Home Sweet Home Sales: Area's Top Sellers

Top agents – ranked in order of transaction sides – and the companies they represent are: Patrick Murney of Murney Associates, Realtors; Ethel Curbow of Coldwell Banker Vanguard Realtors; John Heitz of Re/Max House of Brokers; Doug Garges of Carol Jones, Realtors; and Deb Ledford of Keller Williams.

It should be noted that in a real estate transaction, a real estate agent can represent both the buyer and the seller, so one transaction could lead to two closed transaction sides. By the same token, the dollar amount of a property also can be counted twice when the Realtor represents both sides.

Even so, there is little doubt that these five agents are at the top of their game.

Strong economy

The reasons for the strength of the industry are the same as they’ve been in the past, according to Coldwell Banker’s Curbow, who has been in the local real estate business for 26 years.

“Since I’ve been here, the economy has done nothing but get better,” Curbow said.

She also points to the slow but steady growth in real estate values in the area – “it may not be a lot each year, but it’s always there.”

That steady market led her to roughly 200 closed transaction sides worth $38 million in 2006, only slightly off her personal record year of 2005, where she closed 206 transaction sides worth nearly $41 million.

Familiar faces

One factor all the top producers share is repeat business. All five Realtors said a majority of their business comes via referrals from former clients or repeat business from existing clients.

“I would say probably 60 (percent) or 70 percent is referrals,” Curbow said.

She also mentioned, however, that she has been drawing in an increased amount of business from out of town through her Web site, “so the percentage of referrals is probably not as high as it used to be.”

Carol Jones’ Garges, a 25-year member of the local real estate community, closed 123 transaction sides worth $35.4 million in 2006. In 2005, Garges posted 191 closings worth $42.7 million. Qualty customer service leads to repeat business, he said.

“When you help somebody and take good care of them, they call back,” he said.

“It makes life easier because you don’t have to go out and find a new customer every day,” Garges added.

Garges said that about 75 percent of his sales come from repeat business and referrals, in part because he does a lot of business in new subdivisions working repeatedly with the same builders and developers.

Murney’s top seller is Patrick Murney, a 20-year real estate veteran who posted 311 sides worth $62.8 million in 2006. In 2005, Murney had 277 transaction sides worth $62 million.

He also said referrals were key, attributing 85 percent to 90 percent of his business to repeat or referral customers.

Hard work

Re/Max’s Heitz, with four decades of experience in residential real estate, closed 171 transaction sides worth $22.5 million in 2006. In 2005, Heitz had 175 closed transaction sides. Heitz said the key to his success is simple: hard work.

“I’ve seen people in this business who forgot more about real estate than I will ever know, but (they) didn’t apply themselves and didn’t work out,” he said. “Then I’ve seen people in this business who apply themselves and work hard and do very well.”

He mentioned a former colleague from the early 1980s who thrived despite record-high interest rates near 20 percent.

“The reason why he did so well was because everybody else kept thinking interest rates were too high and nobody was going to buy a house,” Heitz said. “He went on ahead and kept selling, and he outsold everybody in Springfield that year because the market was bad, but he didn’t know the difference.”

That hard work is something that many outside the real estate business don’t realize is part of the job, according to Ledford, Keller Williams Realty of Greater Springfield’s top seller.

“There’s a misunderstanding about Realtors being overpaid,” said Ledford, who closed 34 transaction sides in 2006 worth about $4 million. In 2005, she had 42 transaction sides worth $7.1 million. “We work hard every day. People don’t see that – they just see you’re at the closing table and you walk away with a big check.”

Not surprisingly, she points to dedication to the job as one key to her success.

“The things that you do today may not pay off today or tomorrow or next month, but if you consistently get out there and work, you’ll know in the end that your kids won’t be skinny,” she said.

Murney said the key is having a passion for the business – which is important considering the long hours.

“There’s not really any magic to it – it’s a lot of hard work,” he said. “Any successful Realtor can tell you that they work long hours, put in a lot of time and try to do a good job.”[[In-content Ad]]