What does a former high school business teacher/athletic coach have in common with Goldendale’s #1 real estate agent in 2016? If you’re Robert Wing, everything! Athletics taught him to deal with adversity and have a plan when working toward goals. Business is part of his fiber. And having grown up in an agricultural community picking cherries, moving sprinkler lines and cutting asparagus in the summers, he understands the value of hard work.

Nearing the end of his coaching career in 2006 after 20 years, Robert followed a passion and got his real estate license. David Telford, a former student, gave him a job. He continued teaching while building his real estate business, working through the recession in 2008. “Staying in business put me in a very good position when the market rebounded in our area,” he says. “The last three years have been great.” Now a managing broker for Dryside Property, he serves Goldendale, Klickitat County and the Columbia Gorge with about a 80 percent repeat and referral rate.

“Great communication is key,” he says. “I attribute much of that to my teaching background. Having to explain things and understand that students had different learning styles helped me realize that my clients are the same. I quickly find the best way to communicate with them.” Besides working hard to achieve his clients’ goals, Robert has an extensive network of contacts, from contractors to lenders to home inspectors. He makes sure his clients’ needs are met by reliable people.

Robert’s outdoor hobbies have allowed him to photograph wildlife and scenery in many different settings. This experience has transferred to photographing his listings. He keeps his camera gear updated and shoots a step-by-step pictorial progression, “as though you were walking through the house,” he says. He uses three websites, a Facebook page and Zillow, Trulia and Landwatch to market his listings, along with his own page in the print edition of the Gorge Buyers’ Guide and strategic advertising in the local newspaper.

Robert finds so much of real estate enjoyable, from the legal aspects of a transaction to helping people find the right fit to marketing. He would have loved to have had a better grasp of the field earlier. “My wife and I bought an older fixer upper,” he says. “It’s a nice home now, but it was a poor investment. I wish I had a real estate mentor to learn from.” To play it forward, as it were, his last few years of teaching he taught financial management with a real estate segment, to give high school students a foundation he never had.

In his free time, he’s a board member of the local chamber of commerce and plans to play a part in the revitalization of a community that has been economically depressed. For fun, he likes to flyfish, hunt, train Small Munsterlander dogs and play tennis. “Every couple of months, my wife and I travel to a tennis tournament somewhere new! I’d never have been able to do this if I hadn’t made the decision to get my real estate license,” he says.

Reflecting on real estate makes him appreciate the mentors he’s had in life, from Charles Guatney, a professor who taught him how to run a business, to Dennis Birney, a fellow teacher who set the example of how to be a great teacher and coach, to David Telford and his current broker, Jennifer Mitchell, who taught him the basics of the profession. “Having great mentors is so important for success,” he says. “The flip side is, there’s a responsibility on my part now to be a mentor to others.” That’s a mission Robert certainly will continue to fulfill.

For more information about Robert Wing of Dryside Property, Goldendale, Washington, please visit goldendalerealty.com, call 509.250.0357 or email rob@drysideproperty.com.