Tetherball Dave always comes back to the Heights

 

Dave Iacobucci came by his profession honestly: he grew up with it.

 

"My mother, Lena, got into real estate in 1963, and became one of the top realtors in Vancouver,? he points out. No small feat for a woman in the 1960s.  His father renovated homes for a living. ?Between the two of them, I ended up in real estate, myself" Dave says.

 

He began his real estate career in North Burnaby in the 1980s. His life took him from Burnaby to Spain and back again.

 

Dave married an English woman who had grown up in Spain - so, seeking a different pace and a different scene, the two of them moved there in the early 1990s and enjoyed living in Madrid for 14 years.

 

Did he become a real estate mogul in that Spanish city?

 

"Actually, I opened a Harley Davidson dealership," Dave recounts, with a grin. Always a fan of the bike, he saw a niche he could fill in Spain.

 

When he returned to the Lower Mainland, he looked for another niche and turned to what he knew best. A company specializing in demographic surveys determined that North Burnaby could use more real estate agents that specialize in the area and know it well.

 

"I like the area and I feel comfortable here. I had to go to a market that I fit into. I grew up in East Van, but I fit in here," Dave says. "My Italian-ness helps, too."

 

"I think it's the hottest area. There is so much potential here."His friends tease him by calling him 'Tetherball Dave' because he never swings too far from home.

 

So, he decided to specialize in North Burnaby and the Heights, and focus on this area, and nowhere else. He says that makes him unusual in the field.

"A lot of realtors don't want to specialize in an area. But the question is, don't you want someone who really knows one market?"

 

Dave lives with his wife in a condominium just south of the Heights, near Brentwood. In his spare time, he plays bass guitar and rides a Harley. He dreams of wanting to help young people who are trying to find their way in life. He continues to live his passion: working in real estate.

 

"I don't know why people don't like Mondays," Dave says. "For me, it's an opportunity to start all over again."