Since Realtor Magazine interviewed us in early 2010, we’ve continued our growth with the acquisition of Summit Realty and the addition of 2 more agents.

(As a point of clarification to the article, we don’t practice single agent dual agency.)

Though it’s my picture and name as the ‘Broker’, it has been a team effort for the last year.  In actuality, I tried my best to get all of our agents in the picture (not just me), but Realtor Mag wouldn’t allow it.

We’re proud of our accomplishments, our beliefs and our level of service.

So, with the exception of the 2 agents joining us later this week…here’s our team.  I’m a little biased, but I think we have some of the best Realtors in Charlottesville!

The Nest Team includes: Deborah Rutter, Bob Headrick, Heather Griffith, David Ferrall, Chris Kabbash, Jonathan Kauffmann, Amy Webb, Laura Michael, Laura Winn Smith, Martha Campbell, Jim Duncan, Bob Hughes, and Keith Davis.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (Feb. 8, 2010) – Charlottesville-based Nest Realty Group today announced its acquisition of Summit Realty Company. The move combines two of Charlottesville’s most successful real estate firms and expands the 1-year-old Nest Realty team to 14 full-time real estate professionals. It also paves the way for Nest to expand its services from a primary focus on residential real estate into commercial real estate and leasing.

“While other firms are cutting back, Nest is continuing to expand,” said Jonathan Kauffmann, Principal Broker, Nest Realty. “I believe this is a testament to our top-notch agents, the emphasis we place on technology and our dedication to client service. Our combined resources and expanded services will allow us to better serve our clients, something that is paramount to all of us.”

Founded in 1982, Summit Realty grew to be one of the most well-known and respected real estate companies and brands in Central Virginia. Owners Bob Hughes and Bob Headrick took over Summit in 2007 and are enthusiastic about joining forces with Nest Realty as Associate Brokers.

Bob Hughes has been a full-time Realtor since 1989. He is a consistent top producer, a past winner of the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors’ Salesperson of the Year award and was named C-Ville Weekly’s Best Real Estate Agent in 2009.

Specializing in commercial and residential property for sale, purchase or lease, Bob Headrick brings an array of experience to Nest Realty.  He also offers strong expertise in investment sales, corporate services, and both tenant and landlord representation.

“We are excited to be part of the Nest team. They are an aggressive, young company with a vision of how real estate will be marketed and sold in the future,” states Bob Hughes, Associate Broker, Nest Realty.

In 2009, the company’s first full year of operations, Nest Realty was awarded the prestigious Most Innovative Brokerage honor by Inman News at the Inman Connect Conference in San Francisco.  Hewlett Packard also honored Nest Realty at the National Association of Realtors conference in San Diego with its 2009 Real Estate Technology Award, given to only five Brokers nationwide.

Nest Realty is known for its use of technology to better serve clients, both locally and nationally.  The firm has received national accolades for its cutting-edge web site, www.NestRealtyGroup.com, which features interactive home search capabilities and detailed information for more than 175 Charlottesville neighborhoods. Jim Duncan, one of Nest Realty’s partners, was recently named to Inman News’ Real Estate’s 50 Most Influential Online.

In addition to a strong focus on technology and innovation, Nest Realty agents are held to a higher standard.  All agents must have a minimum of three years experience, practice real estate full-time and earn their Broker’s license shortly after joining the firm.  With almost $4.7 million in sales per agent and 13.75 transactions per agent, Nest Realty agents more than doubled the production for the average Charlottesville Realtor in 2009.

“We pride ourselves in having a team comprised of exceptional professionals, said Kauffmann. “We want consumers to know that if you work with a Nest agent, you are working with a true, full-time professional with high ethical standards. To date, we have had an extraordinary team; the addition of the Summit agents only enhances our strength. The combined experience and track record of Bob Hughes, Bob Headrick, and their entire team is a wonderful addition to the Nest family. We couldn’t be happier.”

About Nest Realty

Founded in 2008, Nest Realty Group is a full-service, residential real estate brokerage specializing in residential and commercial properties throughout Charlottesville and Central Virginia. Through a strong focus on technology, customer commitment, and the region’s most innovative and focused marketing strategies, Nest Realty has established itself as a top choice for buyers and sellers of residential and commercial property in Central Virginia.

The agents at Nest, in addition to sharing a profession, share a commitment to our community, an interest in the local food movement and ecology, and a firm conviction that community gardens enhance quality of life.

We believe that a Community Garden:

▪ is a beautiful and joyful place
▪ enables people to grow fresh, affordable food
▪ gives families a place to share unplugged leisure time.
▪ can help transform a row of houses into a neighborhood.
▪ reintroduces the outdoors into the lives of people missing that daily pleasure.
▪ adds green space to any residential setting.
▪ creates opportunities for participation for the elderly, disengaged and newcomers.
▪ elevates underutilized or neglected land to a higher purpose.
▪ strengthens the connections amongst neighbors and help neighbors bridge differences.
▪ can serve as living classrooms to educate children, about gardening, local food supply and the environment.
▪ creates opportunities for interaction amongst the generations.
▪ can help people engage as active participants in community problem solving.
▪ makes people feel more vested in their home, their street, their neighborhood.
▪ can help make the conversation about local food issues accessible to everyone in the community.

Tom’s Garden is a grant program offering funds to groups of private individuals, homeowner’s associations, private, public and non-profit organizations, schools….just about anybody who has or hopes to start a community garden in Charlottesville, Albemarle or the neighboring region.

You can find the application for a grant on our website, along with a lot of great information about obtaining the help of Piedmont Master Gardeners in getting your garden underway, and links to website about gardening, local foods, and other sources of funding for your project.

Please feel free to contact us if you have questions about this project or feedback on our Tom’s Garden website

According to Inman News: 

This list of individuals selected for this report includes real estate agents and brokers, technologists, economists, enthusiasts and analysts. They are luminaries in the online world of real estate whose insight and commentary inspires others, provokes debate and incites change.

Jim Duncan runs the popular local blogs, RealCentralVA and RealCrozetVA, and has been a speaker at many national real estate conferences, including this past year’s National Association of Realtor Conference in San Diego. 

Check out Jim’s blogs for Charlottesville real estate market statistics, Charlottesville neighborhood videos, and commentary on local and national real estate trends.

We’re honored to have been named the #3 ‘ Favorite Real Estate Company by Albemarle Family.  It’s pretty exciting to be in our first full year and get this type of unsolicited recognition.

And as Jim Duncan notes on his RealCentralVA blog:

1 and 2 were Roy Wheeler and Real Estate III respectively. Frankly, I’m pretty pleased with the results. At the time of voting, we were a six-person firm (now 8) versus 96 and 221.*

We’re proud to be recognized – I think it’s a testament to Nest Realty’s values and mission.  People understand and appreciate that we stand for something and that we are putting our clients needs in the forefront.

Congratulations to all of the winners, including ‘Nester’ Jim Duncan for placing show for Favorite Realtor.

Check out Amy Webb’s blog for more on this recognition.

We’d like to welcome our newest agents, Deborah Rutter and Laura Winn Smith, to the Nest team.

First licensed in Maine, Deborah joins the team with a successful real estate track record based on repeat and referral business.   She brings another analytical mind to Nest and is a great addition to our growing team.

Laura Winn Smith began her real estate career in 1983, marketing home sites and new construction in Peacock Hill.  Her vast knowledge of green building, eco-friendly developing, and the local market serve as invaluable resources to both her clients and Nest. 

To learn more about Deborah and Laura, please check out their Nest profiles on our agent page.

Based on our tools, technologies, strong belief system and high standards, we continue to attract some of the best real estate agents in Charlottesville and Central Virginia.  Whether you are looking for an agent to help you buy or sell a home in Charlottesville, Ivy, Crozet, Nelson, or Louisa, give one of our great agents a call.

Stay tuned for more updates on our agents and the local Charlottesville real estate market.

In August, Nest Realty was awarded the ‘Most Innovative Brokerage’ honor by Inman News at the 2009 Inman Connect Conference in San Francisco.

Jim Duncan will be speaking at next week’s National Association of Realtors Conference in San Diego, CA on the ‘Future of the MLS.’  The discussion will be focused on what next for MLS and MLS related technologies. 

Check out the first snippet of Jim’s presentation.

Check out Nest Realty’s own Amy Webb, whose blog (Amy’s Yard) was picked as the ‘Blog of the Week’ by CBS19. 

Click here to follow Amy on Twitter.

Feathering their own Nest now

When times were good in the real estate market, there was arguably no better career than real estate agent: bidding wars, way-above-assessment sale prices, and a virtually guaranteed six percent commission to be split between seller’s and buyer’s agents meant a sweet income for the hundreds that flocked to the profession in the early part of this decade looking to make their own hours and a pretty penny while doing so.

But those days are long gone, and they’re not coming back, say the three founders of a new real estate firm launched in February, when foreclosures were skyrocketing and some were questioning whether there was any way out of the mess.

“We felt that the real estate industry was a little stale, not too progressive,” says broker Jonathan Kauffman, who founded Nest Realty Group with fellow agents Keith Davis and Jim Duncan.

Kauffman, the firm’s principal broker, says the three men realized that the future of real estate– as of most sales endeavors– is online, and they set out to create a website that was informative, functional, and able to put power into the hands of consumers.

While the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors offers property searches by a variety of parameters including county, home price, or school district, the Nest Realty site goes further, allowing would-be buyers (or the simply nosy) to search by neighborhood and to get detailed information about the area surrounding each listing. That goes not only for Nest’s own listings but for all the properties in the MLS.

“The consumer in 2009 wants information and knowledge,” says Kauffman.

Davis, who worked in mortgage banking after college then earned an MBA in realty development, says the opportunity to build a new brand excites him– as does bucking the tendency of real estate firms to market agents along with– or even above– the properties they’re trying to sell. He points to real estate signs featuring agents’ faces and names as examples of this tendency. ”

Duncan, an agent whose personal blog, realcentralva.com offers extensive and daily real estate analysis, says he’s inspired by the approach he and his partners are taking. It extends to the firm’s signs in yards, which boldly offer interior photos and have the price propped on top (the agent’s name and phone number takes a smaller, lower position).

“It really goes back to, ‘We’re there to market the property and not ourselves,” says Duncan. 

But one long-time agent says he thinks those signs could be trouble. “Sometimes you change the price four times in a week,” says Roger Voisinet. “It could be an administrative nightmare,” he says. “They could end up being wrong.”

Duncan and his new partners laugh off the concern.

“Even if things are moving that fast,” Davis says, “we’ll make sure the signs are changed.”

Other ways Nest is differentiating: all agents will have a minimum of three years experience, and the firm is also marketing properties through new social networking mediums like Facebook and Twitter– something many traditional firms haven’t yet embraced.

While Nest is seeking new ways to reach buyers and sellers, there’s one way it remains similar to more traditional firms: commission. While flat-fee realty companies such as Assist-to-Sell have come into vogue in recent years offering marketing and closing services for as little as $1,000, Nest isn’t straying from a commission structure, although Duncan says percentages will be negotiated individually for each client. He stresses that Nest will not allow dual-agency in which one agent represents buyer and seller. “Each side needs someone looking out for their needs only,” he says.

“We’re going to continue to set trends,” says Kauffman. “We’ve got great ideas and a lot of tricks up our sleeve that we hope are going to help our clients over the next couple of years.”