By Paige Tepping
RISMEDIA, Nov. 17, 2007-Bruce Taylor, president of ERA Key Realty Services, has recently discovered that his once slowing market has experienced a trend towards stabilization. That said, he insures his agents are kept up to speed to stay in the forefront of the industry. Here, meet Taylor and what’s working to keep his business competitive.
Bruce Taylor
President
ERA Key Realty Services
Whitinsville, Massachusetts
Years in real estate: 34 Number of offices: 8 Number of agents: 275 Average sales price: $290,000 Average time on market: 150 days Region served: Central Massachusetts Out of the office: “You will find me on my sailboat.” Clientele demographic: “We have a broad range of clientele that we serve that doesn’t really fit into any one group. We serve individuals from all generations, income groups and occupations.” Best thing about my job: “…is being able to build a team to success, and this is really what we do on a daily basis. We try to convince people to join our team and to help our team members grow.”
Please describe your current market conditions. We have definitely noticed that our market has slowed down within the past few years. This being said, we have also seen the market start to stabilize more recently. Not only have the prices started to go up slightly, but the inventory is shrinking as well. We see most of these changes happening in the east in Boston first. Our market comes from there, so things change there first.
How do you keep your agents up to speed with what is happening in the market? We provide our agents with a periodic newsletter and we also stay in contact through both e-mail and voice-mail. We are always looking to leverage new technology to help us with all of our business needs. We recently launched a narrated tour available for our agents in order to disseminate news to them. In addition to sending news, we will be able to send images and audio.
What are some of the current trends you see in your market right now? We’ve seen a lack of new construction, which has led to the depletion of new construction inventory. We have also noticed that there have been less multifamily-home sales compared to past years. In addition to these things, our sale prices are lower than they have been in the past because prices have declined and the lower-price market is selling at a better rate than the mid-price market.
How do you set your company apart from the competition in your market? The main way we separate ourselves from others in our market is through our core values. Here at ERA Key Realty, we base all of our actions and decisions on six core values that we feel are important to being successful in the real estate world-hard work, teamwork, acting with integrity, the idea that you get by giving, believing in seeking solutions and, most importantly, we believe in having fun.
