Jack Otto grew up in Colorado, but he started making connections to Northwest Washington when his family bought a summer home on Orcas Island in 2006.
“That’s where I met my wife,” he shared. “We moved to Seattle and lived there for awhile, but it was too far from our support structure for our liking.”
Though Jack’s real estate career was just getting underway by the time he and his wife were starting a family, they quickly realized that they wanted to be closer to her family on Orcas Island and the friends they had made in the Bellingham area. It was important to them that they move close to the people who mattered, especially as they were planning where they wanted to raise their son.
“We had the opportunity to move up to Bellingham after my son was born, and it just seemed like the perfect time to do it,” said Jack. “We had talked for a long time about moving this direction for a lot of reasons, but especially having a playgroup for the little guy.”
Jack has been been flying for more than ten years now. He began in college, and at first he thought he wanted to start a career flying seaplanes. The idea of an aviation career tarnished a bit over the years as he pursued becoming a real estate agent. He realized that he didn’t have to become a full-time pilot to enjoy regular flight – it was the freedom to see the world from above that really excited him.
“I had this dream to combine my flying with real estate,” shared Otto. “Between our connections on Orcas and here in Bellingham, I find myself commuting on the plane once every few days since we split our time between those two places. We’ve always flown, because why not? Once you’re in the air, it’s only about a 12 minute flight from Orcas to Bellingham.”
Taking photos from the air was a natural way to combine his long-time love of flying with his real estate career, and his hobby of taking photos from the sky has gotten him noticed online. Jack’s photography has gotten a lot of attention from locals because it gives even longtime Whatcom County residents a completely new way of looking at the place they call home.
“I started to share my photos on social media,” said Otto. “I’m certainly no professional photographer. My goal was to not just be a real estate agent, but to share the community and share local experiences, and be a bit more personable.”
And while he might not showcase many specific properties on social media, he does have the unique opportunity to share what makes Whatcom County and the surrounding areas truly special.
“It’s probably some of the best scenery,” Jack shared. “We live in one of the prettiest places in the country, and I have a unique perspective from my cockpit.”
The real estate company Jack works with also allows his work to take flight because it’s all cloud-based.
“eXp was founded here in Bellingham, and is one of the fastest growing firms in the country,” shared Otto. “It’s all in the cloud, which is a relatively new way of doing things. Gone are the days of going to a real estate office to look at properties, so this model allows me to do business in the field.”
Plus the photos he posts on his Instagram and Facebook page allow him to share his unique perspective. “People I work with will recognize me sometimes and say ‘Oh, you’re the pilot!’”
But at the end of the day, Jack wants to help people fall in love with the area – and maybe even fall in love with aviation.
“I’ve taken people up on flights before,” he said. In addition to his regular commute, Jack teaches flight lessons and will sometimes take people for a ride to see Whatcom County from a new point-of-view. “It makes some people nervous, but it’s safer than driving.”
And because flying small aircraft is so different from commercial aviation, commuting like Jack does is a lot easier than one might think.
“People think it’s a lot harder than it is to get in an airplane to take photos,” he said. “I’ve taken photographers who reach out. It doesn’t take a whole lot of time, either.”
