A well-known Gold Coast real estate couple have taken over ownership of RE/MAX Coast, formerly Hartnell Realty, with big plans to move the business forward while retaining its family ties.
Kevin and Lisa Brown said it was their dream to establish their real estate business in Ashmore, where their family (including nine-year-old twins and an almost-eight-year-old) has lived for 15 years.
“We are totally immersed in the Ashmore community as a family and wanted our business to be part of it as well,” Mr Brown said.
“We can’t find anywhere else we’d love to live.”
The couple has worked together as a successful business team for 15 years, including at the helm of LJ Hooker Mermaid Beach, but have always had their eye on Ashmore.
“Ashmore is becoming like an ‘inner city hub’ of the Gold Coast – in a perfect location with so much going for it. It is already a highly-desirable place to live and a suburb set for growth,” Mr Brown said.
“We’ve looked longingly at the Hartnell Realty office for the past nine years. A family real estate business in Ashmore was exactly our dream.”
Hartnell Realty was a family business of more than 28 years, and the longest established real estate business in the area.
Louise Hartnell, who had been in the industry for about 35 years, said the family decided the time had come to wind down and relax, and have one “long holiday”.
“Peter and I have many great memories, including being on Selling Houses Australia,” she said.
“That was an amazing experience. Even though it was quite a few years ago, people today still come up to tell me they’ve seen the show,” she said.
Mrs Hartnell said right around the time they made the decision to move on, the Browns told them they’d been admiring the business for years.
“We all just clicked,” Ms Hartnell said. “It was meant to be, we were meant to meet each other, they were meant to carry on the business.”
The Browns said they were excited to move the business to the next level with the RE/MAX brand and all that came with a leading global network.
“We love RE/MAX because we can put ourselves into it,” Mr Brown said. “Its culture is one of encouraging individual initiatives, supporting agents to grow their business, and providing exceptional experiences for customers.”
Mr Brown has an extensive real estate background of more than 20 years, and Ms Brown has a Business/Communications degree from Bond University and a corporate/marketing background.
Ms Brown said the new business would have a strong property management focus and would innovate to provide what customers deserved and expected.
And best of all, RE/MAX Coast would follow in the Hartnell Realty footsteps and be a family business.
“We are excited, incredibly happy and humbled to have had this opportunity to take one successful family business and make it into our own successful and equally long-established family business,” Mr Brown said. “One of my nine-year-olds already says he wants to join me in the business!”
The Browns said they were delighted that Adin Hartnell, who has been in his family’s business for more than 20 years, has transitioned to RE/MAX Coast.
Joining him is Eric Wittenberg from the Browns’ previous sales team.
“We are building a highly productive team that is clearly focused on its customers and I welcome enquiry from enthusiastic, customer-focused people interested in being on our team,” Mr Brown said.
“With RE/MAX Coast, we are building a business that is about exceptional service in every aspect of real estate.
“And because we are operating in our own community which we know so well, we can serve that community better.
“You can’t just sell real estate, you have to ‘feel it’, you have to ‘be’ your market place.”
