Central Ohio Real Estate - New Albany and Central Ohio Real Estate & Community

Real Living HER awarded a 2011 Best of Business Award

October 20th, 2011 The Raines Group Posted in Central Ohio News, Central Ohio Real Estate, Columbus Comments Off

Tonight at the Scioto Country Club, Real Living HER was awarded the 2011 Best of Business Award for “Best Real Estate Brokerage”. The award was based on votes by the readers of Columbus CEO magazine for the third consecutive year!

The Raines Group was proud to hear that Real Living HER was selected among the room full of the best business leaders in their professions from throughout central Ohio, and is happy to be a part of an award-winning brokerage.

Visit www.Facebook.com/RLHER to see a picture of the trophy.

If you are looking to buy or sell a property in New Albany, Gahanna, Blacklick, Westerville, or another Central Ohio community, please contact The Raines Group. We offer professional real estate advice and are happy to help you achieve your real estate goals. Please contact us today via our online contact form or by calling The Raines Group at 614-418-7417.

Lovely new listings featured on YouTube

October 16th, 2011 The Raines Group Posted in Central Ohio News, Central Ohio Real Estate, New Albany Comments Off

The Raines Group recently listed the following homes – enjoy these videos of them. For a personal showing, call 614-855-8700.

2939 Breezewood Lane, Galena, Ohio

7336 Berkley Square, New Albany, Ohio

585 Clifden Court, Sunbury, Ohio

If you are interested in the latest videos from The Raines Group, please subscribe to our channel on YouTube. Click here to view our channel and subscribe.

The Raines Group and Real Living in the Real Trends Top 1,000 List

October 5th, 2011 The Raines Group Posted in Central Ohio Real Estate, National Association of Realtors, New Albany, Ohio Real Estate Comments Off

The 2011 Real Trends Top 1000 rankings are out and 12 members of the Real Living family are included on the list. The rankings were compiled by the Wall Street Journal and Real Trends, Inc. focusing on individual professionals and teams from across the United States.

Top sales representatives are slotted into four categories of rankings including the top 250 real estate professionals by transaction sides, professionals by transaction volume, teams by transaction sides and teams by transaction volume.

Here’s how Real Living and Agents ranked in the top 1,000:

Top 250 Teams by Transaction Volume
Sandy Raines/ The Raines Group Real Living HER 83
Marie Jo Atkins Real Living Lifestyles 204
Teti-Olenik (Diane Teti & John Olenik) Real Living Lifestyles 239

Top 250 Teams by Transaction Sides
Sandy Raines/ The Raines Group Real Living HER 131
Ralph Suarez Dilbeck Real Estate Real Living 226

Top 250 Real Estate Professionals by Transaction Sides
Gary May Real Living Success 131
Anngel Benoun Dilbeck Real Estate Real Living 246

Top 250 Real Estate Professionals by Transaction Volume
Tracy McLaughlin Pacific Union International, Inc. 110
Sandra Tanco Kinlin Grover Real Estate 145
Dana Green Pacific Union International, Inc. 153
Steven Mavromihalis Pacific Union International Inc. 171
John Lee Pacific Union International, Inc. 245

Once again, The Raines Group achieved the highest ranking (83rd) and is thus the #1 sales team for Real Living, nationwide. In 2011, The Raines Group has already surpassed last year’s success (with a few months still to go!) which begs the question, “Where will they place next year?”

New Albany Home – Staged to Sell!

September 29th, 2011 The Raines Group Posted in Central Ohio Real Estate, New Albany, Ohio Real Estate Comments Off

The Raines Group firmly believes in proper staging. This beautiful home in the New Albany Country Club listed with Sandy Raines, who recommended making a few cosmetic changes and staging the home. Dan Messer of Exceptional Home Services, LLC helped open up the kitchen and painted several rooms, while Linda Powell used her staging talents. The home generated a lot of interest on the market and sold!

The Raines Group Welcomes New Agents

September 27th, 2011 The Raines Group Posted in Central Ohio Real Estate, New Albany Comments Off

With over 250 homes sold/in contract so far this year, The Raines Group has had an outstanding 2011!

Welcome, Natalie!

Linda Brincks sells Westerville home in two days.

Linda Sells Homes!

To keep up with the multitude of buyers and sellers, the group has welcomed back real estate consultant Linda Brincks, and added two new agents to the team, David Armentrout and Natalie DiSabato.

Linda was an active realtor with The Raines Group and recently took some time off to run a successful life coaching business. However, the time off didn’t seem to affect her real estate skills. She listed a home last week, had an offer after just two days, and put the home in contract! View Linda’s full profile by clicking here and see the home she sold by clicking here.

David has been a realtor for years as well, and is excited to join The Raines Group. He lives in the Powell area and also runs a small business focusing on cars. Natalie grew up in the New Albany area and is fairly new to the real estate field. She’s excited to help bring buyers and sellers together. View her full profile by clicking here.

The Raines Group named Top Team in Ohio by The Wall Street Journal

September 23rd, 2011 The Raines Group Posted in Central Ohio News, Central Ohio Real Estate, Columbus, New Albany, Ohio Real Estate 3 Comments »

The Raines Group of Real Living HER was named one of America’s top real estate professional teams by The Wall Street Journal and REAL Trends. The team is now a member of the “The Thousand Top Real Estate Professionals,” a prestigious national awards ranking sponsored annually by the two respected publications. The Raines Group is now ranked in the top one half of 1 percent of the more than 1 million REALTORS® nationwide.

The Thousand Top Real Estate Professionals was announced on September 6, 2011 with four separate categories honoring the top 250 residential agents and agent teams for excellence in:

Individual Sales Professionals – Sales volume
Individual Sales Professionals – Transaction sides (in each real estate transaction, there are two sides that can be represented by a real estate agent: a buyer’s and a seller’s.)
Team Professionals – Sales Volume
Team Professionals – Transaction sides

According to The Thousand Top Real Estate Professionals, The Raines Group had sales volume totaling $70,892,266.00, ranking the team 82^nd in the nation, and first in the state of Ohio. The Raines Group also closed 202 sides, placing them 132^nd in the nation, and second in the state of Ohio. They are one of the few teams to rank in both volume and sides.

“The best individual agents and teams – including The Raines Group’s award-winning efforts – were nothing short of phenomenal considering the challenging real estate market,” said Steve Murray, founder of Denver-based publishing and communications company REAL Trends, which compiled the list. “Ironically, if you look at the top 250 in each category you will find that collectively, their sales volume and transaction sides held up quite nicely compared with the market as a whole.”

“Becoming a member of such an elite group as the The Thousand Top Real Estate Professionals is an incredible accomplishment in any market, but what The Raines Group did during these challenging times is impressive on so many levels,” said Marti Gallardo, vice president, Global Sales, Vertical Markets Advertising for The Wall Street Journal. “Their efforts topped 99.99 percent of the more than 1 million REALTORS nationwide.”

“I am absolutely thrilled to be named to The Thousand,” said Sandy Raines, CEO of The Raines Group. “Even with the market’s challenges, it’s incredibly gratifying to help clients find their dream homes as well as help them sell their properties quickly and for the highest price possible.”

The four lists of the The Thousand can be found at:

http://realtrends.com/products/top-1000-sales-professionals/individual-sides

http://realtrends.com/products/top-1000-sales-professionals/individual-volume

http://realtrends.com/products/top-1000-sales-professionals/team-sides

http://realtrends.com/products/top-1000-sales-professionals/team-volume

OSU and Clean Fuels Ohio receive major energy grants!

September 18th, 2011 The Raines Group Posted in Central Ohio News, Central Ohio Real Estate, Columbus, Ohio State University Comments Off

Columbus will soon be getting a big boost of electricity!

The Ohio State University and Clean Fuels Ohio will receive a combined $1.4 million from the federal government to help prepare central Ohio for the deployment of electric vehicles.

OSU will receive $907,026 to help with training programs for electric-vehicle engineers, one of seven such awards in the country for colleges.

Clean Fuels Ohio will be given $500,000 to deal with various issues related to electric vehicles, including charging infrastructure, safety training and even zoning issues. The nonprofit group is one of just 16 in the nation to receive money from the Department of Energy’s Clean Cities initiative.

“By developing the next generation of automotive engineers and preparing communities for plug-in electric vehicles, these projects will help reduce our nation’s dependence on oil imports, create jobs, and help America capture the growing global market for advanced vehicles,” said Steven Chu, secretary of energy, in a statement.

Clean Fuels Ohio will work with a wide array of other groups on its project, including the Ohio State University’s Center for Automotive Research, the Great Lakes Energy Development Task Force, regional planning commissions and the governments of Columbus and several other Ohio cities.

The project will “benefit individual motorists, fleets, and municipalities and will facilitate economic development in the electric vehicle industries,” said Sam Spofforth, executive director of Clean Fuels Ohio, in a statement.

Real Living Her wins 50% of statewide categories at OAR Promotion and Advertising Contest.

September 13th, 2011 The Raines Group Posted in Central Ohio Real Estate, National Association of Realtors, Ohio Real Estate Comments Off

On Sunday, The Ohio Association of Realtors announced the winners of this year’s OAR Promotion and Advertising Contest. Real Living HER won first place in 50% of the statewide categories! The contest winners will be part of the OAR exhibitor space at this year’s state convention through Wednesday.

Real Living was entered in the “large firm” category and here are the awards:

First Place – Auction Promotion Materials

First Place – Business Cards and Stationary

First Place – Commercial/Investment Brochures

First Place – Firm website (HERRealtors.com)

First Place – Institutional Advertising (Curbside Info campaign)

First Place – Institutional Communications (One Real Living company e-newsletter)

First Place – Billboard (Lancaster associates coop ad)

First Place – Photos of Office Exteriors (Granville – Hugh Price)

First Place – Photos of Office Signs (new Lewis Center Office)

First Place – Television Advertising (Curbside Info 30 second spot)

Columbus one of America’s ‘most playful cities’

September 8th, 2011 The Raines Group Posted in Central Ohio News, Central Ohio Real Estate, Columbus Comments Off

If you live in the Columbus area you undoubtedly have been to one of the enumerable parks and playgrounds that dot our fair city’s landscape.

KaBOOM!, a national non-profit dedicated to building and renovating playgrounds, and the USA Weekend magazine that reaches 49.5 million readers in 800 newspapers recently drew up the list of their 2011 playful cities and communities. Of 151 cities recognized there were 5 given top honors and Columbus had the honor of being one of those 5.

Columbus shares the “playful city distinction” with cities from corner to corner of the continental U.S.: Auburn, Wash., Hartford, Conn., San Francisco, Calif. and Orlando, Fla.

Whetstone Park of Roses

With 46 walking/ biking paths, 228 parks, 18 public pools, 3 major dog parks, 8 nature preserves, a 16 acre skate park, and 4 floral gardens including the Whetstone Park of Roses featuring over 11,000 total roses and the Topiary Garden Park (a living recreation of Georges Seuaat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of LaGrande Jatte). Columbus is well deserving of this honor.

Columbus is clearly a great place to work and play, Here are a few fantastic examples of programs and activities going on in the play department right now.

An ongoing glassblowing workshop at Franklin Park Conservatory.

Various camp opportunities for youth.

Sellect Fridays, Rhythm on the River at Bicentennial Park.

September 18th, Annual Community Open House FREE day At COSI!

For those wanting to know more about individual parks check out the Columbus Parks and Recreation site.

To find a park near you check out this link to the Parks and Recreation interactive map page!

McCoy Center New Season Kicks Off in Two Weeks!

September 6th, 2011 The Raines Group Posted in Central Ohio Real Estate, New Albany, New Albany Community Comments Off

In just under 2 weeks New Albany’s McCoy Center for the Arts will kick off its 2011-2012 season with a powerful night of music at the Pythian Theatre-King Arts Complex. Committed, a 6 man a cappella group (who are the winners of Season Two of NBC’s The Sing Off) are known for their powerhouse vocals that stretch from harmonizing melodies to booming bass. Their versatile song catalog runs the gamut from gospel worship songs, to tight-harmonized jazz, to doo wop.

Purchase tickets here. Ticket prices: $25; Discounts available for Students and Seniors.

In October the action moves back to the McCoy Center’s Shottenstein Theatre.