At the end of the very successful and well attended (500+) Real Estate Bar Camp Phoenix 2010, Jay Thompson stood before the crowd and thanked, very graciously, Calie Waterhouse, Nick Bastian and myself for our volunteer efforts. Jay also gave each of us a $25 dollar gift card as an extra bonus. A very thoughtful gesture on his part, to say the least.

All of that was well and good until I realized that I had missed the opportunity to thank the one person that didn’t get thanked in person.  And that is Jay Thompson.

So I am taking this opportunity to remedy that situation.

Jay did an outstanding job again this year in leading the volunteers to a successful REBCPhx. He has also done a lot for me personally, whether he knows it or not he has inspired me and countless others to be better and do better in our industry. He has been an outstanding friend and colleague and I am proud to call him as much. I want to publicly thank him for all he does all year round.

So I am going to say thank you to Jay in a way that I think honors him and what he has done for me. In addition to this post, I am going to add to my $25 gift card from Jay and give $100 to DanKeitz.com.

If you don’t know, Dan Keitz is a friend of Jay’s that has been diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) and CIDP (Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy). Jay set him up with a website and has been raising money for him. You can read Jay’s post about him here and visit his website here.

While I have never personally met Dan, Jay has shared a few stories about how fun and generous Dan is and Jay’s word is good enough for me.

I hope you will consider doing the same.

Thanks again Jay, for everything.

I know this will be hard for some to believe but there is evidence that Phoenix is experiencing a mini sales boom. In January 2008 there were 2,912 homes sold and last month, December 2008, there were 5,514 homes sold, that means a 90% increase in homes sold in 2008.  FYI, last month wasn’t the highest month either, just check out his chart.

Even in this economy and all the gloom and doom coming from the media the Phoenix area is not the only city experiencing this boom.  In fact, according to this article from REALTOR®.org there are at least 9 others, here, read the article for yourself, its short. You can find it here.

Max Pigman, Vice President of REALTOR®.com said, “There is more opportunity in this market than there has been in the last 30 years, for buyers and sellers.”

I agree and I think a 90% increase in one year proves that quite a few other people believe it too.