Re/Max companies merge for expanded Key presence

Re/Max Excellence and Re/Max Alliance Group announced Tuesday that the companies have merged and will operate as Re/Max Alliance Group. According to Re/Max Excellence broker/owner Andrew Vac, the company will close its Longboat office, located at 510 Bay Isles Road, Oct. 1.

Re/Max Alliance Group broker/owner Peter Crowley said the deal would bring a consolidated Re/Max presence to Longboat Key, while providing Re/Max Excellence agents with additional technological and marketing tools of a larger company.

“We’re excited to have Andrew and the rest of his team joining us,” Crowley said. “We think it will provide an enhanced presence for Re/Max Excellence on Longboat Key.”

Vac opened his company in its current Longboat Key location in 1998 as Andrew Vac Realty and converted it to Re/Max Excellence in 2002. The same year, Vac opened a St. Armands Circle branch, which operated until April 2009. Vac, who will hold the title of broker/associate at Re/Max Alliance, said that he will temporarily work out of Re/Max Alliance Group’s main office at 2000 Webber St., in Sarasota, while looking for a permanent office on Longboat Key. Re/Max Excellence agents joining the company will work out of the Re/Max Alliance Group offices closest to the areas that they serve.

As of Tuesday afternoon, seven of the company’s nine agents had agreed to join Re/Max Alliance Group, which has approximately 250 agents, who work out of eight offices in Sarasota and Manatee counties.

“It’s going to give Re/Max Excellence and Re/Max Alliance Group agents and clients a larger entity for exposure and marketing and services,” Vac said.

The other two agents, Marnie Matarese and Dan Jasmer, will be the anchor agents for J. Wood Realty, a new Sarasota real-estate company. Matarese said that she and Jasmer got their start in real estate with Vac in January 2005 and have worked with him for the five-and-a-half years since then.

“We feel that the education and knowledge that we acquired working with him gave us the knowledge and skill to go out with this new venture,” Matarese said.

Contact Robin Hartill at [email protected].