What do the LSU football team and RE/MAX 360 DiVirgilio Homes have in common?
They are both No. 1.
Al and Katie DiVirgilio, the husband-and-wife owners of the Lynn real estate office at 85 Exchange St., are celebrating the fact that their agency is the No. 1 seller of homes in the city with 221 transactions in 2019, according to MLS statistics.
Katie attributes the office’s success to a simple formula: hard work.
“I think it’s just relentless, hard work and dedication,” said Katie. “All those things people know it takes to be successful, if you actually implement them and have a good work ethic and want to do a good job for your sellers and buyers, you have to available every day and night.”
Al DiVirgilio said when he and Katie entered the real estate industry, “we purposely chose to open an office in Lynn.”
“We made a commitment to the community,” said Al. “We approached this from a genuine love for a community which I think makes a huge difference. Everything we do isn’t just about our client or the property – it comes from our overall deep love and respect for where we are. When a buyer comes in, we’re not just selling the home, we’re selling the neighborhood. We love the city and that comes across in everything we do.”
There are several reasons why Lynn has become such a “hot” real estate market, according to the DiVirgilios.
“I think in a lot of respects, Lynn, is the beneficiary – finally – of its proximity to Boston,” said Al. “Lynn’s proximity to the airport, major transportation, and Boston – we have more to offer than all these communities that in the past have reaped those benefits.
“We have the second largest municipal woods (Lynn Woods) in the United States, our coastline compares to anywhere else in the world, the beaches, the best water in the Commonwealth, our sightlines – all the little things people realize when they get here and take a look.”
“Seeing and hearing all that, they realize that Lynn’s a great place to live and raise a family,” said Katie.
And all that positivity is great news for Lynn residents, whose properties have soared in value. “In 2009, the average home sale in Lynn was for $175,000,” said Katie. “This past quarter (2019), the average home sales was for $392,000.”
Katie DiVirglio, who grew up in Swampscott, became a licensed real estate agent in 2009, having worked at an agency in Salem.
“That’s where I got the real estate bug,” said Katie. “I really just loved giving people the tours. After a couple of years, I decided to leave real estate and go in to the travel industry.”
Two years later in 2014, Katie decided to make the transition back in to real estate. In March, 2017, Katie and Al (who were married in 2012), opened the RE/MAX Advantage Lynn office and then changed the named to RE/MAX 360.
Al, son of popular former Mayor Albert DiVirgilio, served as a Lynn Police officer for 25 years and is a former Lynn city councillor. Before He assisted Katie with the real estate business and became fully licensed as an agent in 2016.
Katie said her husband’s background in politics and in other local organizations are assets to the business.
“Al knows quite a few people, so politicking in real estate comes easy to him, shaking hands, meeting people – not being scared to put himself out there – it’s huge for us,” said Katie.
The DiVirgilios agree that Lynn is a community that is headed in the right direction and they want to be a part of the city’s continuing resurgence.
“We’ve put our roots here and we’re always going to be here,” said Al.