Entering the business world in 1973 as a box boy in a grocery store,
I moved up the ladder to eventually become a manager and was content in my career path. However, after 14 years, the company was purchased by a major chain, and after working for the new company for a couple of years, I realized I no longer had the same ambition for the job.

My wife Laura suggested that I quit the grocery business and start a new career but what? I was faced with a very tough decision. Here I was in my late 30s with the grocery industry being the only business I knew. We had recently purchased a home in San Dimas, California and I noticed that one real estate office seemed to dominate the neighborhood; their signs seemed to appear everywhere. After much thought and discussion, Laura and I decided it was worth exploring opportunities in real estate. After months of study, I took the tests, passed, and walked into the real estate office that had caught my attention, and asked for a job. When the broker discovered my management and customer service background, he hired me.

I worked hard to learn the real estate business, and earned a comfortable living. With the onset of the Gulf War, the real estate market, along with the economy in general, took a turn for the worse. I found myself in a career with very little income, and my first child was on the way.

To ensure a steady income, I made a couple of calls to friends in the grocery business and was able to get a part-time job on the night crew stocking shelves. During the day, I continued to work real estate and was building a reputation as a pro-active, honest and caring agent. At night, while stocking shelves, I would wear head phones and listen to cassette tapes on how to pass the real estate broker’s exam. In 1992, I passed the test and opened California Preferred Properties.

In the 50’s and 60’s my dad sold Fords, later on Plymouths and Chevys. As a salesman he would drive a demo home each day and when I learned to drive it was in one of the demos.

When my dad opened his own lot in Covina I became the detail boy. When he took a car-in-trade that I liked I would talk him out of it. Today when I check out the inside of a cool old car it brings back fond memories. I’ve owned many cars in my lifetime and after 40 years I restored a ‘69 Roadrunner just like the one I had in high school.

My sisters and brothers still trade cars and you never know who will be driving what. The love of old cars is a Nash Family tradition.