Grand opening of new real estate office has great turnout

April 10, 2025

By Michael Riley

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The grand opening of the new Keller Williams real estate office-Go with Crowe Real Estate occurred on April 3 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 60 Hastings Street. N. with the ribbon cutting happening at 10 a.m. In addition to food and beverages, there were door prizes, and a spin to win wheel. Realtor Claire Knight HBSc. (Kin.) comments on this grand opening day to Bancroft This Week.

Knight told Bancroft This Week on April 1 that they’re excited to be opening the office as real estate has become very impersonal and transactional since the pandemic.

“Our effort is to make it much more personal with in person contact and offer a warm, welcoming environment for people to just pop in to say hello, have a coffee from McGs [Cakes on Main, which is next door] on us and to chat about their real estate goals any time. Locals or tourists, we are always up for a chat / visit,” she says.

Knight says that their team “Go With Crowe Real Estate” is powered by Keller Williams Realty, which is now one of the largest real estate companies in Canada, with access to over 200 offices and thousands of other realtors across Ontario they can share and collaborate with, to assist in marketing to out of area buyers.

“We chose downtown Bancroft as we are #SOLDon Bancroft which is our social media tag. We live, play, volunteer and work here. Our full-time home is just five minutes from town in Bancroft and we own a small cabin on Paudash Lake that we have had for many years. We wanted to be easily accessible to the community to come in and visit us any time – and for marketing in our brightly lit up windows featuring our listings and community events / sponsors,” she says.

Knight says this has been a long time coming and they’ve been planning for this since last fall and all winter and have had their location since October, 2024.

“We have dignitaries and Mayor Paul Jenkins coming for the ribbon cutting at 10 a.m. and are planning for 50 plus people with the invites what went out to over 5,000 homes and businesses in the area and surrounding areas,” she says.

In addition to Jenkins, Hastings County Warden Bob Mullin, Hastings County economic development coordinator Andrew Redden, Hastings County small business coordinator Graham Copestake and Anita Ramski from MPP Ric Bresee’s office were there to help celebrate.

Knight says that Dave Crowe is her husband and business partner and Maggie McKay also works with them as their office manager and is also a licenced realtor and a local. Knight says that she’s been a full-time licenced realtor since 2005 and she’ll have been doing this for 20 years on April 19. She says she has sold over 1,000 homes, farms and cottages combined over that time, and before that she was in marketing and sales. Crowe has been a licenced realtor for six years and was a mechanical engineer before that.

Knight says that the word community comes to mind first and that they are huge community players when it comes to collaboration, sponsorship and support. She says they want to contribute back to the community and be involved with healthy community growth.

“Dave, Maggie and myself are all passionate about the arts (Bancroft Theatre Sponsor) and Local Sports (Sponsor Tally Pines Car Rally, Curling, Soccer and Hockey) and all have a vested interest in supporting mental health initiatives especially for youth and the local food bank. We want to foster, inspire and encourage others in the community to work together for a healthy community with a focus on having others outside the community see why the Bancroft area is not only beautiful but also an amazing place to live and raise a family,” she says.

Knight reveals that they really focus on marketing which differentiates them with some of the unique thing they offer clients to help them sell their homes faster and for maximum sale price.

“We offer competitive commission along with marketing packages for specific types of properties targeted to their specific market whether it be rural, cottages, investment, or in town properties. Every property is different and we believe for this reason every property needs its on unique marketing for the target buyer it will attract. That is exactly what we do and what we specialize in. Attracting the right buyers to see homes, cottages and land that is what they are looking for. So much of real estate is not actually sales – it is really all about marketing and that is what we do best along with our ability to connect with people on a personal level and build lasting relationships,” she says.

Knight and Crowe can be reached on Facebook and Instagram @SOLDonBancroft and at www.soldonbancroft.ca.

“Our door is always welcome to anyone in the community to come say hello, have a coffee / tea and talk about their business or real estate goals,” she says.

The ribbon cutting with Mayor Paul Jenkins and dignitaries with the presentation of a Certificate of New Business happened at 10:00 a.m. on April 3. In addition to food and beverages, there were door prizes, and a spin to win wheel for folks in attendance. A draw was also held that evening for a $300 gift card for whitewater rafting, a $75 gift card for the Old Tin Shop in Bancroft and a pair of tickets from the Bancroft Village Playhouse. Knight told Bancroft This Week on April 4 that Logan Faulknor won the white water rafting draw, while the other two draws haven’t had their tickets claimed yet but they’ve posted ticket numbers on social media on @soldonbancroft.

Jenkins said it’s always nice to have new businesses open up, small businesses especially.

“The real estate market has definitely seen its ups and downs but Claire and Dave have lots of experience and hopefully they’ll bring that to our area and get all the new people we hope to attract here,” he says.

Mullin agreed, saying it was nice to see experienced businesses moving in.

“They’ve got the background behind them so you know they’ve done their homework. It’s good and it’s always nice to see full storefronts,” he says.

Knight told Bancroft This Week on April 4 that the day was incredibly busy regardless of the weather.

“We had a big wind mid day shortly after you left which blew our tent up in the air and flipped it over onto our roof which was eventful! We had to move the food inside after that. We had lots of visitors. Some friends, neighbours, many fellow Realtors from offices along the road, fellow down town shop owners and managers and lots of new faces! It was wonderful to have the support from Hastings County and the town of Bancroft including the mayor, councillors and representatives from the small business development department and County. All in all, we had a total of 78 entries into our draw for the three prizes and had 62 people visit throughout the day between 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. It was a huge success and the sun came out for the second part of the day which was lovely!” she says. “Bring on the Spring along with the Spring Real Estate Market!”