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David Chard has spent his entire working life helping clients to make big financial decisions, first as a private banker in New York and more recently as a real estate agent in Fairfield and Southport with the Greenfield Hill Realty Group, part of the Higgins Group.
As a banker, Chard dealt with the special needs of high net worth clients. Among other things, he counseled them on the purchase of their homes and helped them navigate the complexities of mortgage financing. Then the market changed.
"I left what I was doing at the end of 2008," Chard says. "It was a sad and depressing time in the investment world."
But Chard's longtime interest in houses, in particular in Fairfield, his hometown for the past 25 years, led him to Rick Higgins, owner of the Higgins Group.
He finds that selling homes is not all that different from what he did as a banker. Patience, understanding and caring are the qualities needed when helping people make financial decisions. And buying a home is often the biggest financial decision a person will make.
What Chard enjoys most is getting to know people and learning what he can do to help them. He mentions a young couple who were renting while they waited to buy. "I saw a home that was perfect for them," he says. "I called them, and they bought it in a day. I met their needs."
Helping people, whether they're high net worth clients or the family who lost their home to foreclosure and needed a rental property that would allow them to keep their dog, gives Chard immense satisfaction. "I get a lot of pleasure from helping people," he says. "It's what I've done my whole career."
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