In Brief:
I am a Florida State licensed Realtor whose primary focus is on assisting clients with the purchase or sale of residential properties. With a strong background in the Information Technology field, an MBA degree with a specialized focus in IT and Management, and a lifetime of experience with and exposure to all of the many and varied areas of St. Petersburg, I believe that I am in an excellent position to provide people with the guidance, experience, and knowledge that they seek in today’s market environment when considering selling or purchasing a home in this area.
Prior to the start of my career in Real Estate, I spent ten years at Raymond James and Associates, where I supervised a Software Development team in the IT Department. Our focus was on supplying design and programming expertise to the Raymond James Accounting and Internal Audit departments. During my tenure at RJ, I attended USF’s College of Business part time, where I earned an MBA with specializations/focus in IT and Management.
Before joining Raymond James and Associates, I owned, operated and managed a small business, Sunrise Electronics, for over fifteen years in St Petersburg. My company performed maintenance and repairs on consumer home entertainment electronics and on personal computers.
Much More Detail, For Anyone Who’s Interested:
If you’ve made your way to this page, it means that you have some curiosity about who I am and what I’m about. For anyone who’s ever tried to explain the essence of who they are in one page, you know that it’s a daunting task! But I’ll try my best…
My name is Bob Horn. I’ve lived in St. Petersburg since I was four years old. I’ve traveled to a lot of different cities and states in this country, and I’ve traveled to a few countries outside of the US, and, although I love traveling, I am always happy to come back to St. Petersburg. It feels like home.
I’m a Realtor, and one who is well-suited to work in this business in 2011. I love technology, I embrace computers and the Internet and I love having pretty much unlimited information available to me at any time. I’m an experienced programmer. I don’t do it much these days, but I did, at one time. In fact, I worked for Raymond James and Associates for ten years, first as a computer programmer, then as the supervisor of a software development team. I loved my work there, and I had a fantastic team of Business Analysts and Developers working with me. Near the end of my tenure there, I became very interested in Real Estate, so I decided that it was time to move on to a new adventure.
I have an MBA degree, with specializations in Business and in Information Technology. I got my MBA at USF in 2001, while I was still working at Raymond James. They encouraged their employees to further their education, and they paid for it, so I decided it was a good idea and I did it. Although it was hard work and was challenging to do while I was working full time, I actually enjoyed being back in school and I liked the interaction with other students. Along with all of the rest of the MBA curriculum, I learned a great deal about analyzing and understanding statistics and trends, and that’s been a big help in my Real Estate career.
I’m married, very happily, and I have a grown son and daughter who both live here in St. Petersburg, as well as two stepdaughters who live with my wife and I in Monticello Park, at the northern edge of the Allendale neighborhood.
I love living in St. Petersburg. I like digging into our history, exploring places and things that I’ve not yet experienced, and especially showing other people some of the very cool things and places in St. Petersburg that I’ve come to know over the course of my lifetime here. I like the different types of architecture and building styles that we have here, and I like to walk into a house that I’ve never been inside before and study it, trying to figure out its unique story.
I’m affiliated with Charles Rutenberg Realty, Inc, which is one of the largest real estate brokerage firms in Pinellas County. I enjoy working both as a Buyer’s agent for those who are looking for a house to purchase and as a Listing agent for those who are trying to sell their house, so I get to deal with a wide variety of situations and scenarios, people and personality types.
I feel that it can seem a bit pretentious to follow one’s name with a bunch of acronyms and initials that most people won’t recognize anyway, so I don’t list initials or certifications after my name anywhere on my web site. But certifications and experience are probably something that I should mention here, for anyone who is curious. In addition to my MBA, I have an ePro certification from the National Association of Realtors, signifying that I am technologically competent and sound of mind, properly prepared to use the latest technology to help you with your Real Estate needs. I’ve also been certified, via two separate organizations, to work on transactions relating to distressed properties – short sales, pre-foreclosures, etc: I have the CDPE designation – Certified Distressed Property Expert, as well as the SFR designation – Short Sales and Foreclosure Resource. In addition, I have transaction experience on both buyer’s side and seller’s side for both single family homes and condominiums throughout Pinellas County. Finally, in 2009, I earned the ABR – Accredited Buyer’s Representative – designation from the National Association of Realtors. That designation signifiies that I have completed additional coursework relating to working as a Buyer’s Rep, and that I have successfully closed a significant number of transactions working as a Buyer’s Rep.
Although I am fairly outgoing and I find it easy to work and interact with people, I’m not what I’d call a ‘schmoozer’. So it’s not so easy for me to walk into a social gathering in a room filled with strangers and just start making connections with people. Yet, that’s how Realtors have been told they’re supposed to meet new clients. Since it doesn’t work well for me, I have to be as creative as I can and figure out other ways to get to know people and have them get to know me. And I’m hoping that, along with a variety of other endeavors of mine, this web site will help me to make some of those connections and gain some new business, as well as new friends, along the way.
Bob Horn
