Carol Jones, Realtors loses 2 top producers

Letty Van Kleeck, who sells between $12 million and $15 million a year, joined Murney Associates in late March, and Kay Van Kampen, whose team sold $24 million in 2004, helped open a new ReMax office April 4 in Ozark.

Van Kleeck, who joined Carol Jones, Realtors more than a dozen years ago, said the difficult decision to leave was based on the company’s new emphasis on new residential construction.

But President and CEO Carol Jones said that the company’s focus is unchanged – a mix of new construction, existing homes and commercial properties.

Van Kleeck’s bread and butter is existing upscale homes, with an average price tag of $455,000. She said that being connected to a “progressive, professional organization,” such as Murney, is important.

“That’s what I expect, and that’s what my clients deserve,” said Van Kleeck, who brought along her assistant, Cheryl Ferreira, in the move.

Van Kampen left Carol Jones, Realtors Dec. 22 after 16 years. She joined ReMax House of Brokers the next day and opened ReMax Solutions April 4 at 1507 W. State Hwy. J in Ozark. ReMax Solutions is leasing a 1,800-square-foot office across from Lambert’s with room for 30 agents.

Van Kampen took four of her Carol Jones team members and about 10 other agents to the ReMax office, which she co-owns with Jeff Kester, Lina Robertson and ReMax House of Brokers. It opened with 14 agents.

“We decided if we were going to leave Carol Jones, we were going to leave only if we could open another company down here. ReMax approached us to do that,” Van Kampen said, adding that the affiliation with a national company was important.

Jones said that after 40 years in the real estate business, she’s used to seeing attrition.

“You hate to see people leave, but if they can get a better deal, they should go. They should do what’s best for them,” she said.

Despite losing more than $36 million in sales and nearly 30 years of selling experience, Jones isn’t worried about a void. Carol Jones, Realtors has about 400 agents, up from the 360 agents reported to SBJ in August, and Jones said her company always has potential agents attending real estate school. In 2004, the agency listed more than $700 million in real estate and sold $882 million, Jones said.

Twila Hillme, broker-manager for Murney Associates, said the agency closed $733 million in transactions last year and has about 500 agents. In August, Murney reported 404 agents for SBJ’s Book of Lists.

Listings stay

Leaving one agency for another involves a transitional period for many agents, who are sometimes left without an inventory of homes.

Carol Jones, Realtors agents are contractually obligated to leave their listings behind. “The listings stay with the company. They belong to the company,” Jones said.

Agents at Murney Associates and ReMax are not held to the same policy.

Van Kleeck, who has been in the real estate business for 32 years, said that in some ways, it’s like starting from scratch.

“It’s rather old-fashioned in today’s world because our main business is to service our clients and service these people to whom we are trying to promote their property,” Van Kleeck said.

Van Kleeck also left behind her eight-year affiliation with Christie’s Great Estates magazine, where she advertised high-end properties internationally. Van Kleeck’s last Great Estates listings was a $1.7 million log cabin and guest house on 35 acres.

“That’s the one bad thing about my move,” Van Kleeck said. “I was not able to bring that with me at this time, but we will be working on that. I’m sure Carol will try to also.”

The affiliation belongs to the broker rather than the agent, and the contract expires in mid-July.

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