NJ Realty co-owner Kevin Redmond and Long & Foster Regional Manager Terry Spahr stand in front of the building that will be home to NJ Realty, a Long & Foster company.
Long & Foster purchased NJ Realty offices in Ocean City and Sea Isle City in a deal finalized Thursday.
The merger brings another major player in the regional real estate market to town. Long & Foster represents 10,000 agents in seven states and Washington, D.C.
The deal marks end of a short venture for NJ Realty in Ocean City and a 32-year tenure in Sea Isle City.
Kevin Redmond, who opened the Ocean City branch of NJ Realty with co-owner Drew Fasy in 2013, will remain broker-manager of the new "NJ Realty, a Long & Foster Company" in Ocean City.
Fasy, sole owner of NJ Realty in Sea Isle City, will stay on as broker-manager of that office. Both offices will take on the full Long & Foster name and brand in the fall.
Redmond said on Thursday that he and Fasy were not actively looking for a buyer, but they were approached by Long & Foster, which is expanding its reach in New Jersey.
After visiting Long & Foster operations in northern Virginia, Redmond returned confident that the company's "values and principles run parallel to the way we run our operation."
"It's a large company that operates like we do," he said. "It's agent-oriented."
He also said that the merger will help the office provide many of the new services that customers have come to expect.
"Long and Foster brings a whole other level of technology and marketing," he said.
Customers will find NJ Realty at the same location in Ocean City (at the corner of 10th Street and West Avenue) with the same contact information:
"Like Long & Foster, NJ Realty has a long history of success in real estate, and we're pleased to welcome their team to our family," said Terry Spahr, Long & Foster's regional manager for Delaware, the Eastern Shore and New Jersey. "Together we'll build upon and expand the already high quality of support and services that we offer home buyers and sellers, as well as vacationers in southern New Jersey.
Redmond is a former president of the Ocean City Board of Realtors and Realtor of the Year in 2011. Fasy, an active member of the Ocean City community, has spent his entire real estate career in Sea Isle City, including 20 years at NJ Realty.
