There's a new real estate office in town. Prominent Properties Sotheby's International Realty opened its new Montclair office just a little over a week ago, settling into a charmingly restored Victorian on Park Street.
Owned by Randy Ketive and Charles Opple, Prominent Properties Sotheby's, described as "Northern New Jersey's premier luxury broker," has roots in Bergen County with offices in Alpine and Tenafly among other New Jersey locations.
And while the name Sotheby's has a certain cachet, don't let it scare you away, says Denise Riordan, director of sales. "We're a full service broker and our office will handle everything from a small condo to a mansion." Riordan, formerly vice-president of Schweppe Realtors, says that diversity of listings will become apparent as people notice signs all over town on a variety of properties for sale.
Can Montclair sustain another real estate office in a town already crowded with agents? "There's always going to be competition," says Riordan. "The bottom line is netting sellers the highest dollar in any market place. Sellers are paying a lot of money to hire a broker, they expect to get what they are paying for."
Sotheby's Prominent Properties has name recognition, and so do some of the agents who have jumped ship from other offices to come on board. Joining the team are Barbara Lewis and Kathleen "Kate" McDonough, two of the area's consistently ranked top producing agents. When Schweppe Burgdorff became part of Coldwell Banker back in June, Lewis was very vocal about Schweppe's history as market leader.
Kate McDonough says of joining Sotheby's, "We are so excited to kind of go back to the Schweppe culture and we are hoping to build a group of 30-35 of the best agents in area who share the same culture and principles of the way to do business. We are a service-oriented group striving to give top notch service from least expensive condo to the most expensive property."
Riordan, who has had a long time association with both Lewis and McDonough, says she is proud to have them on her team, adding "We have had several other incredible agents join us as well and we're gearing up for after the holidays and the start of 2010."
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Comments (5)
another RE post with no comments... telltale.
I think the agency has nothing to do with it. It's the agent. Find a good one and it doesn't matter what agency they are aligned with. Aren't they all basically the same? We have used Steve Matthews (now at Prudential) to sell our old house, buy our new one, and would recommend him 100%. He had a good strategy, got us the best price, and watched out for us every step on the way in both buying and selling. We have recommended him to several people and everyone has been pleased. We started at Century 21, He moved to Coldwell Banker, and is now at Prudential. No matter where he was affiliated everyone was impressed with the service he delivered.
Buyers agents on % commission- hard to think of any other job where the worse you perform, the more money you make.
Congrats to Barbara Lewis. Barbara is top drawer! She honest. She works diligently for her client and is totally a class act.
Best of luck to you Barbara!
Peace,
Stella Blue
I love when agents respond to articles to pat themselves on the back.
The fact is, the "culture" the agents want to recreate is a culture of the elite overpriced real estate company that offers no more service then any of the others already around. I wonder if they will be embracing the same Sotheby's discount commission structure it's Bergen County offices have?
I am guessing not... didn't they do enough damage and make enough money overcharging us when they were with Schweppe?