The reason why I made the commitment to work as an Exclusive Buyer’s Agent is that I do not believe real estate agents can do a good and responsible job of representing the buyer unless committed 100% to that focus -- 100% of the time. As an Exclusive Buyer’s Agent for real estate on Martha's Vineyard, I am able to give you the attention you deserve without reservation or any confusion as to my loyalty. I am not conflicted in any way. I am paid for my services out of the proceeds of the transaction and because I work to obtain the best terms and lowest price for my clients, my fee is affected proportionately. However, my reward for doing a good job is that my clients do not hesitate to recommend me to their friends and others who want the Martha's Vineyard experience, and that is how I grow my business.

Who I Am: A Short Auto-Biography
"I am a 'washashore', a New Yorker..." he says, with a quick glance over his shoulder. Actually, it is more accurate to say I am a Vineyarder, because this is where my true heart is now, although I still have a warm spot in my heart for the Yanks and Manhattan. However, when it comes to passion, the Red Sox and the New England Patriots take the prize -- I love passion.

I was born and raised in northern Westchester County, just 35 miles north of New York City. My mother was a teacher; she taught music, French and English. My father was an Art Director for House & Garden magazine. In college I majored in advertising art and design. I spent four years in the military with the United States Air Force and I am a Veteran having served in the Viet Nam war. I was stationed in DaNang, South Viet Nam from 1969 to 1970. After my discharge from the military, I worked for a number of years as a textile print designer and then transitioned into a career in women's apparel, based in New York City. I was responsible for merchandising, marketing, sales management and startups for leading manufacturers in the women's fashion industry.

My first introduction to Martha's Vineyard Island was in 1967 when my family purchased a home here and became seasonal residents. I immediately realized what a very special place this is. During my career in New York I worked long hours and traveled quite a bit. Martha's Vineyard had made such an imprint in my mind and soul that I spent every minute of my limited vacation time on Martha's Vineyard and always left the Island with an ache in my heart, because I could not spend more time here. Like many people during the "me generation" 80's who were my age, I finally decided there was more to the riches of life than a 60 to 70 hour work week could provide, so I decided to follow my heart.

Peter and his first Bluefish 2004 Photo by J. Piekos

My life took a 180-degree turn in 1988 when serendipity showed me the way to make a dream come true. I became a year round citizen on this magical Island of Martha's Vineyard, and I have never looked back. I live in West Tisbury, in a beautiful location close to the water -- although every location is close to the water on this Island. My wife and I have four grown boys and one cat. We love the outdoors -- so does the cat. We enjoy gardening and landscaping, beach walks, trips into Boston for the symphony and museums, as well as staying close to our four sons. One of our sons lives on the Vineyard and has found a good career as well as being a lieutenant with the local volunteer fire department. One lives in South Miami and is an executive chef at a 4+ star hotel, and another son has a successful web design business in Tampa, Florida. Our oldest son lives in Las Vegas and is a personal fitness and nutrition consultant. When I am not working for my clients I try to spend as much time as I can with my wonderful wife and my few good friends. If I have any more free time I like tinkering with cars and motorcycles. I have renewed my relationship with sport fishing, although I have to admit when I am out on our many magical beaches, I get lost in the wonderment of this incredible Island I live on. I forget I am supposed to be fishing. My wife works for a prestigious Island law firm as a paralegal, and is a song writer. It seems like everyone here does more than one thing. Her passions are music, photography, hiking, dance, our boys and me." (No glance back over my shoulder on this one.)

My full time career has been in real estate sales and marketing on Martha's Vineyard since 1989. I earned my Broker license in 1991 and I worked as a real estate appraiser for a number of years.

I believe that Knowledge is Power. This applies not only to educating my clients, it applies to me too. I am proud of the eight Designations and Certifications I hold, earned solely through extensive educational classroom hours, and years of full-time real estate experience.

Designations and Certifications:
CRS®: Certified Real Estate Specialist
GRI: Graduate REALTOR® Institute
ABR®: Accredited Buyer Representative
CBR®: Certified Buyer Representative
SRES®: Seniors Real Estate Specialist
RSPS: Resort and Second Home Property Specialist (Charter Member #128)
e-PRO: Internet Technology Professional
SFR: Short Sales and Foreclosure Resource
LMC: Loss Mitigation Certified Specialist (Short Sales and REO's)

Memberships:
NAR: National Association of REALTORS®
MAR: Massachusetts Association of REALTORS®
CCIAOR: Cape Cod & Islands Association of REALTORS®
REBAC: Real Estate Buyer's Agent Council of REALTORS®
NAEBA: National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents
MABA: Massachusetts Association of Buyer Agents
LINKMV: Listing Information Network MV ~ (Including Database Design Task Force)

Martha's Vineyard Island is not for everyone. If you have never been here, you need to visit and see for yourself the varied life styles that are available here within the six distinctively different towns on Martha's Vineyard Island. If you have been here and if every time you leave the Island you experience an ache in your heart let me show you how to make that ache go away and your dream come true.

Why I'm Passionate about what I do
This is a true story. I bought my first home in the 70's. I was young, newly married with a new family and starting to build my career. Even back then, buying a home was a huge decision, and we were very nervous about spending what to us was a fortune. However, our advisors told us to make the investment. We were able to put a considerable amount of money down so that our monthly loan payment would be manageable. House hunting became somewhat of a full time job for my wife and our baby -- I had an office job. We looked at night, we looked on weekends and my wife looked in between. All tolled I think my wife looked at 60 to 75 homes, "our" real estate agent ran us ragged. We told her what we were looking for, but she kept showing us everything. I never thought the day would come, but finally my wife called me and said she had found our dream home.

I will never forget the day I first went to look at our "dream home", accompanied by "our" real estate agent, who was also the listing agent. It was a picture perfect autumn afternoon, clear and sunny and the tree leaves were a blaze of color the 2400sf multi-level contemporary 3-bedroom house sat dramatically up on a rock ledge and looked down through the woods onto a lake. It was a beautiful 3-acre lot of majestic oak trees and huge rock outcroppings. The sun was streaming in through the plate glass window wall and the owner was baking brownies in the kitchen, so the house smelled delicious. The house looked beautiful and I loved the land (location, location, location).

When we first started our property search, I made it clear to "our" broker that I could not live in a house where there had been animals, because I had allergies. The broker assured me that there had been no pets in this house -- did I see any? Did I look? Should I have looked? After a brief discussion for guidance with "our" agent, we made an offer. To our surprise it was accepted. We listened to our agent but I always wondered if our offer was too high.

It was time to do our due diligence. I wanted a structural home inspection. My wife's uncle was an engineer and graciously volunteered to inspect the house for free saying he knew what to look for. He spent 45 minutes looking at it and said everything was fine.

I am jumping ahead to a few days after the closing. We packed up all of our belongings into a rented U-haul and drove to our new dream home. I finally started taking a really good look at the house and what is my second most favorite "man area" next to the garage -- the basement. I went in and closed the basement door, something I had not done from the inside of the basement. There, on the back of the door, were huge scratch marks that must have been made by a large animal. Kujo? I continued to look around and in a small dark corner under the stairs; I found an area that had obviously been used for a long time as a kitty litter box -- without the box. It was disgusting. I found out subsequently from a neighbor that the former owners did have pets, a Great Dane and cats. I also found out that the couple was getting a divorce, so that may explain why when we were looking at the house there were no pets -- and no husband. Someone had custody of them -- I mean the pets. Needless to say, I was plagued by allergies all that winter, especially when I went into my second most favorite "man area".

Now let's fast forward to late winter when the snow is on the ground and the ice is starting to thaw. I was down in the basement one day and noticed some wet spots. Those wet spots got wetter as the winter thaw progressed and finally there was a stream running through my basement. It was a mess and cost thousands of dollars to mitigate with an elaborate foundation drainage system and foundation sealing. I realize that we cannot be protected from every single defect in a house, but if I had contracted a licensed structural inspector instead of my wife's uncle, I would surely have been made aware of pre-existing problems like moisture in the basement, etc. Remember my other favorite location -- the garage; well, the pipes froze that winter. My inspector would also have found the plumbing defects and related structural deficiencies. If I had hired an exclusive buyer agent, instead of thinking the listing agent would take care of us (she took care of us all right), I would have had a better chance at learning more details. I also think we would have paid less for the house. This is one reason why I am so passionate about what I do, and I promise you I will do my utmost to ensure that you are informed and knowledgeable about the property you spend your hard earned money on.



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