.

We've had some wonderful recent awards. Denise and Nancy Jo were 2 of the 13 highest individuals (as opposed to “Teams”) in the whole Belleville Board last year.  Nancy Jo, incredibly, was the second highest individual in the whole board, with Denise close behind.   In a new awards system, both received the “Diamond” award, 2 of just 23

recipients.

Paul Ottwein, working from the Edwardsville office received the “Pearl” award for last year's work, and the top category of “Garnet”, when he was by far the top individual buyer-side agent in the Gateway Board of Realtors. 

 
They all say however that they couldn’t have done it without the support of the whole team, especially Debbie Carroll and Mary Ades.

(Anytime one goes to the SW Illinois data base, and searches for buying-side stats on individual agents, the top three positions will almost always be held by Paul, Nancy Jo and Denise….)

Denise Carter, Nancy Jo Mitchell and Paul Ottwein were also named  “Best in Client Satisfaction” by St. Louis Magazine.

This award names all three among less than 6% of all St. Louis area real estate agents as measured by a client satisfaction survey of more than 20,000 respondents.   The majority of those casting votes were actual St. Louis area home buyers, along with some input from human resource managers in the St. Louis area and relocation companies.  Management of the survey was outsourced by the magazine to an independent research firm.

The announcement appeared in the April issue of St. Louis Magazine. The measures were: “knowledge of the market, representation of the clients’ interests and operating with an emphasis upon integrity and service.”

That's several in a row for all of them, with this new award series.

Finally, at the National Association of Realtors annual conference in San Francisco, Merrill was inducted into the REBAC “Hall of Fame”, just 1 of 4 from a membership of 80,000.  REBAC stands for “Real Estate Buyers Agent Council”, and it’s a subsidiary of the National Association of Realtors. Merrill has been active in NAEBA…the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents, was a charter member, served as its first treasurer and 4th president. REBAC’s award was for Merrill’s leadership in blending the interests of the two organizations.  In the picture taken of Merrill receiving the award from his friend, Charles Dahlheimer, he’s holding a “Fostoria” box, containing a piece of engraved crystal.  Although he didn’t know it, the “Fostoria Green” box is known by many, so in the hours after the award, the box itself became quite a conversation piece as friends and passers-by recognized its significance…”Better than a puppy!”, he quipped.

 
And while we’re on the subject of “Associations”, we always like to show this picture of the first four presidents of NAEBA, The National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents, along with Ralph Nader, who had just given an address at an annual meeting.   Merrill said he was very much impressed with Mr. Nader, and that he was smart and engaging and very very witty….a side that’s not seen much otherwise.

Merrill has been in Cambridge's “Who’s Who in America” for many years!  He’s a frequent contributor to several national columnists in the real estate field, so you could see quotations from him in papers nationwide from time to time.