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“It’s Showtime!” Team Monty Of Century 21 Is Aways Ready For Action By Dave Hall
fter more than 32 years selling homes for clients across Essex County, Joe Montaleone has seen just about everything change in the real estate industry. Focusing now more on technology, including virtual reality viewings and Zoom presentations, he is a part of “Team Monty” — an offshoot of his local real estate company — that has become an industry leader in marketing and technology. After spending 13 years at RE/MAX Preferred Realty Ltd., Joe decided three years ago to purchase a national franchise and launched Century 21 Showtime Realty Ltd. Brokerage. “Whenever we take on a new listing or a new client, I always tell people ‘it’s showtime’ and that’s why we chose that name,” Joe mentions. In addition to Joe as the Broker-ofRecord, Team Monty also includes two other brokers —his wife, Josie Montaleone and son, Nick Montaleone. There is also an Administrative Assistant and Marketing Director Stefani Stanisic and Nick’s wife Angelia Montaleone as the team’s Client Care Coordinator. “We’re very proud of the fact that we’ve
been able to introduce our clients to highend technology to make their purchasing and selling decisions easier,” Joe indicates. “We have an in-house videographer and we make expert use of social media as a regular part of our presentations to clients.” He points out that today’s clients have access to more information at their fingertips than those in the past, when it comes to seeking the right home or the right buyer for their real estate needs. As a result Joe notes: “We have to be more on top of our game than ever before because we are dealing with more sophisticated clients. They come to us with far more knowledge of the market and what they are looking for than in the past and we have to be ready to match that level of interest and knowledge.” With videos and the use of virtual reality headsets, Team Monty’s brokers can take clients inside a home 24/7 and provide them with more access than ever before (other than having a personal on-site visit). In recent years, Windsor and Essex County have been building a reputation as an attractive alternative to big-city living by using the 100-Mile Peninsula concept from Lake St. Clair around to Lake Erie, to
Posing outside a Montaleone family member’s home, Team Monty members from left are: Angelia Montaleone, Client Care Coordinator; Stefani Stanisic, Administrative Assistant and Marketing Director; Josie Montaleone, Broker; Nick Montaleone, Broker and Joe Montaleone, Broker-of-Record for Century 21 Showtime Realty Ltd. Brokerage. Photo by Rod Denis.
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attract active retirees from across Canada. By using video technology, clients are able to view potential homes across the region before they even visit the area. “Our clients are just so much busier than they’ve ever been and we have to be able to give them as much information about their potential new home as possible,” comments Nick, who recently returned to the business after spending nine years as a paramedic. “By using this technology, we are able to make presentations to clients who could be located anywhere across Canada or even across the globe.” Nick explains that the use of virtual reality technology allows clients to turn their heads left and right, as well as up and down and receive a completely different view of the property each time they do so. With open houses put on hold during the pandemic, potential buyers turned instead to video technology and scheduled viewings, which tend to attract serious buyers rather than people simply out for a drive and just popping in out of curiosity. At the present time many homes in Windsor are selling for well over the asking price due to the hot real estate market. “There’s no indication at the moment that it will slow down, although Windsor still remains a very affordable place to live compared to the rest of the country,” says Joe who has never seen this type of market before. “As for the prices, it’s simply supply and demand and if developers were more easily able to cut through bureaucratic red tape, which is holding back a lot of new developments, then it would introduce more product into the marketplace and increase the supply.” While unable to put an exact number on how many clients and homes he’s dealt with over his 30 plus years in the business, Joe believes it’s well into the thousands. His firm handled the sale of just about every home in the recently-completed Coco Homes East Pointe Lakes Estates development on the city’s far east side. “It’s the kind of business that brings in many repeat customers because of wordof-mouth, so it’s incredibly important to ensure than both the buyer and seller walk away satisfied with the sale they have completed,” stresses Joe, adding: “I’ve always said ‘why should a client invest in you if you don’t invest in yourself’?” Since March 2019, the office (where Team Monty and over 25 licensed agents work from) for Century 21 Showtime Realty has been located at 2055 Sandwich West Parkway, Suite 200 in LaSalle. For more information on their real estate services, visit: TeamMonty.ca or ShowtimeRealty.c21.ca.
