Local REALTOR® Explains Why Home Is Where the Heart Is

REALTOR® Ryan Paul Johnson spoke at one of the Arizona Storytellers Project events

I met my wife Amy in the summer of 2002. We got married two years later and then a year after that found ourselves moving to Durham, North Carolina.

I graduated from Phoenix Seminary, but wanted to be a college professor. I was going to have to get another doctorate, (but) halfway through my first semester at Duke Divinity School, I decided to drop out of that program.

We had bought a house and I didn’t know what to do. Amy’s dad called and offered me a job back here in Chandler. So, I just said yes and we put our house up and it sold. An NPR station was willing to accept my car as a donation, so it just felt like moving back was the right thing to do.

We packed up a giant, yellow Penske truck with all our belongings and started driving back across the the country. The fourth night, we’re on the I-10 and we see our exit for Ray Road. We both turned to each other and we’re like (laughing), “What did we just do?”

After six months, I quit working for her dad and got into real estate. It was 2008, the market was crashing and there was a huge opportunity in short sales, so I got in. I learned how to negotiate short sales, and it was like “really easy” because everyone wanted to get rid of their house.

(Now we live) right in between her parents and my parents and…at every stop along the way, Amy and I have been happy together. When I found Amy, I found my home.

In addition to selling real estate, Ryan Paul Johnson does standup comedy at ImprovMANIA in Chandler.

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