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New owners vow to bring ‘innovative look’ to real estate firm

The new owners of a long-running Chatham real estate company say they don’t want to reinvent the wheel, but they want to bring an “innovative look” to the business.

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Amber Pinsonneault and Kristen Nead took ownership of Royal LePage Peifer Realty Inc. at the beginning of the year. Former owner Brian Peifer, who started the business with his father in 1968, will stay on with the company.

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Pinsonneault has taken over the broker of record position from Peifer and Nead is working as the broker manager, a new position for the company. Although they are now in charge of day-to-day operations, they will also continue to sell real estate.

“We really don’t want to change what Brian has already established because he has really done a great job at building this company,” Pinsonneault said. “Now, we’re going out there to social media.”

The COVID-19 pandemic pushed more of the business online, Pinsonneault said, and discussions began in August to purchase the company.

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“Both Amber and I love opportunities and of course investments that broaden our experiences in our professional lives,” Nead said. “We were looking for this opportunity and Brian was excited to turn it over to us.”

The two new owners have spent their entire real estate careers at Peifer Realty. Nead has been in the industry for 15 years and Pinsonneault for five.

Pinsonneault said real estate marketing had already been shifting to social media prior to the pandemic, but the last year “put people behind their screens more than they wanted to be.”

Other changes, such as using pre-qualified buyers, sanitization and asking potential buyers to refrain as much as possible from touching surfaces, will likely be permanent, she said.

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Virtual showings have also become a key part of the business, Nead said.

“If they are still wanting to see the house in person (after the virtual visit), then we would show them the house,” she said. “It’s still kind of limiting that face-to-face contact, but it’s still the same transaction.”

The Chatham-Kent real estate market has continued to break records during the pandemic. The average price of homes sold in January was $350,452, a 42.4 per cent from January 2020, the Chatham-Kent Association of Realtors reported.

“What we’re seeing is people are leaving bigger city centres and they’re coming to Chatham-Kent for a different life experience,” Pinsonneault, a member of the local real estate board, said.

For those who already live in Chatham-Kent, she said mortgage rates are low and home prices are still low compared to most of the province.

“Yes, our housing is going up in price, but I wouldn’t say that it’s unsustainable, especially given how different the prices are from say here to Toronto,” she said.

Nead and Pinsonneault said they both plan to stay with Peifer Realty “until the end.”

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