It seems crazy how fast 2011 flew by. It ‘s true what they say- the older you get the faster time flies. Time has certainly flown for all of us at 360. On top of having our best year ever, we had huge changes in 2011-both exciting and challenging , but ultimately, all good.
We started off the year with a change in ownership. Our founder, Richard Corff, left the company to pursue other ventures and two new partners were brought in, Kelly Byrne and Kirsten Robertson. Although it is always weird to lose the founder of a company, sometimes a passing of the baton is what is needed for a business to grow. Our team- owners Rick and Heidi Ward, Kelly and Kirsten, have synched very quickly into an engine to drive that change. We are planning and scheming and have big ideas. We are poised to truly take this company beyond its current boundaries and we couldn’t be more excited about it. But first a look back on what we have accomplished.
Our biggest feat so far this year was launching our new website. After six years it was time to change things up a bit. There are still a few bugs, largely due to being on a new platform, but our team is continuing to make the changes necessary to improve the user experience. As always, we love your feedback so if you have any suggestions or comments about the site, please don’t hesitate to speak up.
One of the reasons so many of you visit our site is to view just the Modern homes that are on the market without having to sift through everything else. This is what led to a HUGE change- our new registration requirement. This was not something we were really happy about but we had to do it. Because we hand-select the modern properties from the multitudes of properties provided by the Multiple Listing Service, the MLS views our efforts as discriminatory to all the other properties they list. As a result, we are required to ask you to sign up, in effect creating client accounts. Some people know this also to be what is called a “Virtual Office Website”, or VOW. Basically, this has the effect of making you a customer (You are under no obligation to work with us, although we hope you will!) and allows us to provide our selection of modern homes. Although we are not fans of the registration process either, it is an MLS requirement, and we feel it is a small price to pay in order for us to be able to continue to offer you this unique feature.
Going into 2012, we have compiled quite a list of exciting things we are working to launch over the next six months. Look for continued improvements to the website, more video of these awesome homes we represent and expansion into other areas of Washington and beyond…
We plan to grow and morph and blossom into something even cooler! At our core, we continue to strive to be the best real estate brokers in the business and the place to go when buying or selling a Modern home. We truly feel we have an advantage over other brokers in that we “get” our niche, we market to it (Ever been to one of our open houses? You’ll get what I mean.) and we are strongly tied to it. Much of that success we owe to you so, as always, thank you for your support. We are so happy to have you along for the ride.