JOHN W. CHILES, JR.
RESUME

You’ve probably already looked at the properties I have listed for sale and at the examples of some of my recent sales. You’ve noticed that I included much specific information. I guess that’s my civil engineering background coming into play. Let me start at the beginning.

I’m originally from Natural Bridge Station, Virginia. (It’s between Lexington and Roanoke.) My family moved to Northern Virginia when I was small and I became well known at McLean High School. From there I attended Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. Much to the amazement of many, I escaped from the Institute with a BS in Civil Engineering. Because I ended up in the top quarter of my class, I believe that I personally contributed to the revisions the Institute made to the grading system.

The following Saturday, I married Judy, the girl I flipped for when we were both sixteen. Yes, high school sweethearts! Our daughter is an optometrist. Our son is in college with heavy concentration on surfing.

I worked for what is now the Virginia Department of Transportation in Fairfax, Richmond, Christiansburg, Edinburg and back to Fairfax. My final assignment was Engineer in Charge of Maintenance for Fairfax and Arlington Counties in Northern Virginia. Talk about time for a change!

I started a commercial roofing corporation and I sold it. I started a residential roofing company. In the winter when it was too cold to roof, I shut that company down. During the winters I started freelance writing. I wrote freelance for six years. Judy was after me the whole time to finish the roofing book I had started. When I finished "The Complete Guide to Home Roofing Installation and Maintenance", it hit the best-seller list for my publisher. I think it would have sold even better if they had used my original title, "How To Do It Yourself and Avoid the Sixty Ways Your Roofer Can Nail You." I am currently working on a how-to book on real estate. I won’t tell you the title yet.

We bought a rental house on the Outer Banks and each trip we hated more and more to go back home to Fairfax. In 1994, we just didn’t. I thought I would move to the Outer Banks to write and try a little real estate. My (and now our) real estate effort has grown to the point that Judy works with me full time. The old saying is, "If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it."