It was at the 18-month mark of business that the partners at Properties at The Market Common along Farrow Parkway realized it was time for a real change – and the change would come not only in its name, but also the meaning behind the mantra. 

As of March 20, 2018, the real estate firm became Real Living Home Realty Group, part of a network brand of HSF Affiliates LLC and HomeServices of America Inc, a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate. Vice president and co-owner John Jobson and director of general brokerage Kevin Gunn think the move allowed them to achieve more for their first priority: their clients, as well as more options for business expansion.

“When I came here, they had this great office location and obviously they were originally trying to corner the market here in The Market Common when it turned into a resale market,” says Gunn. “But what we really found was that the name was a little bit prohibitive in that a lot of people kept coming in thinking we dealt with just The Market Common. And, as we were continuing to grow and get agents outside the area, we felt like the name was holding us back.”

A trip by Jobson and Gunn to a conference in Chicago in November 2017 to basically interview and weed out all of the franchise options available in the nation resulted in an attraction to Real Living and their real approach to success in the real estate industry. And that’s all centered on the client’s needs.

“With my background in fine dining restaurants from Manhattan to D.C. to down here,” says Gunn, “I’m very big on the mindset that, if you’re going to grow something, it has to be service related.

Gunn further explains that, while much of the industry is cyber-focused on online leads and volume, Real Living is interested in the exact opposite.         

“We’re focused on marketing lifestyle and service,” he says. “We call ourselves ‘the home of lifestyle advisors’ because we want our agents to be more than just a transaction. There are too many times in real estate where a For Sale sign goes up, it closes, the agent picks up the check and that’s it – you never hear from that agent again. To us, that’s kind of a problem in the real estate industry. Why do people switch agents every time they have a real estate need? Which is why we train our agents differently. We want them to be somebody’s realtor for life.”

To accomplish that, Real Living trains agents with its Lifestyle Planning Guide to better understand a potential client’s real estate status in life (new marriage, growing family, downsizing) to go beyond the transaction. And, in tandem with Real Living’s tagline of “The Leader in Customized Real Estate,” agents are guided through a more personal interaction in home selling.

“What you’ll hear a lot is, ‘Your home is just like this other one that sold down the road,” he says. “That’s your typical real estate agent. We don’t behave that way. We don’t even call them listing appointments, we call them marketing proposals. Because we want to get the client engaged and we want to know their story about why somebody would love to live in this home and this neighborhood and why somebody would want this lifestyle. So ours is much more about using the homeowner as kind of a partner in helping us write that story.”

That story is given life with Real Living’s more consumer-centric customized home marketing system. Agents are armed with the best marketing support materials, thanks to the company’s in-house graphic design and photography departments that produce 3-D maps and virtual tours, drone technology visuals and their own printed publication, The Coastal Insider.

“It’s hugely important when people search for real estate that the first impression is the best one because not only are most people just finding real estate online, but they’re searching for it on a mobile device,” says Gunn. “So if you don’t have a compelling first photo to even get somebody to click on it, you’re losing out. Buyers are great, but buyers don’t create a listing; a listing creates the buyer.”

Through this marketing strategy, Real Living handles residential and commercial real estate anywhere from Georgetown to Little River and into Conway and Loris. They also oversee annual rentals via its onsite property management team. And, as one of the fastest growing companies in the area for real estate, Gunn says they’re looking to grow even more – with the right agents.

“Despite my job title, I think of myself as more of the agent business coach,” says Gunn. “My job is to coach the agents I have to really build their business and build it the right way with a solid foundation and to go find other agents that are going to fit into our culture. I don’t care what your numbers are … I’ll take somebody with zero sales and get them up to where they need to be. I just want people that are going to fit our culture first and be willing to accept that they can always be better than what they are right now.”

Real Living first opened with four agents and, today, they have 21. Gunn says the goal is to continue on this path of expansion and customer service reputation.

“My goal is to keep doing what we’re doing, and I’m proud that we’re going to do it a different way. It’s all about the quality of the agents you have, not the quantity, who will keep the clients’ needs first.”

Real Living Home Realty Group is located at 1232-B Farrow Parkway. For more info or to make an appointment, visit
www.reallivinghomerealtygroup.com