Pleasanton, CA — October 22, 2019 — NextHome is proud to announce the newest addition to the franchise, NextHome The Boulevard. Based in Rochester, the new brokerage represents the 15th NextHome franchised office opened in the state of Michigan.
The Boulevard is led by experienced local agents Michael T. Moore and Melissa Acton. Mike will be the broker of record and Melissa will be the associate broker.
Located in Rochester, NextHome The Boulevard’s team will serve residential buyers and sellers across Rochester Hills, Oakland Township, Auburn Hills, Shelby, Utica, Royal Oak, Troy, Ferndale, and the remainder of Oakland and Macomb counties.
Mike, Melissa, and the team are happy to help with all types of residential transactions.
“I’ve had an obsession with real estate since I was a little girl,” Melissa said. “My dad was a builder and whenever he would bring home blueprints, I would get so excited.”
Melissa remembers her family laughing at her wide-eyed excitement whenever she saw new real estate listings.
Melissa spent the early years of her career in corporate America. However, the birth of her twins in 2011 gave her the push she needed to change her career’s course.
As infants, Melissa’s twins endured many interventions. The time commitment required for these therapies meant Melissa needed more flexibility from her work.
“I had to reinvent myself,” Melissa said. “I suddenly had an opportunity to go after a career that interested me and would provide the flexibility I needed because of the situation with my kids.”
Melissa obtained her real estate license and began working as a buyer agent with Keller Williams. Melissa became the friendly face clients would interact with.
In the fall of 2016, Melissa’s twins started kindergarten and she discovered that one of her sons had a learning disability.
“I took a year off to focus on making sure my kids were my first priority,” Melissa said.
When she returned to real estate in 2017, she met Mike.
Before his career in real estate, Mike spent 11 years as a regional safety director at FedEx. During those years, much of Mike’s time was spent traveling and he missed his family. When the company restructured and taking a buyout became an option, Mike was happy for the opportunity.
“Suddenly, I got to choose what I wanted to do for a living and I had always wanted to pursue real estate,” Mike said.
As he reestablished a great work-life balance, Mike got his real estate license and began working for a small, boutique firm. After two years with that company, Mike got an offer from a bigger brokerage in town.
“It just seemed like a natural next step,” Mike said.
Mike spent the next two years with the large brokerage, where he found great success. Mike became one of the top five producing agents within the first year out of a firm of 400. Mike remained one of the company’s top five producing agents his entire time there and was the second top producing agent two years running.
His success and sales volume set him apart in area real estate, so when Melissa was looking to jump back into the industry, she cold called Mike to see if she could join his team.
“Having someone who could take clients for me and be a right-hand person was just what I needed at that time,” Mike said. “My wife and I were expecting another child at the time and Melissa’s cold call could not have been timed better.”
As Melissa and Mike began working together, they found that their skills complemented one another, and they were able to establish a productive partnership.
That partnership, and the success it generated, prompted Melissa and Mike to talk about opening their own brokerage.
“We saw things that could be done differently,” Mike recalled. “We had this desire to differentiate ourselves and fill a regional need for flexible, fun, and ethics-driven real estate services.”
The search for the right franchised brokerage began and stumbled across NextHome.
“Our first call with NextHome was really good,” Mike said. “When we crunched the numbers on starting our own brokerage from scratch, the cost difference was so significant that going with NextHome didn’t even seem like a question. It was far and away the best business decision.”
However, it wasn’t just the numbers that made NextHome a good fit for Melissa and Mike.
“It is so nice to have peers to connect with, as well as a corporate leadership team that holds the torch and leads the way in what sometimes feels like a dark tunnel when starting a business,” Melissa said.
As Mike and Melissa continue to lay the foundation for their brokerage, they hope to build a team that refuses to over-promise and under-deliver.
“Unfortunately, that’s very common in our industry and it doesn’t do anyone any good,” Mike said.
Melissa added, “We work with an honest approach. We are bringing agents aboard who are of that mindset and who have experience.”
At NextHome The Boulevard, that honesty and knowledge also come with a healthy dose of fun.
“We want work to be fun,” Mike said. “We want our clients to enjoy this experience that is commonly very stressful. It’s the most expensive purchase most people make, so we want to make the process as seamless as possible. I want clients and agents to know that I take my business seriously, but I don’t take myself too seriously.”
When he isn’t helping clients and agents, Mike enjoys working out, spending time on Lake Cass, and enjoying the great outdoors. Alongside Erica, his wife of 12 years, Mike has two sons, Dylan (11) and Maverick (2).
Melissa and her husband Chris Ralph are the proud parents of twin eight-year-old boys, Griffin and Everett. Outside of selling real estate, Melissa enjoys traveling with her family and basking in the beautiful ruckus of her neighborhood full of kids.
Please join us in congratulating Mike, Melissa, and their team on the opening of NextHome The Boulevard in Rochester, Michigan!
Interested in being a part of the NextHome Real Estate Franchise? Contact VP of Sales Charis Moreno at Charis@NextHome.com.
Each office is an independently owned and operated business.