Pleasanton, CA— September 29, 2015 — NextHome is proud to announce our newest addition to the franchise, NextHome Location. This is the franchise’s 5th brokerage in the state of Florida.
Owned and operated by broker/owner, Alex van Grondelle, the Orlando-based brokerage will provide residential real estate sales services to the cities of Orlando, Windermere, Winter Garden, Winter Park, Kissimmee, Davenport and all surrounding suburbs of Orlando.
Born in England, van Grondelle spent many of his adult years in the country of Bahrain. It was there he became involved in airport management. Working for Virgin Atlantic, van Grondelle learned valuable lessons that helped him in his real estate business.
In 1999, van Grondelle decided to move to a place with pleasant weather, a beach lifestyle, and convenient travel back to the United Kingdom. After much thought, van Grondelle moved his family to Orlando.
“Orlando had so much of what I was looking for in a city to raise my family in,” said van Grondelle. “And it has been the perfect fit.”
In 2002, van Grondelle made the decision to pursue a career in real estate and got his real estate license shortly after. He started his career with a large real estate franchised brokerage in the Orlando area. Building his business, he quickly rose up the ranks at the brokerage and became one of the better agents in his office.
While at his brokerage, he received the support he requested. The training was excellent and he did enjoy working with the agents and management team. But one thing was missing.
“I really didn’t feel like I was getting much value for what I was paying,” said van Grondelle. “It amazes me that so many agents just seemed okay with not getting a return on their investment of what they pay their brokerage and their franchise.”
Fed up with a lack of services from the brokerage, van Grondelle made the decision to open his own brokerage in 2005 – The Hot Property Store, which focused on the vacation home market in Florida as well as internationally.
During 2005 to 2011, van Grondelle did well, until the nation’s recession in the early 2010’s hurt the overall business of his brokerage. It was then that van Grondelle refocused his business model to build a brokerage with a focus on recruiting talented agents. To cap off the refocus of business, the company name was changed to Global Realty and Associates LLC.
He also made a commitment to education in earning his National Association of REALTORSâ designation of Certified International Property Specialist (CIPS), as well as his designation as a Resort and Second-Home Specialist (RSP).
“While the name change and refocus of the brokerage was a step in the right direction for my company, I faced the challenges to provide more for the agents,” said van Grondelle, “I was able to interest agents in providing them a broker who would commit to their success, and a compensation model that was very competitive…. but agents wanted to have tools to help them grow their business. That’s where I started searching for options.”
In early 2015, van Grondelle researched real estate franchises and found NextHome.
“NextHome had all of the systems agents would need – experienced or not,” added van Grondelle. “Add in the training, the tools, the live support… all of that means a lot not only to agents, but brokers as well. NextHome was the right fit.”
“At NextHome, we have a very specific segment of the market we cater to,” said NextHome’s Vice President of Sales, Charis Moreno. “When I met Alex, he shared what he was looking for his brokerage. I knew we were a great fit for him. Being able to provide the support, training, and resources to Alex will now allow him to focus on agent growth – both in recruiting and in the development of each agent. Alex will only add to the group of incredible NextHome brokerages in the Florida real estate market.”
When not selling real estate, Alex spends time with his wife of 19 years, Alexandra, and their children, Jason and Alia.
Please join us in welcoming Alex and NextHome Location to our already exceptional NextHome brokerage network!
Interested in being a part of the NextHome Real Estate Franchise? Contact VP of Sales Charis Moreno at Charis@NextHome.com.
Each office is an independently owned and operated business.