CAPTION: Local real estate agents Ken Stone and Grace Bloodwell.

Net Share Realty, an independent real estate agency with its origins out of Gibson Real Estate Charlestown, has closed its doors after two years of operation.
In its early stages, Net Share Realty plugged itself as a consumer-friendly agency based on its lower commissions and buyer rebate program. Net Share’s team, Grace Bloodwell, Jay Johnston, Steven Ozer and Ken Stone, reverted to a traditional model after it became apparent that the discount was not drawing people in. Instead, clients who used Net Share were predominantly Gibson customers following the agent, not the discount.
As Steven Ozer and Jay Johnston each go their own way professionally, Ken Stone and Grace Bloodwell have partnered up and joined Keller Williams at the Charlestown office at 18 Main St. to continue their rental and sales business. Founded in 1983, Keller Williams Realty Inc. is an international real estate company with more than 650 offices located across the United States and Canada. The company began franchising in 1991 and became the fourth-largest U.S. residential real estate firm in North America in 2006. The Charlestown branch opened recently and offers consumers a first-floor, storefront office in the heart of the neighborhood.
When asked why Net Share has closed its doors, Bloodwell cites that ironically, 2008 was a good year for Net Share on the books because of the company’s low overhead, number of sales and a large volume of rentals. Still, she explains, the writing is on the wall for small boutique real estate companies:
“Competing with the Keller Williams of this world will only get more difficult,” Bloodwell says. “People do look for a brand name when they go to sell their home, which is understandable. Ken and I are excited to bring our experience and also a big name, Keller Williams, to our clients. Keller’s online resources, education opportunities and marketing are fabulous.”
Stone and Bloodwell both agree that in this market no advertising can sell a home if it is overpriced. Instead, buyers will pass right over the property. The average time on market for a condominium in Charlestown in 2008 according to MLS (Multiple Listing Service) was 123 days. In 2005, which many consider to be the height of the market in recent years, the average number of days on market was 75 days.
The closing of small businesses appears to be a growing trend in a struggling economy. Advertising costs have increased, and the Internet has encouraged the development of a multitude of new online advertising sources. In the real estate industry, each year a new online publication or print marketing source establishes itself and sellers expect to see their home in and on these costly avenues. The big companies have large infrastructures so they are able to advertise across the board, while small companies struggle to make their marketing funds stretch to satisfy the needs of their clients.
Net Share’s closing comes on the heels of a merger between Grancey Real Estate and Gibson Sotheby’s and, before that, the closing of independently run Gibson Real Estate Charlestown. As the economy tightens, there may be more mergers that will result in fewer companies and larger names — a trend that all industries follow as the economy stutters. The disappearance of Edibles by Evers, as well as the closing of several stores in the Bunker Hill Mall over the last few years seem to herald this shift towards “bigger” stores and companies. Statistics suggest that consumers tend to go where the products are most affordable in times of financial distress.
With real estate there is a nuance, Stone, is quick to say; “Our clients are less concerned about getting a discount as they are with getting excellent service and their property online, marketed, and sold or rented.”
Bloodwell and Stone, despite the negative news about 2009 and the real estate market, are optimistic about the future.
“We are excited about the move. Ken and I are great friends and neighbors, and we work very well together,” Bloodwell says. “Ken came to Charlestown in 1973 and has been involved with real estate for 25 years so he knows the business well. Real estate aside, he has really been a rock for Charlestown.”
Bloodwell continues, “He sat on the Neighborhood Council for 15 years. He worked with others to eliminate the highway over City Square and spearheaded the movement to have the middle of the new City Square become a park instead of tall buildings. He raised funds and he personally relocated 80 trees from City Square to Galvin Green. Not many people realize that those trees across from the Shell station was Ken Stone’s doing as well. It tells a lot about his feelings for this town.”
Stone had some nice things to say about his new partner as well.
“Grace, a Harvard grad, is an energetic broker who is excellent with technology,” Stone says. “She knows how to communicate with all types of people which is crucial for negotiations. Other brokers respect her, which is not always the case in this industry. She is also involved with the community and youth. She has sat on the Friends of City Square Park as secretary for the past three years and spends her extra time outside of work coaching soccer and basketball at Matignon High School in Cambridge. [Coaching] is a real passion of hers.”
Time will tell what the real estate market will do in 2009 and how Stone, Bloodwell and the rest of the Charlestown brokerage community will fare. Market forecasts are not positive.
Stone suggests that January may be a good indicator of how the spring market will go: “Traditionally January can be a busy month if the weather cooperates. If there is not a lot of snow there should be some activity. We’ll look to March as an indicator of the health of the real estate market too. Charlestown and Boston have not been hit as hard as most regions of the country.”

Following the successful launch of a boys basketball team last year, the Warren-Prescott School has added a girls program to its after-school curriculum.
Jason MacDonald and Kim Landry, the parents of Ashley Landry, a 14-year-old student at the school who now plays on the team, established the fledgling girls program in November. Jodi Gainey, a teacher at the school, was soon able to secure a donation of basketballs, and another school staff member, Sharon Sodergran, provided additional support for the program. After the team joined the CYO league, the Charlestown Community Center allowed the team use of its vans to transport players to away games, due to the efforts of City of Boston street worker Brian Wadman.
MacDonald said a sense of camaraderie quickly developed between the 14 seventh- and eighth-graders on the team, none of whom had played the sport before. “It’s built a bonding relationship between girls who otherwise wouldn’t necessarily have been friends,” he said.
Besides meeting for formal practices on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, the players now hold their own informal practices on Sundays, which include fitness training.
Dr. Domenic Amara, principal of the Warren-Prescott School, points to the program as yet another example of how the community stepped up to support additional extracurricular programming, since the Boston Public Schools has extremely limited regular funding for after-school sports below the high school level.
“We make due with what we have available. It’s a voluntary thing that shows how people pulled together to support the school in tough economic times,” Amara said. “Because we don’t have money for sports programs, we’re depending on local support. It’s a grassroots initiative by some very dedicated men and women.”
Amara added that sports programs supplement the school’s academic offerings. “These sport programs are all important for character development, and from research, we know sports has a positive impact on learning,” he said.
But despite the success of the program so far, it still needs to raise some money for referees’ fees and additional transportation costs. To achieve this goal, a Texas Hold ‘em fundraiser at the Silver Fox Restaurant in Everett is in the planning stages. Donations may be made to the Warren-Prescott Foundation — anon-profit foundation that supports school programs — at 50 School St., Boston, MA 02129; Include “Girls Basketball” in the memo line.
For more information on the program, contact Jason MacDonald at 617-337-5089 or via e-mail at j1317m@comcast.net.

Charlestown, as we all know, is one of the oldest communities in the nation. Many people have passed through this wonderful town, some very famous and some not so famous. But one reality is for sure: Everyone who passed through this town has had a story.
Thomas Blackburn was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, in late 19th century. As a young lad, he learned the trade of baking and became very good at his chosen profession. He was known all over County Tyrone for his fine goods.
As a young man, he decided to emigrate to the U.S., and after arriving in Charlestown, he purchased an abandon old barn on the lower end of Bunker Hill Street, converting the building into a bakery. His business soon grew and grew.
Blackburn was described by neighbors as hard working. He never took a day off, or ever a vacation, and was considered a very frugal individual. He was so frugal that he fed his horse stale brown bread. As a result, the horse became known as “the plumpest horse in the town.” The horse was so fat and slow that one day while Blackburn was making a delivery on Ferrin Street, the equine became startled when hit by a child’s baseball and started to run. William Vaughn an elderly man who lived at 60 Ferrin St., chased the horse and wagon and brought them both to a halt.
Blackburn had five children, three by his first wife and two by his second wife. His eldest daughter, Etta, joined her father in the brown bread and beans business. They serviced the finest hotels and restaurants in the City of Boston, earning Blackburn his nickname, the “Brown Bread King.”
The business became so prosperous that in 1890, Blackburn purchased a three-story frame house at 22 Cross St. for $ 3,085 cash. But in 1905, however, he became very ill being diagnosed with pleuro-pneumonia and, for the first time in his life, had to admit to himself that he was ill. He was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he died a week latter. In his will, he left half of his property, as well as more than $30,000 in cash, to his eldest and favorite child, Etta.
A few days after his death, questionable stories about Blackburn’s lifestyle and character began to circulate. The will was subsequently revoked, and local restaurateur Joseph Daley was named as guardian. A Mrs. Craig of East Cambridge filed a lawsuit against the estate claming that Blackburn had promised her that in the event of his death she would receive a payment that would be the equivalent of today’s palimony.