“Astor & Longwood”?

Friends and clients often ask Bill and Scott where the name “Astor & Longwood” comes from. “Are you related to the famous Astors of New York?”some ask. “Did you have something to do with that fancy octagonal Longwood House in Natchez?” Reply the guys, “If only!!”

The actual story goes back to a 2003 bicycling trip in Alaska. The hiking and biking fun had concluded, and Bill and Scott were relaxing and chatting in an Anchorage park. The topic soon turned to the real estate business and to owning their own. They quickly wrote down their ideas, which included enlisting their extensive backgrounds in design, history, landscape, and “fabulosity” (!) to create a brokerage different from any other. It would be one where they could have fun doing what they do and that would use their educations, interests, world travel, perspectives, and years of experience to deliver a truly rewarding experience for their clients.

They high-fived, and then turned to a name.  Easy doing, they thought. Wrong. 

They tried really, really creative monikers like “Stegeman & Gill” and “Stegeman, Gill & Co.” Zzzzz.   

Then they got more imaginative, with the brilliantly original portmanteaus “Stegill Enterprises” and “Gilman.” Really? Yuck. 

At long last, they looked back home — a good place to go when in residential real estate — and the lightbulb flashed on:

“Astor & Longwood”!

“Astor”: the street where they lived in a 1920s co-op in downtown Chicago; “Longwood” the lane where they owned a small beach cottage in Southwest Michigan.  Astor & Longwood! Town and country! Formal and relaxed!  Home and home! “That’s it!” they cried. And so was born A&L, Bill’s and Scott’s highly personalized brokerage of Fabulous Austin Properties.