Sage Real Estate Services LLC acquires Mid-America Appraisals

by Maria Hoover

Inside Business Editor

mhoover@sbj.net

Skip Sage of Sage Real Estate Services LLC acquired Mid-America Appraisal Services March 20. Both companies are now operating out of new offices at 5601 S. Campbell, Ste. 103.

"(Mid-America Appraisals) had already determined to make a move to a new location, and I had been working out of my house. We just consolidated," Sage said. He declined to provide the details of the transaction, but noted that the acquisition followed the death of Charles Crowley, who operated Mid-America Appraisals with his wife, Vickie. Sage said Vickie Crowley still has some limited involvement with Mid-America Appraisals, primarily administrative.

"We will operate under both (names) for the time being. My customers will continue to use Sage Real Estate, and Mid-America customers will continue to use Mid-America," said Sage, managing member of both companies.

At some point, it's possible that the names will change, but "there's enough change going on for the time being," Sage said.

Sage, a licensed real estate broker, said Sage Real Estate Services manages a few rental properties for the properties' owners, but the company does not handle the buying and selling of real estate. The bulk of Sage Real Estate Services' business is in commercial appraisals, he said, which fits well with the primarily residential appraisal business of Mid-America Appraisals. Sage estimates that between the companies, 25 percent to 33 percent of the appraisal work is commercial and the rest is residential.

Including Sage, there are eight employees with the companies, but Sage is the only certified appraiser. However, Sage said, other employees are allowed to conduct appraisals as long as they do so under his supervision.

"I'm considered their supervisory appraiser," he said.

Settling in after the acquisition is first priority, Sage said, then he'll ponder future plans and growth.

"We continue to add new companies as they contact us and we become aware of them. Right now, the concentration is making sure that the current customers of Mid-America are aware of the change and are comfortable, and we hope to retain (them). You always have some fall-off, but so far, we haven't seen too much," Sage said.

Sage said appraisers deal with the same challenges faced by the lending industry in general.

"The boom years of the refinancing, everybody locking in the lower interest rates, has pretty well come to an end," he said. "We get back to a more traditional portion of the business cycle, so the activity is not going to be as strong as it's been in the last couple of years. There are always people buying and selling and refinancing, but certainly not at the levels that we've seen."

On SBJ's listing of "Springfield Area's Most Active Real Estate Appraisers" in the 2004 Book of Lists, Mid-America Appraisals ranked ninth, reporting 600 appraisals completed in the 12 months prior to the list's Jan. 22 compilation date. On that same listing, Skip Sage ranked 19th, reporting 150 appraisals completed.