Editorial
Front Page - Monday, June 01, 2009
Phillips Moudy Duke and Penfield merge
Ethan C. Nobles
On June 1, two well-established Saline County real estate offices merged to form a large, independent company with a presence in Benton and Bryant.
Both Benton’s Phillips-Moudy-Duke Real Estate and Bryant’s Penfield Real Estate have been in business since the mid-1970s. On June 1, those two companies became Baxley-Penfield-Moudy Realtors.
Tom Baxley is the principal broker of the company at the Benton office while Charles Penfield is the designated executive broker at the Bryant location.
“This is something that we have talked back and forth about over the past three years,” Baxley said prior to the merger. “We are truly going to be one company under two roofs. We are going to interact. We are going to conduct sales meetings together. We are going to do training together.
“All of our associates are going to be able to access either office at any time just like it’s their primary office. We’re truly going to operate as one company.”
The new company has around 50 associates operating out of the branches in Benton at 1306 Military Road and at Bryant at 3304 Commonwealth Drive. Baxley said one of the primary reasons for the merger has to do with regionalism – the emergence of Benton, Bryant and the rest of Saline County as a region rather than a collection of individual cities.
Baxley said he’s wanted a location in Bryant for some time while Penfield has wanted a Benton office.
“The time is right,” Baxley said. “You really need a physical location in both cities to properly serve both cities. … If you’re going to continue to be successful in Saline County, you’re going to need to be strong in Benton and you’re going to have to be strong in Bryant.
“We feel like we’ve put the strongest Benton company together with the strongest Bryant company. … Both of us have very, very deep roots in the area.”
Baxley said the new company just makes sense.
“We feel like we’ve really put something great together,” he said. “We’ve been friendly competitors for years. … We feel like we’ve got something put together for our clients.”
In addition to increased
customer service, Baxley said the new company offers more opportunities to its agents. Real estate agents, of course, are typically independent contractors.
“All of our associates are extremely excited about this merger and what it means,” he said. “They’ll have more opportunities to grow their own businesses.”
Baxley pointed out the new company will continue to operate as an independent operation that is locally owned. He said the new company is large enough to put in the latest technology and offer comprehensive training to its agents – measures that will ultimately benefit clients buying and selling real estate in an industry where customer service is becoming increasingly important.
Share
|