My name is James Blackwell and I am the Broker/Owner of Blackwell Real Estate.

Blackwell Real Estate is a full-service Residential Real Estate Brokerage serving the entire Washington Metropolitan Area from our offices in Annapolis, Maryland and Alexandria, Virginia.

I grew up in Lanham, Maryland where I played hockey for and graduated from DeMatha Catholic High School.  After high school, I attended the University of Maryland at College Park, where I received my Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from the Robert H. Smith School of Business.

I started my journey in Real Estate in the spring of 2003, when I joined a 200 + Agent Long & Foster Office in Columbia Maryland. (That decision almost cost me my entire Real Estate Career!   I got lost in the shuffle of a 200+ agent office, The competitive culture of the experienced agents and the lack of true 1-on-1 training and mentorship left new agents like myself to figure it out on our own as we took boilerplate training courses in large classroom settings, from a group of instructors who were clearly teaching the class because they did not make enough money to support themselves by actually selling real estate! In 8 months with Long & Foster, I only sold 2 houses…One of which was to myself!

In December of 2003, I decided to change course, and moved my license to a small, 30 agent office with Prudential Carruthers Realtors in Crofton Maryland.  At PruCar Crofton, I found a wam, friendly environment where the agents and staff cared about everyone’s success, and through that culture (and the discovery of the Buffini Method of working by referral)  I started to thrive. I sold 27 homes in my first year at PruCar, and 42 in my second.  As I like to say, “I was the same person, at both brokerages (L & F and PruCar) what changed was the level of training, support, and care I received at PruCar vs L & F.

I have been in Real Estate management, as either an Office Manager, Team Leader, or Managing Broker for over 15 years now, and incorporate that early experience I had as a new agent in every decision I make as a leader in the Real Estate Industry.