A group of five Jamaican realtors are making a go at operating a new Re/Max Elite franchise in Kingston and have set up offices at the Winchester Business Centre on Hope Road.

The office opened for business earlier this month. Its directors are Newton Johnson, David Dixon, Nadia Dixon, Richard Oliver and Faith Downie.

The other Re/Max franchise was cancelled in May 2008, Sandra Watson, head of the Real Estate Board, confirmed but had no comment on the reason.

Johnson said the new Re/Max Jamaica, which has 10 agents, is optimistic about foreign interest in local real estate.

"The international community is looking at Jamaica. We get a lot of hits on the Internet and a lot of Europeans, Chinese, all sections of the world, sending in requests to us," he said.

turnaround begins

The market was, he acknowledged, soft in the current recession, but he said Re/Max was positioning for business once the turnaround began.

"They are very young, very dynamic," Johnson said of his team, "and that is the way we are going to be attacking the market. We are not going to sit back and just wait for manna to fall from the heavens; we are going to be attacking the market."

Johnson himself claims 14 to 15 years of experience in real estate, but said he worked in the financial sector before that, including Eagle Merchant Bank back in 1982.

"I used to do portfolio management for clients when I was with a stock brokerage, and one aspect of that portfolio was real estate. And that is how I got interested in it," said the realtor.

dionne.rose@gleanerjm.com