Steve's Soundbytes

Friday, October 24, 2008

Big things happening with The Whitfield Properties Team –

The Team is making a move. For anyone reading this who is not familiar with The Whitfield Properties Team, just a little history. The team itself was formed in the late 90’s while Steve Whitfield was still working with Sam Moore & Associates. Steve was the first Realtor in Alamance County to recognize the value of forming a group of real estate professionals into a team where each individual did those things that they enjoyed the most and at which they were the most proficient while working together and sharing commissions and resources. The Whitfield Properties Team, the company, was formed in 1999 and steadily grew to a force of 8 Buyer Specialists, 2 Listing Specialists, 2 part-time couriers, a Transaction Manager, 2 full-time and 1 part-time Administrative Specialists, a part-time Bookkeeper/Systems Analyst and a full time Public Relations/Marketing manager. At the height of the market the Team helped over 200 families buy, sell and/or relocate making us not only the largest and most successful Team in our market but also put us into the top 5 real estate companies in the Burlington MLS in terms of units closed, listings held and dollar volume closed.

As the economy changed and the market evolved, a number of outside forces began to impact the Alamance County real estate market. New regional and national real estate companies entered the market and the competition for business stiffened. The smaller companies, with limited resources, began to feel the pinch and the niche for the smaller” boutique” companies, such as The Whitfield Properties Team, began to dwindle.

Because of the Team’s belief in the basic concept of the inherent value of the “team”, the decision was made to join forces with one of the national companies that had come on the scene. It was important to Steve, Nancy and the entire team that the basic values of all of our transactions being “win-win” and the belief that “God, family and then work” should be the order of things. These values matched up perfectly with the values of Keller Williams Realty, a national franchise company with corporate headquarters in Austin, Texas. Keller Williams Realty has a “Market Center” in Durham, NC with a Satellite office in Mebane, NC. There are plans for growth in the near term, such that another office will soon be established in Burlington, to accommodate the anticipated growth in the overall population of Alamance County and the corresponding need for more agents to service that growth. The Whitfield Properties Team will become a part of Keller Williams Realty but will retain its “Team” identity with the same phone numbers, website and email addresses.

We sincerely feel that this is a very logical step for the Team to take as we head into this post “bail-out” year. It seems to me that the best way to prosper will be to work together with common values of high ethics, professionalism at all levels, the desire that all parties to the “deal” deserve to win or there is no deal and that the priorities we have in our life are God, family and work, in that order. We are excited about the future here in all aspects of life in Alamance County and are looking forward to “throwing in” with Keller Williams Realty. We will be making our physical move to Mebane as we await our new offices back in Burlington, effective November. We will be available, as always, at 336-584-0347 or easily visible at www.whitfieldproperties.com. Call us when you need any advice or you just want to talk real estate.

Steve