MARIO CAREY NUMBER ONE

December 2000 Table of Contents

MARIO CAREY NUMBER ONE TEN YEARS IN A ROW

If Mario Carey had been a quarterback, they'd have retired his jersey. Most valuable player not once, twice, three times but ten years in a row. But Carey didn't turn pro in athletics, though he could have. A one-time swim team captain at a top Florida school, the Nassau native earned his bachelor's degree in real estate from Florida State University, became a certified appraiser, set records working in the fastest growing city in the US, then returned to Nassau where the hometown hero became a real estate industry icon.

"If there were a gold medal in this business, Mario Carey would have won it," said Larry Roberts, a partner at Bahamas Realty where Carey, the 41-year-old soft-spoken superstar salesman, celebrates being number one salesman ten years straight. "And Mario has not only been number one at Bahamas Realty every year for ten years, he's been one of the top producers in the nation. With nearly 500 people licensed to practice real estate in The Bahamas today, that's a remarkable record. Mario works hard, knows the market, pays attention to detail and is always trying to learn more. He never rests on his laurels."

Carey also holds the industry's two highest professional qualifications, CRS and CIPS certifications. A look beyond the super salesman nickname reveals a complex man, quietly generous, always creative.

Mario Carey grew up in modest surroundings in a highly ambitious family, attended Queen's College in Nassau, was Head Boy at St Andrew's School in Boca Raton, Florida, where he was captain of the swim team, dorm head and one of the most popular kids on campus. He turned down offers of college scholarships in swimming from several schools and enrolled at FSU in Tallahassee, one of the few schools that offered a degree in real estate and where his brother was studying. After graduation, Carey returned to Nassau for a year to run a family parasail business, then headed off to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange for two years. Tired of the bitter cold, he packed his bags and re-located to Tampa, then the fastest-growing city in the US.

"Everyone was selling real estate so I wanted to find a special niche," says Carey. He became an appraiser and set his first records, top performer at Bay Area Appraisal Services seven years straight. When the lure of home called, he joined Bahamas Realty.

"There is a real team feeling here," said Carey, now married and the father of two, sponsor of fund-raisers for the Centre for the Deaf and other causes. "Bahamas Realty is not like a lot of family-owned real estate businesses in The Bahamas where there is limited opportunity for newcomers. There's no place else I could have made partner in five years. Here, everything we do, we do it to better the company. I think that's why we've grown from one to five offices, a staff of 34, why Sotheby's chose us as their local residential affiliate and C B Richard Ellis as their commercial affiliate. The leadership is inspiring and unselfish, everyone encourages you."

For Carey's tenth record-setting year, that "inspiring and unselfish leadership" threw their top performer a party. Their gift to the driven salesman: a new golf club, a driver, with the No 1 on its cover.

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