By MADDY VITALE
Disston Vanderslice could have just gone into his family’s successful real estate business, Grace Realty, and continued the tradition of excellence and knowledge of Ocean City’s Real estate market and the surrounding communities.
But he didn’t.
Instead, he got his real estate license, went to college where he earned his degree in finance and went off to work in Philadelphia in marketing and advertising.
Then the love of his hometown and the desire to be in business with his father, Harry Vanderslice, brought him back to Ocean City, to work with him at his real estate agency.
“I grew up learning so much from my dad. He has 50 years of experience in real estate,” Vanderslice, 35, who is a new Ocean City Board of Education member, said this week. “We team up for a lot of business. For the last six years, since returning to Ocean City from Philadelphia, my dad has helped me so much. He has been my role model and my inspiration for doing the right thing.”
The father/son team is paying off.
Disston Vanderslice won the New Jersey Realtors 2021 Platinum Level Circle of Excellence Sales Award for selling $45 million in properties in January. He, along with other realtors who won Circle of Excellence awards this year, will be honored at a gala next month.
“This is my second time winning Platinum,” he noted. “I have won Circle of Excellence four straight years.”
While he sells properties in the surrounding area, he primarily focuses on his hometown of Ocean City. All of his current listings are in Ocean City and Upper Township, but he has recently sold homes in Avalon, Longport and Sea Isle City. Many of the multi-million dollar properties he sells are rebuilds on prime beachfront and bayfront locations.
Vanderslice noted that buyers are and should be taking advantage of the current low interest rates.
“Being that the rates are low, there is a huge demand for new construction homes,” he explained said. “If someone has a teardown there is so much demand for it that it could go to settlement in a couple of weeks.”
With the hundreds of real estate agents in Ocean City alone, and limited inventory, Vanderslice said he believes leaving to become skilled in other areas helped make him a well-rounded real estate agent. He is a broker/owner of Grace Realty.
The Ocean City High School graduated who received his college degree from Monmouth University wanted to have a broad base of knowledge to deliver the most quality service to his clients, he noted.
“I have had my license since 2009, but I went to Philly for seven years and worked selling advertising for ESPN radio and came back here 6 years ago,” he said. “Before I worked for ESPN, I worked for the 76ers selling sponsorships right out of college. I feel like I learned a ton, rather than just staying in a bubble in Ocean City.”
He returned to Ocean City armed with tools to help his clients, both the buyers and the sellers, by using technology from an array of social media platforms to digital advertising to showcase his listings.
“There are the big real estate companies of the world, but owning a family-owned company enables me to have the ability to have flexibility for my clients,” he pointed out. “I don’t have to answer to answer to anyone to get things done. We can just make decisions and go with it. My dad has had a very good reputation for being extremely honest and really my reputation is to build off of what he has built and work together to make something special.”
There are so many reasons why, despite the competition from many agents on the island, Ocean City is somewhat of an easy sell because of its beauty, family-friendly environment and hot market.
“If you have a family you are going to love Ocean City and not just that, it is a great investment,” he said. “Every morning my wife and I take our son for a bike ride on the Boardwalk at sunrise. There is nothing better than that.”
Grace Realty is located at 3400 Central Ave. in Ocean City. For more information visit gracerealty.com or call Disston Vanderslice at 609-675-1575 or email him at disston@me.com.
