Dave Malta Realty Merges With Nothnagle Realtors

Dave Malta Realty is now Nothnagle Realtors! Dave Malta of Dave Malta Realty and Nothnagle CEO Armand D'Alfonso issued a joint announcement regarding the merger on Thursday.

Dave Malta has worked in the real estate industry since 1962 and eventually formed his own team of real estate experts to serve the area. Dave Malta and his team, agents Ginny Nguyen, David Malta Jr., and Ellen Bell-Sullivan will operate out of the Nothnagle Fairport branch at 65 S. Main Street.

“The trend in the real estate industry is for smaller firms to merge into larger ones for economies of scale,” Malta said Thursday, adding that an agency such as Nothnagle has more media buying leverage and technology capabilities than a small outfit. “It’s beyond anything I could hope to have,” he said.

“The Dave Malta team is an experienced sales force and we are so thrilled to have them on board,” said Nothnagle CEO Armand D’Alfonso.

Last month, Holly Creek, the Rochester area’s top agent in dollar volume sales, left Hunt Real Estate to join Nothnagle. The Holly Creek team consists of 10 agents.

In February, Nothnagle acquired Braeview Realty in Hilton, and it has absorbed numerous other agencies.

“Partnering with smaller agencies in the region as well as franchising outside the Rochester area are two key components of Nothnagle’s growth,” said Karen Leonardi, vice president of corporate and consumer affairs at Nothnagle.

Why You Should Join Nothnagle

If you are thinking of getting into the real estate business or considering a switch from your current broker, let us tell you how easy it is at Nothnagle!

Nothnagle provides agents with the most support services of any real estate company in the region. We also give agents the largest support staff—over 100 people working behind the scenes to support you.

As one of our agents, you can use as many support services as you like. It’s completely up to you and the way you work. All services are provided free of charge too!

Here is a sampling of the support services we provide:

•Placing company-paid print advertising
•Placing company-paid self promotion ads
•Preparing presentation packets
•Preparing listing packets
•Producing online Guided Tours for your listings
•Listing your home on Rochester’s most popular real estate web site
•Scheduling appointments for showings
•Entering new listings into MLS
•Providing agents and sellers with copies of all paperwork
•Coordinating transactions and paperwork for house closings
•Ordering “Just Listed” postcards
•Sending out mailings
•Maintaining your mailing list
•Providing one-on-one support
•Providing training
•Brainstorming innovative sales strategies
•Providing carefully screened contractors to facilitate home sales
•And much more

All of these support services are available to Nothnagle agents, free of charge. Use as many—or as few—as you like. It’s totally up to you.

There’s a lot that goes into being successful at real estate. No real estate company does more than Nothnagle to give you the support you need.

Talk to us about switching to Nothnagle. Find an office near you and then call a Branch Manager to learn more. Our agents tell us they wish they had switched sooner!

Home Services Can Help Fix That Leaky Roof

Spring is finally here! Depending on your situation, that could mean a remodel, spring cleaning, or maybe a leaky roof from all that rain. Whatever the project, Nothnagle Home Services can do it all.

Through their partnership with trusted Rochester area contractors, service partners, and retailers, Home Services provides Nothnagle clients with home-related products and services before, during, and after their move.

Home Services does so much more than just providing moving services. There are service partners that specialize in whatever you may need. From paint, cleaning, interior decorating, roof repairs, mowing, pest removal, remodeling, trash/garbage pickup, home security, or heating/air conditioning, Home Services will help get the job done. A full list of our service categories can be found here.

Each one of our service partners provides some special benefit exclusively to Nothnagle clients who go through Home Services. Every partner is required to maintain a 95% satisfaction rate with our clients, so you can be sure you are getting the highest quality service. Take comfort in knowing the job will get done right. A full list of our service partners can be found here.

Take advantage of what Home Services can offer! Register now and get started.

Visit our Facebook page to stay up-to-date with our newest partners and special promotions!

Why a Small Home Might Save You a Big Headache

Other than keeping you and your loved ones nice and cozy, a small home has several benefits. In addition to the generally lower asking price, here are 5 reasons smaller may be better:

1. Lower property taxes: Since the value of a small home is usually assessed lower than a larger home, your property taxes could be significantly lower than your neighbors.


2. Lower property insurance: Although it varies by location, generally the smaller the house, the lower the insurance cost. How the house is constructed also affects the insurance cost. A wood house in a wildfire-prone area, for example, will likely cost more to insure than a brick house.


3. Heating and cooling savings: Even if the house is poorly insulated, you may still be saving money. One study found that a poorly insulated, 1500 sq. ft. house is at least $200 cheaper per year to heat and cool than a well-insulated house twice that size.


4. Save on major replacements: Let's just say that when it comes time to replace the roof, both you and your wallet will be thankful that there's a lot less roof to pay for.


5. Easier maintenance: Spending less time cutting smaller lawns, cleaning gutters, and washing windows means more time to do what you actually want to do. When spring cleaning time rolls around, you'll be loving your little house while your neighbor is still scrubbing away.

Housing Market Not as Bad as it Seems?

With headlines like, "Home Sales Continue to Plunge" and "Foreclosure Mess Will Last for Years," it is easy to get discouraged about today's housing market. While no one is claiming that all is well, there may be a glimmer of hope amid the mess. Some of the reports seem to be a bit exaggerated, or at least out-of-context. Is it possible that things may not be quite as bad as they seem?

All the "doom and gloom" articles seem to be citing the same two reports as their main sources. What seems to make the situation so believable is that both reports, Existing Home Sales Report and Pending Home Sales Report, come from the well-respected National Association of Realtors (NAR). To really understand the implications of these reports, however, you must read them in context. Both reports look at different sets of data:

• A year-over-year comparison of transactions (Y-O-Y)


• A month-over-month comparison of transactions (M-O-M)

If you just look at the Y-O-Y statistics on their own, there is definitely reason to worry; they are frightening. However, when viewed in context, the numbers begin to make more sense. Right about this time last, we were nearing the end of the Homebuyer Tax Credit, one of the greatest buyer tax incentives in American history. People were doing everything they could to close the deal on their home before the tax credit expired. Because of this, many of the sales that would have undoubtedly taken place later in the year were bumped up to the early months of 2010. This created an unnatural spike in home sales, which dropped dramatically after the tax credit expired in April. At the risk of sounding cliche, to compare the first four months of 2011 to the first four of 2010 would be like comparing apples and oranges.

Rather than comparing this year's sales to last year's, the better comparison would be from month-to-month. After the sales dropped from April to May of last year, they slowly began to rebuild and have continued to increase. This gives us a better snapshot of today's market since it is taken in context rather than being compared to last year's tax credit-induced sales. The graph below shows pending home sales over the last year. The steady increase following the early drop is clearly seen. Another encouraging fact is that Rochester was not hit by the housing crisis nearly as hard as other cities across the country. Rochester home prices never bubbled during the boom, but have enjoyed slow, steady growth throughout the bust. Low foreclosure rates, relatively affordable housing and reasonably well-paying jobs have contributed to Rochester being named "The #4 Best Recovering Housing Market."

What does this all mean? You have to remember that headlines are meant to be shocking, and the truth is often not as exciting as it sounds on the front page. If you live in Rochester, and take some time to extract the real information from the headlines, you might just find that things aren't quite as bad as they may seem.