Steve talks about life on the hill in the 70's, the changing dynamics of the DC real estate market, and his transformation from broadcaster to hill employee to covering real estate trends.
Todd's guest this week for the first half of the show is Samer Kuraishi, sharing thoughts about growing up in real estate, having a business mind, and revealing how much of an influence his father had on his life's work.
Rick is currently the President of Zippy Shell USA, a nationwide mobile self storage franchise company. He is part of a group of investors that has secured the master franchise rights to Zippy Shell in the United States. Zippy Shell launched in the US in October of 2009 and has currently begun franchising throughout the country.
Over the past eight years, Rick has been the Founder and CEO of two non-profit organizations and has been responsible for their dramatic growth. In January of 2002 Rick became the CEO of the Rainy Day Foundation. The Rainy Day Foundation was established to create and maintain responsible homeownership. Since the Foundations inception, a major focus was to provide tools to educate, counsel, support and financially assist homeowners who experience unforeseen short-term financial problems. Through the administration of the Rainy Day Program, the Foundation has been able to provide emergency support, (both educational and financial) to homeowners that experienced financial challenges.
During the same time, Mr. Del Sontro served as the Founder and CEO of the Home Downpayment Gift Foundation (HDGF) from September of 2001, until June of 2009. When he began his tenure, the organization had previously assisted one homebuyer in the past year and grew to a $70 million plus organization within 5 years. Home Downpayment Gift Foundation grew to the 4th largest down payment assistance provider in the United States. At year end of 2008 the program was assisting more than 2000 homebuyer’s each month by providing down payment grants.
Prior to coming to the HDGF, he worked for Cendant Corporation for over 5 years in the real estate division. Some of his responsibilities included building the infrastructure that supported the sales and administrative divisions.
He was largely responsible for the design and implementation of the development of the franchise sales organizations, contract administration, customer renewals and compliance for Century 21, Coldwell Banker and ERA. This organization consisted of over 150 employees throughout the three real estate brands.
Following his role as the Vice President of Franchise Sales and Compliance, he became Senior Vice President of Franchise Sales for Cendant Corporation. He was responsible for over $200 million of new sales each year as well as the management of a sales organization of over 50 employees.
Prior to his time with Cendant, Rick worked for Century 21 Real Estate Corporation as a Director of International Franchise Sales. His role was to support the various domestic and international franchising efforts for the Company.
Rick is an honors graduate of the University of Maryland. He has B.S. in Journalism and minors in English and Sociology.
Pandra Richie began her real estate career more than 30 years ago, and has held many positions within the industry. She moved to the corporate side of the real estate industry in 1988, focusing on relocation and real estate owned (REO) properties. Since that time, she has served as a vice president with four major real estate companies, including her former role at Long & Foster, and she is currently president of Corporate Real Estate Services (CRES) at Long & Foster Real Estate. As president of CRES, Richie oversees the company’s relocation, REO and e-Real estate departments, as well as Metro Referrals and SMARTMOVE.
She has earned Worldwide ERC’s Meritorious Service Award and four Worldwide ERC Distinguished Service Awards. She was also inducted into Worldwide ERC’s Hall of Leaders in 2010. Richie holds the Senior Certified Relocation Professional (SCRP) designation and the Senior Global Mobility Specialist – Talent (SGMS-T) designation. She has served on numerous Worldwide ERC committees and currently serves as chairman of the Board of Directors for Worldwide ERC. Richie has also written several articles for MOBILITY magazine and was a former trustee on Worldwide ERC’s Foundation for Workforce Mobility.
Richie was recognized with the President’s Service Award from Leading Real Estate Companies of the World and is a lifetime member of Montclair Who’s Who in Real Estate. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Texas at Dallas and currently resides in Northern Virginia.