora. So out of a missionary heart I took up the challenge and took a sabbatical from real estate for just over a year. In that time I managed to stabilize Wai Ora as an organization and successfully returned it to a Category 2 NZQA education provider. (No easy feat I've been told) I'm still supporting Wai Ora as an off-site consultant.

Now home again in Thames and I can look back on my time in Wellington as 8 years of professional development and I guess one could say I've served my apprentice ship.

Now 12 years as a Licensed Real Estate Sales person and of all the things that I've learnt and the experience I've had, the basics stay the same and can be summed up in 3 key principals. Build relationships, work hard for your vendor and go the extra mile.

Sure Technology has changed the way we do things ... I use my phone as a computer, I carry my office in my pocket and take aerial pictures of my client's properties with a drone ... and I love it! But the basics stay the same because at the end of the day real estate is all about -- the people -- the people -- the people.