Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Homes

Burns is named SILVAR's Realtor of the Year

By Rose Meily

Each year, the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors honors a real estate professional who has demonstrated excellence as a Realtor, as a community advocate and member. This trade association of the real estate industry represents more than 3,800 members in the South Bay. This year, the award for 2005 was presented to Mark Burns, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker in Cupertino.

He radiates energy and he has a remarkable sense of humor. He is candid, and can sometimes be brutally frank. But Burns is also honest, hardworking and takes great pride in the community in which he lives and in what he does best--selling and buying homes for individuals and families. Because of all these traits, it's not surprising Burns was selected 2005 Realtor of the Year by the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors.

Burns is a native of Saratoga, the youngest of six children. He attended Cupertino and Saratoga schools, then moved on to Archbishop Mitty High School and pursued a finance degree at Santa Clara University.

The Silicon Valley region is his home. Ask him anything about it; he knows it well. If he doesn't know the answer, he will find out. It is his goal to learn everything about real estate. He says he "lives, eats and breathes the industry." After all, he's been a Realtor for 21 years.

Being a Realtor, says Burns, just seemed "a natural outgrowth" of many service-oriented jobs he undertook as a young lad. You name it, Burns has done it--bell captain, bus boy, bartender, cook. In every job he's had, his philosophy has always been, "If you want to do well in any job, you need to work hard." And Burns has worked hard.

Some of his distinctions for highest sales production include 2002-05 Coldwell Banker President's Premier award, 2001 Coldwell Banker President's Elite award, 2000 Grand Centurion Award and 2000 Century 21 Masters Hall of Fame. At the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors, he currently serves as 2006 president-elect and Sunnyvale/Cupertino District director, past chairman and current trustee of the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors Political Action Committee, SILVAR Local Government Relations liaison for the SILVAR/Cupertino-Sunnyvale District and chairman of the West Valley local government relations committee.

Realtors today face much greater challenges than when he started in the business two decades ago. Burns says, "You're becoming more and more a risk evaluator; you're less and less a salesperson. You're more and more concerned about legal, tax and liability issues."

His advice to other Realtors is to do what he does every day: "Learn more, and learn as much as you can about everything in the business. You can't stop learning."

Burns loves what he does. He notes, "As a Realtor, you are truly in charge of your destiny. It's a job that requires individual effort and rewards. The harder I work and the more time I spend, the better things work out for the benefit of my clients."

The Silicon Valley Realtor also likes to convey advice he learned from his late mother, whom he greatly admired. Lessons he's learned from her and abides by include, "You need to tighten your belt, not spend more."

Burns, who is single, is also very involved in the community. He has served as director of the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce board of directors 13 of the past 15 years, and was Chamber president in 2003 and vice president before that. He is a member of the Cupertino Rotary Club, YMCA Heritage Club, Mitty High School Monarch Circle and the Cupertino Middle Schools task force. He is a regular contributor to the Northwest YMCA, Cupertino Community Services, Youth Science Institute, Cupertino Educational Endowment Foundation, Rotary Foundation, Cupertino Art and Wine Festival and Mitty High School.

Despite recent news of slower home sales, Burns remains positive. "The market conditions today are all part of a number of cycles," according to Burns. "It's seasonal cycles, but also overlayed by cycles of months and years. You have to look at everything in the long term."

Burns makes no apologies about housing affordability in the Bay Area. He says, "It's like playing at a high stakes table; you have to come prepared to play high stakes. It's expensive living here--sure it is--but look at the opportunities!"

Whether you live in Cupertino, Los Gatos, Saratoga, Sunnyvale or San Jose, Santa Clara County, even more than San Francisco, is a great place to live, according to Burns. "We have all the amenities here, and don't have 24 hours of pure activity."

Burns explains, "Despite what some people may see as a slump in the market, the market is just being normal. Real estate in the Silicon Valley area will always continue its upward trend. It's been that way for 100 years.

"It's very obvious where it has been and where it's going. It's been a continuous ride up because the opportunities here are phenomenal. There's the weather, the jobs, the massive diversity of economic factors, the different kinds of people, the different kinds of jobs, etc. We're the most talented and diverse area in the world, on the whole planet! This is where a lot of the cool stuff happens. It's a fun place to live. And because of that, everyone wants to live here, so the demand for housing will always be there."

Burns notes, "People in Silicon Valley work very hard to realize their dream of home ownership, and it's been gratifying for me to be able to use all the knowledge and experience I have gained to help many individuals and families attain their dream. My clients are the ultimate winners, and I'm glad to be able to help them in every way I can."