Introductions first.

Hello and welcome to my blog. I am excited to share my adventures in real estate with all of you, along with some valuable knowledge, insight and humor.

I am a husband and father of 3. Born and raised in the Old Line State. Unfortunately, I am a Steelers Fan (much to the disappointment of my wife and in-laws), but Go O's!

After years in the maintenance and construction industry, specifically 14 years serving our military's needs on Ft. Meade, it was time to move on. I enjoyed my time serving our armed forces, civilians and DOD. It was a wonderful experience, but as in life, sometimes the best experiences open new unexpected doors. The search and purchase of our first family home (a fixer-upper) and then a year long hunt for our family's dream home on the Eastern Shore pointed me in the direction of real estate.

Something I've had a hand in from the construction and maintenance side turned into a passion for helping other families find and fulfill their dreams of home ownership.

Our search for the fixer upper taught me a lot about the industry. Working with a few buyer's agents before finding one that was knowledgeable and patient when we were a family with young children in tow. We were looking at homes that were distressed and would need special loans and inspections.  It was troublesome. We had conditions, a laundry list of wants and needs and at the time we were lucky enough to take advantage of some first time home buyer incentives. It took some time but for our budget and wish list we finally found a house. We poured lots of elbow grease and emotion on that property over 3 years. Life happened, curve balls were thrown and new opportunities arise. With the addition of our third child it was time to hunt down our dream house.

We crave adventure, my wife and I are very hands on, self proclaimed DIY addicts. While we didn't want another 'gut and renovate', we did want something we could put our own finishes on. Originally we wanted to stay in Anne Arundel Country (where we both grew up) but found ourselves as a family driving to the shore on Sundays for fresh air and scenery. Week after week and with countless Starbuck's grande lattes we toured the Eastern Shore, adding houses to our hunt. First Kent Island, where I finished out my childhood at and young adult life before returning to the other side of the bridge for work. Then Grasonville, then Queenstown and further back and back. We were doing a secondary drive passed some of the houses we had recently walked though in Centreville when my wife found an open house listing for a home in Chestertown. This was the furthest we had looked. It didn't have the basement we had been searching for. The community was charming and the yards were spacious. Walking into that open house that afternoon made me realize something very important about looking for homes for your family. You choose the house, but the home chooses you. 

My wife (Lauren) and kids walked through the front door ahead of me; me, phone in hand looking at the online listing information for the property, preparing to ask questions to the agent on site.

Lauren, signaled me to come out on the deck. Mind you, other than knowing the home had the correct amount of bed rooms we needed and the approximate yard size we had wanted, we knew little to nothing else about this house. She points out into the yard; a bright green, lush, flat with my three children running around laughing.  THIS WAS IT. We quickly walked the layout of the house. While not nearly as grand as some of the other houses we looked at but this house immediately felt like home.

Our "want-to-haves" and "must haves" were perfectly outlined. We crossed dozens of houses off our list for being "too far away" or "no basement." Everything about this house felt right. Our year long hunt for our dream home was over. I continued to work on Ft. Meade commuting down 301 and 50 to 97 and after a year it was time to make the switch.

I want to be that patient, knowledgeable agent for others. I know the lifestyles on both sides of the Bay Bridge. I can walk into an "AS IS" property and assessing how much of a headache (& cash) it could be for my buyers. I understand the emotion for couples moving on from a home that held so many "first" memories to a house for a growing family. This is what I can offer as a real estate agent.

I want to take as much of that anxiety, stress and hassle out of the process as possible and in exchange provide excellent service, wisdom and fun. We are all busy. We all have unique personalities, stressors and ideas. Each client and process will be equally as unique. Our kids were a part of our home buying adventure. I'm glad our agent understood that when we toted them around house after house. Without my children being with us that day, I don't now if this home would have chose us. I don't know that I would have left my full-time job to start a new career. I'm not sure life would have put us in such a wonderful place to raise our children.

In life you have to anticipate these curve balls. In real estate, I expect them so you don't have to.

I hope you find some of that enthusiasm, wisdom and humor here. If you or someone you know is in the market to find or sell a home, your referrals are always greatly appreciated.

- Rich Matera