S.E.C. Real Estate Observer

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Biography

Ciao (Italian), Hallo (Afrikaner), Xio Chao (Vietnamese), Bonjour (French), or Heebue (Arapaho Indian).

Chances are John Tyler has used these greetings of “Hello” at some point in his life. John is remarkably well-traveled; in fact, the love of travel and a desire to learn new things and meet new people have been key factors in shaping John’s personal and professional life.

John “Tiny Tim” Tyler Sr. and Dorothy “Dottie” Franklin welcomed their first child, John Tyler Jr. into their prestigious family on July 1, 1947 in North Adams, Massachusetts. While John was born in the Northeast, he actually grew up in the Northwest, as his dad moved the family to Denver when John was just eight months old. The Tyler family has long been a prominent family with ties to President John Tyler, the nation’s tenth president and to the Roosevelt family as well.

John Sr. is a 93-year-old retired banker and real estate developer who served with the 10th Mountain Division during World War II. John Sr. taught his son two key lessons he has used throughout his life. First, he taught John never to quit on anything, no matter how difficult it may be. One of John’s greatest strengths is his ability to doggedly work through problems to create a solution.

As a real estate investor, John Sr. advocated holding real estate for the long term. The second key lesson he taught his son was “Never give up on land,” and John has and John has followed this philosophy throughout his career by holding onto assets in both good and bad times.

Dottie Tyler married John’s father in New York City shortly after WWII ended. Dottie was a homemaker who raised John and his siblings to have impeccable manners. In honor of his mother, John later published a book on manners. John’s deep respect for women came from the love and respect he had for his mother. Dottie also fostered one of John’s greatest talents, the art of conversation. Dottie was the conversationalist of the family, and she imbued the idea into her children that you never know if you are sitting next to a queen or a janitor, so be friendly and make whomever you are talking to feel comfortable and special. If you have ever had a chance to spend time with John, you know that he is open, friendly, and a great listener.

As a young boy John became intrigued with the idea of helping Native American Indians. His grandfather, an Episcopal minister to the Arapaho Indians in Wyoming, was made a “blood brother” of the tribe. John, who began writing a book about the plight of the Sioux Indians in the fourth grade, decided he would become an attorney to represent Native American causes.

After graduating from Salisbury Preparatory school in Connecticut, John went to Stanford University to pursue his dream of becoming an attorney. He graduated in 1970 with a degree in political science, and the table was set for him to go to law school. However, John’s life took a change when, by pure chance, John met Ilga, a beautiful Latvian girl who was born in Germany, and they were married 11 months later. With a family to care for, John took a job in the insurance industry, and the timing just never worked out for law school.

After spending a dozen years in the insurance business, he founded a small janitorial maintenance company and grew it from just a few employees to over 300. Despite the company’s success, John was not happy being tied to a desk and dealing with the headaches that running this type of business entails.

John missed the ability to travel, meet new people, learn new things, and be intellectually challenged. John sold his company in 1999 and decided to enter the world of real estate full time.

John originally obtained his real estate license in Denver, Colorado, in 1985 while managing his janitorial company.

Selling real estate appealed to him because he could set his own schedule and meet new people every day, and it constantly presented new challenges. Real estate is a thinking person’s game in which no two deals are exactly alike. It allowed him to help others solve their real estate problems. Plus, he was able to take time to travel, and there were no limits to what he could earn.

After several years handling bank receiverships, John met Ted Blank in 2006 at a Mile High Exchangers meeting. Ted invited him to his first S.E.C. meeting in Denver, and John was sold on the organization and what it stood for in the industry. Instead of the heartbreak of helping take away people’s property as a receiver, the S.E.C. group showed him how to help people solve their real estate and investment problems. Transactions were geared to be win-win for all parties, and the agents actually worked together to attain those results.

After that meeting, John shifted the focus of his company, Cherry Creek Partners, LLC, toward 1031 exchanges, commercial investment properties, and oil- and gas-related investments. He began attending regional and national marketing sessions as a way to network with like-minded professionals and to learn everything he could.

John loves the diverse personalities in the Society because they keep the organization fresh and interesting. Despite this diversity, the members always show respect for one another and go out of their way to help one another. In other words, as John put it, the S.E.C. is one large extended family. The members may argue, disagree, and chastise one another, but in the end they love each other and have each other’s backs.

This year John will be celebrating his 69th birthday, and he has no plans of slowing down. He fully expects to be doing deals in the S.E.C. for at least the next 15 years between trips with Ilga to visit his three daughters, six grandsons, and one granddaughter. While John may not be running the Boston Marathon again, as he did in 1979, he stays very active and is working on his golf game a little more regularly.