numbers tell the story.

20 In millions, the number of unique visitors worldwide (more than 5 million in the United States alone) who visited Google+ in its first three weeks.

60 Percent of real estate professionals who say they believe REO-related disputes will increase over the next two years.

77 Percent of real estate professionals who reported that closing short sale transactions is “difficult” or “extremely difficult.”

82 Percent of people who use some kind of social media on a regular basis.

$4,070 Nationally, the average cost for origination and title fees on a $200,000 mortgage.

Name: Location:

Firm: Local Association:

I’m originally from the Panama Canal Zone. My dad’s parents came to Panama in the early 1900s from Finland, and my grandfather worked as a dredge engineer on the Canal. My dad was in the Navy and then went back to Panama, where he met my mom, who was a Navy Lieutenant nurse stationed in the Canal. My older brother, sister and I were all raised there. It was a great place to grow up.

Jody Wainio Wilmington Buyer’s Choice Realty Wilmington Regional Association of REALTORS® with his wife, two daughters and son. I taught their youngest – Freddy – how to drive a golf cart when he was eight years old. Soon after, he was driving – no speeding – down the fairway and the whole golf cart came off the ground. He really scared himself. He almost wanted to cry, and then he saw me laughing and was OK with it. We always tell that story, even now. They’re great kids. I wish they lived closer. I really miss them.

Growing up in the Panama Canal Zone, there was only one English speaking channel and it was only on part of the day, so there was very little TV watching. We spent most of our time playing football, playing “forts in the jungle,” riding bikes, and playing golf. We also learned Spanish at a very young age. We went to government schools because our parents were civil service employees and the schools were great. We got a great education in Panama.

When I was 16, we moved from the Panama Canal to Alabama and, boy, was that a culture change! In Panama, there was a lot of cultural diversity. We went to school with the Panamanians, and worked with them; we were all a big family. It was very different when we moved back to the United States. I also saw snow for the first time within two weeks of moving to Alabama.

I went to Louisiana State University for 2 1/2 years and played golf – go Tigers! Then I had an opportunity to come to the University of North Carolina at Wilmington for my last year and a half, where I got to play a lot more. It was fun to be a college athlete but very distracting. It was hard work. We got to travel some and we had practice every day. It was hard to do that and keep up a social life, not to mention my academics.

My sister and mother both live in Wilmington, which is great. My brother lives in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.,

My two golden retrievers are my kids. I have a 10-yearold dog, Holly, and a two-year-old named Chloe. Chloe is the instigator, but she has really kept Holly young and active and Holly has, in return, trained Chloe to be a good dog. When I got Chloe, I was not intending to get another dog. Two little puppies were left in someone’s backyard, and my friend called encouraging me to take one of them. I said, “We’ll get her here, and I’ll find her a home if I don’t keep her myself.” I had her for four days and that was that – I had to keep her. She’s here to stay.

In 2012, I’ll be the president of Homes4NC. There are two programs we want to implement. First, there is the Quality of Life program that will center around donations from REALTORS®. If they donate a certain amount, they will get a Quality of Life pin. We are also working on initiating projects where we ask for each region to work on a larger-scale affordable housing project and through that, we would do matching grants. I also want to focus on getting our name out there and becoming a more well-known organization.

Specifically Homes4NC and, in general, just giving back to the community means a lot to me because of how I was raised. When you live in a foreign country and you see the poverty, and you live right next to it because it wasn’t segregated in Panama like it is here, you learn how important it is to give and look past those things that aren’t important. You just want to help people. n