Archive for the 'Announcements' Category
Vickery Residents and Shop Owners Pull Together for Lily Anderson
categories: Announcements, Important Causes
Lily Anderson is a typical 8 year old girl. She loves cute little animals, playing with her friends and new clothes – what little girl doesn’t! She lives in Vickery with her parents, Joey and Jennifer Anderson and her little sister Audrey who is 2. Her Mom is a realtor in the community and her husband built most of the kitchens of the homes in Vickery.
A few weeks ago, just before Labor Day, Lily was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma Cancer and it happens to be in Stage 4. In short she has a large tumor in her abdomen and the cancer has spread to many other parts of her body. But the family remains positive and optimistic and the entire community is rallying to help. Hearing about and seeing the community come together and help this family means everything and make Vickery the special place that it is.
Because lime-green is Lily’s favorite color, there were green ribbons and lilies provided by Jill Chatham, owner of the Flower Post, and volunteers put them on trees in the community for Lily to see when she comes home from the hospital. There is also a run being organized to raise money for her treatment and many of the local shops are donating as well.
On October 11ththere will be a run in Vickery, “Lily’s Run” which will start at 1pm. There will be food, prizes, games and activities for the kids, but most importantly it will be an opportunity to turn out with the community to help and raise money for a beautiful little girl.
If you can’t make it, please consider donating to the cause to help Lily and her family fight the good fight and battle this disease. Your donations and your prayers are truly appreciated. You can click on the heart below to read more about this young family and make a donation.
Posted by Bob Strader | Currently 1 Comment »
Open Letter To The Alpharetta Community
categories: Alpharetta Real Estate, Announcements
It is with a sense of sadness and great respect that I write this post to the community and colleagues that knew Kevin Warmath, both personally and through this blog. Many of you already know that Kevin unexpectedly left us this past January. You may even be one of the many people who have left memories and messages to the family at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/kevinwarmath. For those of you that did not know him, Kevin was a Father, Husband and well respected Realtor in the community; he left an indelible imprint of himself and his views in this forum he created.
If you are a regular reader you probably have become so because he was able to tie together what was going on in our communities and elsewhere, presenting it with clarity and humor. Never shy about his opinions, Kevin always communicated with a passionate honesty that you may have disagreed with but always appreciated.
I had the opportunity to meet Kevin before his real estate career began; we became fast friends and colleagues. I was one of the first people he spoke to about getting into real estate but I certainly don’t take any credit for how quickly he built his business and to the level he built it. His success is a testament to how knowledgeable and hard working he was.
The opportunities we encounter in life are sometimes sought out and sometimes born of misfortune. I’ve been given the chance to take what Kevin had started and to continue, as best I can, in the same spirit. I will do my best to honor that spirit, to continue the community that grew from it, and to do so with equal passion and honesty.
Bob Strader
Posted by Bob Strader | Currently 8 Comments »
It’s Time to Make Our Real Estate Resolutions | Quality Brokerage, Statistical Reporting and Direct Foreclosure Search
categories: Alpharetta Real Estate, Announcements, Cherokee County, Miscellaneous, Self Promotion, Stuff I like to talk about
ALPHARETTA - This is the time of the year when we are resolving to make the coming year better than the past year.
No industry is more in need of improvement than the real estate industry (including the auto industry), both in terms of overall market conditions and in the way the industry functions (or dysfunctions depending on your perspective).
The big, national brokerage franchise is one of the elements of the real estate industry that I believe needs revamping and may be headed the way of WaMu, Bear Stearns and the Tyrannosaurus Rex. That is why earlier this year, I resolved to ditch the franchise model for the boutique model. The good news is now at the end of the year I have one less resolution to make and less change to make in the new year.
The currency of large brokerages is agents: Agents bring in the listings and buyers and earn the commissions that keep the lights on. What’s happening is that brokerages are losing their currency as agents drop out of the industry because they are not making any sales. And those agents who are still making a living are looking for more bang for the commission split dollar - or a lower commission split altogether. I’ve written before on this blog about the lack of real value a large brokerage provides to an agent who can already generate business.
Brokerage currency is dwindling. In 2008, the Cherokee Association of Realtors, of which I am a member, lost almost 35% of its members. I’ve heard it rumored that the Atlanta Board of Realtors has lost a similar amount as I’m sure other local boards have, too.
So why, then, do I sound almost happy about this?
First of all, I believe in the survival of the fittest (which is also why I try to stay fit!). The market conditions have forced some much needed fat trimming in the agent ranks. However, the real source of my happiness - and it is relief more than happiness - is that I’m not on a sinking brokerage ship any more. My new local broker, Maxsell Real Estate , is riding high in the water, which I attribute largely to embracing technology to run our business more efficiently, to having aggressive, fair compensation plans for agents, but mostly to understanding how to add value to an individual agent’s business.
In 2008, when the numbers for almost all Atlanta real estate brokerages where heading south, Maxsell’s numbers actually improved. We had 184% growth in the number of transactions over 2007 and there was 120% growth in the dollar volume of transactions.
We added, yes added, agents during 2008 (I’m an example of that) and ended the year with 40% more agents when most brokerages where losing agents. Our gross commission income was up 15% over last year. These statistics left Maxsell as the #8 brokerage in our sub-market, ahead of companies you may have heard of like Re-Max and Jenny Pruitt, and we are a small company!
While it is a relief to me to be affiliated with Maxsell, it should also give you comfort and confidence that Warmath Real Estate is part of a team that is figuring out how to survive and thrive in a real estate industry that is rapidly changing.
One of our strengths and one way we have continued to succeed in this market is our web presence including this blog. While my first resolution of putting our business on a sound brokerage foundation is complete, there are many resolutions I have about continuing to build and improve this website.
Real Estate Intelligence Portal
I actually wished to have most of this complete by the end of this year, but things always seem to take longer than expected. None the less, advances you will see in the coming month or so are a Real Estate Intelligence portal for Atlanta Real Estate reporting and statistics. What this means for consumers is that you will be able to come to this site and see updated, current reports and graphs of local market statistics, but more excitingly, be able to generate your own report and slice and dice the data based on ways that are meaningful to you.
Direct Foreclosure Search for Alpharetta and Atlanta
The second major improvement I’m resolved to for 2009 is the unveiling of our foreclosure search feature. It is currently not possible for a consumer to search online for foreclosures, shortsales and corporate owned properties as listed in the MLS. Agents can do it, but consumers can’t. The closest thing to it is something like RealtyTrac, a subscription service which is not pulling data from the MLS but rather cross-referencing various public sources of data including tax records. I plan to fix all that and allow you to directly search for foreclosures from the MLS. That’s what you want, right?
So, stay tuned as we step into 2009. We don’t fear the future, we create the future right here on this website!
We look forward to serving you in the coming year and being here when you need us. Happy New Year! Let the opportunities flow!
Posted by Kevin Warmath | Currently 1 Comment »
Happy Holidays - No Wreaths. More Llamas.
categories: Announcements, Miscellaneous, Stuff I like to talk about
ALPHARETTA - We started a company holiday tradition a few years ago of giving on behalf of our clients to Heifer International. No wreaths from Warmath Real Estate…we give livestock!
I just went back and reread my post from last year regarding our contribution to Heifer International and I must say: I hit the nail on the head.
I don’t think I could write a post more spot on with how I feel than what I wrote last year, so I’m not going to try. Instead, I’m going to reprint it, not because I’m lazy, but because I can’t do any better.
Before I get to that though, a couple of things are different this year, namely the economy. Little did we realize at this time last year what a tough year 2008 would be. And by many forecasts, 2009 is going to be more of the same or possibly worse. The tough times, though, make you realize how good you have it (or had it!).
Charitable giving is one of the first things to get whacked from the budget with the economy turns south and I must admit that it took me a little longer to give this year than last. However, it actually feels better to give in a down economy because you are making a bigger sacrifice yourself.
Second, each year we strive to increase our giving, so the pig from last year can step aside for the llama this year. One day I’d love to give an entire Ark . I take this from the Heifer International website regarding the benefits of receiving a Llama for those of you who wonder what you would do if one of them showed up under your tree:
When resources are scarce, it’s important that livestock don’t use up land reserved for people. At home in rough, mountainous areas of Latin America, llamas are a blessing to families with limited pasture land because they can eat the scrub vegetation that other domesticated animals won’t eat. Llama droppings help fertilize topsoil — improving crops and reducing erosion.
Women weave their llamas’ fleece into warm clothing to wear or sell. They load them up with goods for market and trek with them across rugged slopes at high altitudes. As they travel, llamas’ padded feet don’t damage the fragile terrain and their selective browsing doesn’t destroy sparse vegetation.
Llamas and their kin, the alpaca, provide Heifer families with invaluable sources of transportation, income and wool, which is prized for making blankets, ponchos, carpet and rope.
Llamas are remarkably disease resistant and require little care; they can carry small loads for distances over rugged slopes at high altitudes.
We wish all our friends and clients, past, present and future (even though you don’t know it yet!), the very best and safest holidays regardless of how you celebrate.
We are very thankful for those people who entrusted their home sales and purchases to us this year and we look forward to serving even more of you in the future. This gift to Heifer is to honor you.
Without further ado, here is last year’s post:
We are very thankful for a great 2007 and want to wish all of you, regardless of your religious faith, holiday customs or personal belief system, a joyous end of 2007 and great hope for 2008.
Not only do we appreciate that our real estate business continues to grow from last year, but even more so appreciate that we are able, by choice, happenstance or just shear luck to live in both the United States and Alpharetta.
The United States offers many fine places to live and this post is not the place to debate the merits of one locale over another. I’ll just say that Alpharetta has a lot of things going for it including relatively low property taxes compared to the rest of the country, a growing job base and good business environment and a climate where it rarely snows. You’ll appreciate that if you’re reading this in the mid-west today. But that misses the point.
During this holiday season sometimes we get wrapped up rushing around. I’m as guilty as anyone of this. In fact, December is one of my busiest months of the year for sales so I’m unusally harried. On top of that, I think that most realtors are expected to give their past clients a gift of some sort in appreciatiton. It is supposed to be "good business practice" to stay in touch with your past clients. Real estate is a referral based business after all, or so they say.
In this gift giving area, I tend to take a different path and wanted to take a moment here to reiterate how fortunate we are to live the way we are able to in Alpharetta. Any world-wide social or economic organization like the United Nations, UNICEF or World Bank can provide all sorts of statistics on the relative poverty of the rest of the world compared to how we live in the U.S. and Alpharetta. For instance, half the population of the world lives on LESS than TWO DOLLARS A DAY . That is about $700 a year compared to Alpharetta where the U.S. Census reports we live on about $40,000 a year PER CAPITA. (The U.S. per capita income is half the Alpharetta per capita income, which is one reason we are fortunate to live in Alpharetta. The median HOUSEHOLD income in Alpharetta is almost $100,000 per year almost double the US household income.)
As for literacy, a BILLION people entered the 21st century not able to read or write. In Alpharetta, 95% of us have high school educations (compared to 80% in the U.S.) and 57% have a college degree or higher (compared to 24% nationally.) The world statistic is that 1% has a university degree.
By some reports 80% of the world’s population lives in poverty and 20% of the population is in conditions not befitting a human. In Alpharetta, there are 1,785 people (260 families) below the U.S. poverty level; that is only 5% of Alpharetta’s population but still startles me as unacceptable. (The U.S. poverty rate is 24%).
All this is to say that if you are a client of ours or in any way affiliated with Warmath Real Estate, you won’t be receiving from us a box of chocolates or holiday wreath that is dead on arrival. Instead, we are 
continuing our tradition of giving to Heifer International on behalf of all our clients. Heifer is an organization that helps reduce world-wide hunger by giving livestock in the broadest definition of the term (water buffalo, llamas, chickens, honey bees, goats, pigs, sheep and of course, heifers) to needy recipients. The recipients must, in turn, pass on the gift by giving one of the offspring of their animal to someone else. Heifer’s work creates long-term, environmentally and socially sustainably solutions that I am, one, philosophically aligned with and, two, pleased to continue to support.
It is our pledge to continue to fund Heifer each year in honor of the patronage of our clients. And even if we didn’t sell a single house in a year, we would still give to Heifer!
Our slogan is: "No wreaths, more pigs!" We wish you the very best holiday season and know that you have made someone else’s stomach a little less empty - and that is the best gift to give.
Posted by Kevin Warmath | Currently No Comments »
It’s Crabapple Update Time Again | Builder Lots Available on the Cheap
categories: Announcements, Crabapple, Lots, Stuff I like to talk about and know nothing about
CRABAPPLE - It seems like the minute I write an update on Crabapple, a whole bunch of new stuff happens and I need to write another one. I promise, I’m not fixating on Crabapple, but it does seem like it’s getting a lot of focus on this blog recently.
Update number one is that it is snowing in Crabapple today.
Update number two is that it just stopped. That is how up to the minute the information in this blog can be! And for you Northerners reading: Yes, it does snow in Georgia, but only for about five minutes a year, if that.
Restaurant Update
Since it is the holiday season, let’s start with food: Two items to mention on the alimentary front. One is the surfacing of the Gastropub. I love that name, but what is it you ask?
Well, technically it is the old Fosters redone with a new menu and more service. The owner of the old Foster’s, Mr O’Keefe, decided the Foster’s franchise wasn’t working for him and punted. In its stead, he rebranded and reopened literally overnight as the Gastropub.
The menu is more than just burgers, fries and shakes. Now you can order a full array of entrees ($12-$17), foccacia sandwiches ($8) and pasta selections ($7 for half order and $12 for full order). There are appetizers too, table service instead of the counter ordering and a full bar to come. It looks like Crabapple will have two Irish pubs now, considering that the Old Blind Dog is going to be opening in the Crabapple Mercantile soon. You know, a town is judged by the number and quality of its Irish Pubs.
The second restaurant-related item is not really news but more a clarification. The Silos Grill was a fixture in the old Ingles shopping center. When redevelopment started there, Silos disappeared. Well, actually their lease was not renewed just like the Ace Hardware. Don’t ask me how the Nail Salon and Happy Wok kept their leases…maybe they are based on a Chinese calendar!
Anyway, Silos didn’t really disappear. It, too, resurfaced as a rebranded concept in Crabapple as the Cantina del Mar in the same building as Little Azio. You can read more details about the owners of the Silos/Cantina del Mar, Beth and David Riordan, here .
One last piece of restaurant news. Someone left a comment a while ago on this blog saying it would be great to have an all night diner in Crabapple. I’m not sure it will be open all night, but I noticed that a new Diner is going in where the Snooty Fox - or whatever it was called was near Kroger … who would go to a restaurant named the Snooty Fox, anyway … obviously not many because it didn’t last long. Let’s see if the Diner can take this traditionally dead location and make good there. I’d love to see something like the American Roadhouse in Virginia-Highland.
Crabapple Opportunity for Custom Home Building
Crabapple Crossing is sold out of single family homes, garden homes and townhomes, but they have some unbuilt upon lots left. The builder is trying to determine whether to build and sell homes or just sell the lots themselves.
If you are looking to build in Crabapple, this could be an excellent way for you to pick up a discounted lot. If you are a small builder, here’s an opportunity to pick up a small package of lots.
There are four single family lots left. They are $50,000 each or you could possibly get all four for $100,000, but you have to contact me for this deal! These lots are not currently listed but the owner will sell them.
The single family homes in Crabapple Crossing are approximately 3,000 - 3,600 square feet and cost the builder about $270,000 each to build. If you built something comparable that would put your "all-in price" at $320,000. Note, all homes must be approved by the Home Owner’s Association in order to maintain the aesthetic integrity of the community.
Single family homes were selling in Crabapple Crossing in the low $500’s in 2007 and in the low $400’s in the latter portion of 2008. Most recently, after an outside investor took over the neighborhood and reduced prices, the last one to sell was a 4BR/3BA on a slab for $363k. At an all-in price of $320,000, you’d still have a lot of equity even in this market.
There are also two or four garden home lots, depending on how you count them. Two garden homes are built on one lot as attached homes, so four homes could be built on two slabs. The garden homes that are currently built are actually just a large if not larger in square footage than the single family homes by 200-400 square feet. Garden homes range from 3,200 to 3,400 square feet.
The slabs are already poured on the garden home lots, so unless you wanted to tear them up, the footprint of the homes is already determined. It is unlikely the the HOA would approve different exteriors for these homes. This is an excellent opportunity for a builder who wants to finish for a profit what someone else started.
The current owner will also pre-sell garden homes (with same builder who built the existing homes) at discounted prices of $375,000 and single family homes at around $420,000.
Beragio Under Construction - Active Adult Community in Crabapple
I was mistaken about Beragio in a previous post. Construction is indeed on-going there. Slabs have been poured for three homes and framing has started. These will be 3BR/2BA Easy Living Home certified active adult community homes. The prices are listed at $595,000.
Braeburn Office Condos
The office condos fronting Birmingham Highway are popping out of the ground. It is amazing how fast they can build these things. Literally the structure shown in the picture on the right took a week to raise. There are three others like it and this picture was taken on November 10th. They are probably finished with it at this rate.
A Chocolate Dilemma at Crabapple Mercantile
What do you do with a whole palette of chocolate? Keep my kids away from it is what you do!
All kidding aside, that is the predicament of Scoops, the ice cream shop slated to open at the Crabapple Mercantile. They wanted to open by Thanksgiving but the schedule has been pushed back to January and they are trying to figure out what to do with all the chocolate they bought to sell for the holidays.
One solution they have is to sell gift baskets with chocolate and candy for the holidays. These baskets start at $49 and you can get more information at www. scoopssweettreats.com or call Lynn @ 770-876-7565. They will literally give you a taste of what Scoops will eventually offer.
The first merchant to open in the Crabapple Mercantile is going to be Faire La Belle, a hair salon that has hired staff and is ready to open. The building itself is finished for all practical purposes. Getting the certificate of occupancy is the next step and then business can commence. The Old Blind Dog Irish pub is scheduled to open in February.
It’s snowing again. Ok, it stopped again. That’s Alpharetta for you.
Posted by Kevin Warmath | Currently 10 Comments »
Cornucopia of Alpharetta Fall Real Estate News
categories: Alpharetta Real Estate, Announcements, Foreclosures, Local Market Conditions, Lots, Luxury Homes, Photography
ALPHARETTA - Nothing symbolizes November any better than the cornucopia and the turkey. And since I am "theme challenged" today, I thought that I’d just throw all the random thoughts that are bouncing around in my head into one big cornucopia of a post. So forgive the scatter-brainedness of this post, here’s my cornucopia of thoughts:
Wild Turkey Spotted in Windward Parking Lot
Since it is November, let’s start with the turkey. Believe it or not, I actually saw a real, live wild turkey walking across the parking lot near Windward Parkway and Northpoint Parkway the other day. Don’t believe me? I have proof!
I grabbed my camera before she pranced away. Here she is as she goes in front of my car; she was headed east towards the dining room tables of Windward!
The Price of Education
Fulton County Schools reportedly paid $318,000 per acre for the 64-acre site for a new high school site on Cogburn Road. This land was purchased from Chatham home builders who had purchased it a year or so ago for a residential development. At that time, Chatham paid a reported $204,000 per acre and since that time had done site planning and grading and installed streets and gutters, all of which will likely be torn out when a new school is built. Apparently the school board is still exploring ways to gain direct access to Highway 9 from the new site.
New Amenities Underway at Crooked Creek
Crooked Creek obtained financing for its amenity renovation. I’m told that progress is commencing on the $4M project that will include two new pools, eleven tennis courts, a playground and clubhouse. No further word on whether Crooked Creek will be able to gate the neighborhood. Would love to hear from some Crooked Creek residents on this one. Please comment to this post if you would.
Two Home Starts in Lake Haven
Two custom homes are currently in the process of being built in Lake Haven. One should be finished by the end of the year. These are the first two and are being built by Southern Home Properties , the same company who built Lochstone Manor , on Doris Road.
There are 58 one and two-acre lots remaining. Reportedly the commencement of construction has brought about a lot of renewed activity in Lake Haven, although no further purchases yet. All in good time… Lake Haven has the potential to be a very special place to live.
White Columns Foreclosure Sells
OK, not THAT foreclosure , that I’ve been talking about incessantly. The other one. 715 Scarlet Oak Trail, is the big brick house in the cul-de-sac with a finished basement that included two full baths and a second kitchen. It was listed at $515,000, reduced to $489,000 and sold for $469,000 in 133 days. That is a ton of heated square footage for the dollar and the house required only minimal repairs.
Foreclosure Sales Statistics
The National Association of Realtors has reported in August that nationally 35-40% of all homes sales are foreclosure properties. I read elsewhere that 42% of all September sales were foreclosures. NPR reported this week that we can expect 5-7 million more foreclosures ! Certainly I can’t dispute the widespread interest in foreclosures; I’m getting a ton of inquires myself regarding foreclosures in Alpharetta.
That got me to thinking: What percentage of our sales in North Fulton since January 1, 2008 have been foreclosures? A quick scrub of the data shows that 11% of sales were technically foreclosures - owned by the lender. It also means that they were properly identified in FMLS as foreclosure properties. This does not include short sales or "pre-foreclosures" as they are called.
So, if 11% of sales are foreclosures (and I would argue that this is the most competitive part of the market), what percentage of active listings are identified as foreclosures? The envelop please: 4% in North Fulton (Alpharetta, Roswell, Milton and Johns Creek). This says that a foreclosure is about three times more likely to sell than a non-foreclosure.
Good Bye Reading Tree
I’m sorry that downtown Alpharetta was not able to support the Reading Tree bookstore , which recently closed. It lasted about a year and a half. It is tough being a retail business in downtown Alpharetta; the area seems better suited for small service-based businesses that don’t require retail traffic.
The good news if you are a bibliophile, though, is that the library referendum passed so we will someday get a better library in Alpharetta, one that befits a city of our quality. Just make sure you continue to oppose the political trophy called the central downtown Atlanta library and keep the funds flowing out to the suburbs where the readers are.
One Last Salute to Fall Colors in Milton
I had posted a nice Fall photograph the other day and thought I’d publish just one more if you’ll indulge me. I’m a sucker for the Chamber of Commerce picture in the Fall. The light and color is just too good to not get out of the car and take the picture.
The last one was in a residential area of Crabapple. This one is a little further north in Milton off Benthany Bend road. The area is decidely more rural. I hope this captures the flavor a little bit. I sometimes post my pictures to Google Earth Panaramio, too, so as to not bore you too much here.
Posted by Kevin Warmath | Currently 4 Comments »
Natural Foods Warehouse to Open at Silos in Crabapple | Crabapple Mercantile Exchange Forges Forward
categories: Announcements, Commercial Activity, Crabapple
CRABAPPLE - Finally, news has escaped out about who will occupy the old Ingles space in Crabapple at The Silos. The AJC reported this week that Natural Foods Warehouse signed a letter of intent to lease 20,000 square feet and open shop by the end of the year.
As a person who eats as healthily as I can, I’m down with a natural foods alternative in Crabapple. I would only hope that I could get a quick, healthy lunch there, but probably not.
Other commercial / retail news in Crabapple includes the continued construction of The Crabapple Mercantile Exchange along Crabapple Road in "downtown" Crabapple. I know a lot of people can’t believe that construction is ongoing with the current real estate market and the amount of existing empty retain space.
However, Crabapple Mercantile can boast some pre-leases as Scoops (Ice Cream Shop), Zest (Restaurant) and The Founders Cigar Club.
I don’t know the scoop on Zest yet; but then I don’t know the zest on Scoop, either. I just know that my wife has been claiming for years that Crabapple needs a good ice cream store. Little does Scoops know that if they have good chocolate - or even Gelato - what a good customer my wife will be. I think she has a separate account just for ice cream money.
I’m not a smoker and my idea of a cigar was a sneaked puff on a Swisher Sweet sometime during adolescence, but I do know that there are already a bunch of cigar shops up and down Highway 9. Of course there are a bunch of ice cream shops too, albeit most of them are chains, and many other restaurants as well.
Time will tell, but I hope these shops can forge a unique offering and earn a loyal clientele.
When finished, Crabapple Mercantile will consist of six building comprising about 22,000 sq. ft. of retail space, 23,000 sq. ft. of office space and four residential condominiums. At about 1,200 sq. ft. per retail store, that means about 18 shops will ultimately call Crabapple Mercantile home, which is walking distance from neighborhoods such as Crabapple Chase, Westminster, Kensington Farms and Waterside - and of course from Crabapple Crossing and Crabapple Crossroads, which are immediately adjacent.
The developer is Lodestone Development who can be found in Alpharetta and who also built the Ellard Mercantile Exchange at Ellard on Holcomb Bridge Road, if you would like to view an example of their projects (pictured to the right). If I had to choose a development style for Crabapple, that would have been it to a "t": I’ll call it "historical elegance"
If they build it, though, and they are - then we have to support it. Well, we don’t have to, but it would be nice. The ice cream better be good! Forget the cigars.
Posted by Kevin Warmath | Currently No Comments »
Small and Techy Trumps National and Expensive | Warmath Real Estate Forms Relationship with Maxsell Real Estate
categories: Announcements, Self Promotion
We’ve been mulling it over for months now and discussing it online to get your perspective. The question: Which is more relevant in today’s web2.0 real estate world, a large national broker or a small local broker?
At Bloodhound Blog , we tossed around the idea of what the role of a broker could and should be in today’s real estate world … at Maxsell Real Estate Brad Nix discussed the merits of a large broker versus a small one … on this blog , I asked if it mattered to you - my clients, prospective clients and colleagues - if I were with a national or boutique broker.
Plus I’ve asked long-time agents in multiple states, friends and current and past clients if it mattered to them if I were affiliated with a national broker. Asked another way: "Does the brand matter?"
The resounding answer I got was "No. What matters is the service that you provide; we don’t get anything that we can really put our finger on from the broker."
This due diligence put the wind in my sail to make a change and I’m happy to announce that we have relocated our real estate affiliation to Maxsell Real Estate .
I actually believe that a broker does matter in two ways that will directly affect my clients: One, a broker charges me money and the national compensation plans are very expensive. With a less onerous plan that a local broker can provide, I can invest more in my business (marketing / systems / personnel) which will have a positive affect on my clients and attract new ones.
Second, Maxsell understands technology. That makes two of us and my believe is that 1+1 is more than 2 in this marriage and that together we can continue to lead the way for real estate in Alpharetta, North Fulton and wherever the future may take us.
Posted by Kevin Warmath | Currently 5 Comments »
