Durk Buffington

Durk Buffington grew up on a farm in Iowa.  He played competitive sports and graduated from high school in 1958.  He then attended both Iowa State University at Ames and the University of Iowa at Iowa City, where he graduated in 1962 with dual majors, General Business and Economics. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps on graduation day 1962 and went immediately to officers basic training school at Quantico, Virginia.  He was later stationed at Marine Corp Air Station, El Toro, California, and later sent to Pensacola, Florida to train as a Naval Flight Officer.  In 1965 he deployed to the far east and served two tours in Vietnam as a Radar Intercept Officer in the F4B Phantom fighter jet.  He flew over 250 missions over Vietnam and Laos.  He was discharged as a Captain.

After discharge from the Marine Corp in 1967, Durk worked for John Deere Company in Moline, Illinois for a couple of years, then he and his wife headed out west to establish a new life, and settled in Laguna Beach, California.  He sold construction equipment in Orange County and Los Angeles County for three years, then was hired by International Harvester Company as the Southern California Regional Manager.  In 1975, International Harvester restructured and Durk was transfered to Chicago, Illinois..Rather than moving back to the mid-west, he obtained his real estate sales license and started selling homes in Laguna Beach at a two man company called Reef Realty..

Durk obtained his brokers license in 1979 and joined a local real estate company called Nolan Real Estate the same year.  First Team Real Estate bought Nolan Real Estate a few years later.  The Laguna Beach office became the first First Team Estates office.  He has been an agent at First Team Estates ever since.  He has been selling real estate for about forty years.

In 1987, Durk and his wife took a three year break and moved to Germany.  They lived there for a little over three years.  The first fifteen months were at Giessen, north of Frankfurt, and they then moved to Munich and were there a little over two years.  During that period Durk and his wife traveled all over Europe, to Russia, to East Germany before the wall came down, to Hungary, Turkey, and to Egypt and Morocco..  Durk has traveled to approximately thirtyfive countries worldwide, Europe, the far east, Australia, South America and Latin America and has been in every state in the United States, with the exception of West Virginia.
 

40+ years in the business.
I hold a brokers license.  I have a BBA in Economics and General Business from the University of Iowa.  I served in the United States Marine Corp from 1963 to 1967.  I had two trips to Vietnam between 1965 and 1967.  I live in Laguna Beach since 1969 and have been selling real estate in Laguna Beach and Orange County since 1976 with a brief three year time out in 1987 -1990 when I lived in Germany.  During those three years I had a chance to travel Europe and the Middle East.