Local residential
real estate brokerages now have some new competition to face.
Six area Realtors have opened their own real estate company under
the franchise name of Keller Williams Capital Partners Realty.
The new firm opened Thursday at 500 W. Wilson Bridge Road in Worthington.
Those having a stake in the franchise are Brian Kemp, formerly
of Prudential Residential One Realtors; Joe Jackson and Sue Lusk-Gleich,
formerly of RE/MAX Capital Center; Jo-Anne LaBuda, formerly of
RE/MAX Premier Choice; Paula Linehan and Eric Ransom; formerly
of RE/MAX Northeast; and Mark LaBuda, formerly vice-president
of finances for Tosoh SMD.
Jackson, Kemp, Lusk-Gleich and the LaBudas all own equal shares
in the company. Linehan and Ransom own their share together.
The new Keller Williams office is the first in Ohio. The company,
headquartered in Austin, Texas, has offices in 39 (sic) states
and Canada. The new office will be a full-service real estate
brokerage. The new office currently employs 28 people. Of those
employees, 15 are licensed in real estate. Kemp said he and his
fellow partners have talked about starting their own company for
some time, and recently decided now was the most opportune time
to make themove. "I had always wanted to do this," he
said, adding he knew it was a gamble. "You are always taking
a little bit of a risk," he said. "But we did spend
a lot of time researching and meeting with other Keller Williams
agents in other parts of the country.
Jackson said he is confident the company will be successful, mainly
because the agents that are part of the firm are well established
in central Ohio. "It's the agent, and not the name, that
makes the company successful," he said. "The agents
drive the business of the company." Jackson said a "vast
majority" of his clients decided to keep their listings with
him. "This proves it's an agent-driven business."
Kemp added
that while taking on a name that was not known to the area is
a leap of faith, Keller Williams's philosophy is what really won
him and his colleagues over. "The culture of Keller Williams
seemed to fit what we were looking for in a company," Kemp
said. "I think it offers a lot of opportunities to us and
the agents in central Ohio." "We liked the economic
model of the franchise," added Jackson. "It's a unique
concept that was not available to us in Ohio. Keller Williams
is a hybrid concept."
Lusk-Gleich agreed that some of the franchise's basic business
philosophies are what appealed to her. "Their basic business
philosophies are typically different," she said. "They
are a company that is lead by agents that direct the company's
guidelines and services. It's more of a learning based company,
where you can take your business to the level you want."
|