{"id":20103,"date":"2022-06-03T02:40:54","date_gmt":"2022-06-03T06:40:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/?p=20103"},"modified":"2022-06-03T02:41:28","modified_gmt":"2022-06-03T06:41:28","slug":"brick-businessman-sets-off-on-journey-in-wild-real-estate-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/2022\/06\/brick-businessman-sets-off-on-journey-in-wild-real-estate-market\/","title":{"rendered":"Brick Businessman Sets Off on Journey In Wild Real Estate Market"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Hazelet<\/a>

Hazelet Realty Group, 503 Brick Boulevard, June 2, 2022. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n

He\u2019s someone you\u2019ve likely seen around town, from coaching youth baseball games to Chamber of Commerce events. Over the last two years, however, while most people have been seeing less of each other, John Hazelet decided to take a leap into what has turned out to be one of the wildest business rides he could have found.<\/p>\n

Hazelet, the longtime broker at Cara Realtors in Brick, decided during the pandemic \u2013 as many did \u2013 that he wanted to begin his own business. Being in real estate, the go-to choice was to begin his own agency, and the stage was set for Hazelet to jump into his dream business at the same time the market was beginning to explode.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was something I didn\u2019t really plan for a long time \u2013 something that was in the back of my head \u2013 but I wanted to give it a shot,\u201d he said. \u201cThe hardest part was actually finding an office. The commercial world is just as crazy as the residential one, if not more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hazelet ended up, unintentionally, finding office space across Brick Boulevard from his former employer.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeaving there wasn\u2019t an easy decision,\u201d he said, of Cara. \u201cI was there for a long time and the broker there for four years before I left. That\u2019s why it took so long in the first place \u2013it\u2019s totally the old-fashioned story of wanting to go out on your own.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once his new office at 503 Brick Boulevard was secured, Hazelet began months of work just to get things together. Buying furniture, computers and all of the \u201coffice stuff\u201d we\u2019ve come to take for granted isn\u2019t as easy as it used to be. Neither is finding a staff, but strong local ties and a desire to teach the next generation of real estate professionals in Brick became central to his strategy of attracting talent. He\u2019s brought with him some longtime colleagues to start the business over the past year, but has been excited to bring new agents on board.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally, what my goal is here, is to hire brand new agents,\u201d Hazelet said. \u201cI like working with both, but I especially like working with new agents. Some of the experienced folks can work with the new people, and I very much enjoy teaching people the business.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Hazelet<\/a>

Hazelet Realty Group, 503 Brick Boulevard, June 2, 2022. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n

It also helps that Hazelet is a lifelong Brick resident and has held leadership positions in organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce, which is a great source for making connections.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy roots have been here in Brick forever, even though I may have flirted with Point Pleasant and Toms River at a couple points,\u201d he joked. \u201cI was born and raised here. I coached baseball for about 25 years, so I know people have heard my name. Having a \u2018big book\u2019 of people to call helped me get over a lot of the pandemic challenges that were thrown at someone starting a new business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wild Times<\/strong><\/p>\n

With the hot market still sizzling, there are some misconceptions abound. Real estate is no get-rich-quick plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople get the impression that realtors are kicking back and making a fortune, but for that brand new agent who doesn\u2019t have a system to fall back on, they could be starving,\u201d Hazelet explained. \u201cIf you\u2019re working with buyers and can\u2019t put them together with a seller, you don\u2019t get paid. I had to prepare people for that, let them know it\u2019s okay to struggle for a little bit, but then introduce them to the tools and systems we have. Usually after the first month they can finally take a breath.\u201d<\/p>\n

Homes continue to pop up on the market and, usually, sell quickly in Brick, Hazelet said. According to real estate data periodically reviewed by Shorebeat, there are 164 properties for sale in town at the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cTypically, three or four years ago, that number was in the mid 400s,\u201d Hazelet said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s before you break it down \u2013 15 are senior communities, 15 are condos, 15 are waterfront \u2013 so the selection may even be smaller than it first appears.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fewer than 30 of those homes are under $400,000, making the path to home ownership a bit narrower for some buyers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a fair number of first-time home buyers. A good portion of the business last year were first-timers,\u201d said Hazelet. \u201cThis area is always going to attract people from the north because of the waterfront. It\u2019s teetered off a little bit from the first days when people were working from home, but that will always be a factor here.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the end, there was no better place for Hazelet to start a business than in his hometown, where he not only could launch his own venture, but continue as a luminary in the township\u2019s business community and help introduce the business to a new generation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Brick is a good place to start a business, no matter what business you\u2019re in,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople talk about what you know versus who you know, but it\u2019s actually both. Through the Chamber I\u2019ve met a lot of people, and I\u2019ve always been a believer in networking with people you know. I just wish I knew someone in the furniture business!\u201d<\/p>\n

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He\u2019s someone you\u2019ve likely seen around town, from coaching youth baseball games to Chamber of Commerce events. Over the last two years, however, while most people have been seeing less of each other, John Hazelet decided to take a leap into what has turned out to be one of the wildest business rides he could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1649],"tags":[24,4484,4688,4687,306],"class_list":["post-20103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-business","tag-brick-nj-news","tag-featured","tag-hazelet-realty-group","tag-john-hazelet","tag-real-estate"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Screen-Shot-2022-06-03-at-2.39.57-AM.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgt2Ft-5ef","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}