“This is a huge honor, and we are absolutely humbled to be recognized by the community like this, especially knowing how much competition there is out there.”—Ken Schrier, owner, RE/MAX Marketplace
The three owners of RE/MAX Marketplace, David Redino, Erika Rendino and Ken Schrier won the coveted honor of Best Real Estate Company in 2021, and they’re excited to have NorthBay Biz voters choose their real estate business as No. 1 again. “This is a huge honor, and we are absolutely humbled to be recognized by the community like this, especially knowing how much competition is out there,” says Schrier. He says the credit for being voted BEST Of is a testament to their hardworking agents.
The Rendinos and Schrier started working at the same Creative Property Services brokerage 20 years ago where they became colleagues as well as good friends. In 2016, they purchased their own RE/MAX franchise and named it RE/MAX Marketplace, which is now housed in the old Exchange Bank building in Downtown Cotati. They have carefully grown their business over the years and have 36 agents, plus a full-time office staff of six, which includes an in-house marketing team. The trio had to outsource all their own marketing efforts before they had their own business and when they had their own company, decided to make marketing services readily available to their agents. They knew by offering their agents this in-house added bonus, it would boost their agents’ production. Their agents handle residential, multi-residential, and commercial real estate transactions throughout the North Bay, including Marin, Napa, Solano, Sonoma and the lower part of Mendocino Counties. They even have an agent who serves Sacramento and the surrounding area.
Many of their residential clientele these days are mature homeowners who are looking to retire and downsize. Schrier says they are seeing a lot of people selling their homes and moving out of the area, but he also notes that about 30% of their business is with first time buyers looking to settle into the North Bay. “Business slowed down during the COVID lockdown since buyers couldn’t access properties to view them, but once the mandates relaxed in 2021, there was a flood of buyers and sellers looking to enter the market,” says Schrier who states that 2021 became one of RE/MAX Markeplace’s best production years. He says there is now a general lack of inventory and choices and believes a normalization is happening in the market with the rate of property appreciation slowing down as the rates go up.
Schrier says a vast majority of their clients have become friends, some very close friends. He believes one key to success is that a client should always feel that their agent has their best interests in mind 100% of the time. When it comes to their clients, the relationship isn’t just about closing escrow and getting a check. “It’s about building a lifelong relationship with someone who trusts you enough to pass your name onto someone else that they know. That is the true litmus test of success,” he says. According to Schrier, an agent should never become desensitized to what it feels like to buy or sell a property and remembers the very first house he purchased in 1998 before knowing anything about real estate. “It’s exciting and terrifying and that is a feeling that should never be forgotten.” For many, buying or selling a home is the single, biggest financial investment of their lives and he and his partners remind their agents to remember that every time they have a client in front of them.
[Photo courtesy of RE/MAX Marketplace]
