R-house enters Syracuse market

BALDWINSVILLE - Peter F. Hunt, president and chief executive officer of Hunt Real Estate Corporation in Buffalo, has created a new company - called r-house ERA - in Central New York.

Hunt is the third-generation member of his family to head the corporation,

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R-house ERA currently operates two offices in Central New York. Thirteen people work at its first offlice, a 2,500-square-foot location at 8395 Oswego Road in Baldwinsville, which opened Jan. 10. The company opened a temporary office in Fayetteville in April, located in the Town Centre. R-house currently employs 17 people there. A new, 5,000-square-foot office will open in August or September and be part of a 20,000-square-foot building that also will include COR Development's offices and three retailers, according to Hunt.

The Hunt family started the original company in Buffalo in 1911 and operated only in that city until about three years ago, when they expanded to Rochester. When the company moved into Rochester, it acquired six companies five in the last 12 months and one in the previous year. The most recent acquisition by r-house (as it also is known in Rochester) was Prudential Rochester Realty. With the deal, Hunt has more than 200 agents in the Greater Rochester market, spread among eight offices, according to Buffalo Business First. Offices in Buffalo still go by the Hunt Real Estate name. The corporation now operates 26 offices in the three Empire State cities.

Hunt's corporation was named the second-fastest growing company by Business first, and boasts annual revenues of more than $10 million. Hunt also operates a mortgage company, the Devere Capital Corporation, and a condominiumassociation management company, Compass Property Management. Hunt and his companies are affiliates of ERA Real Estate (www.era.com), a residential, franchise-brokerage network, with more than 28,000 brokers and sales associates nationwide. ERA is a subsidiary of the Cendant Corporation (NYSE: CD), a provider of hospitality, travel, and real-estaterelated services.

"We wanted to grow geographically, and our market share in Buffalo - 40 percent - is about as far as we could go without merging with a major company, which we didn't want to do," Hunt says. "We looked at the possibilities of acquiring [Syracuse real-estate companies], but took a leap of faith in ourselves by starting our own operation. It's the first time a company has gone from one market to the next and started [anew]."

To help position the company in the Syracuse market, Hunt hired Tim Cassavaw to serve as general sales manager for the region and leader for the Baldwinsville office.

"We aligned ourselves with key people in the market," Hunt says. "It is a significant investment of time and money... [but] it builds a real-estate company that we want to be in every sense."

Cassavaw has 15 years of realty experience in Central New York, most recently with Gallinger/GMAC Real Estate. Hunt subsequently hired Janet Wenzel, another former Gallinger employee, to lead the Fayetteville operation. Wenzel was one of the best sales producers at Gallinger and switched roles into management, according to Hunt.

"The market's reaction has brought significant interest from competing agents to join us," Hunt says. "We're attracting people who are brand-new to our industry... Creating economic opportunity for others is a very good thing."

The company's name - which resembles the famous Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young song, "Our House" - helps people associate Hunt's company with their home.

"In a new market, we wanted to make an impression and adopt a name that was already in people's minds," Hunt says.

R-house takes a different approach to realty, Hunt says. Rhouse real-estate agents remain in constant contact with their clients and serve as many needs as possible.

"The difficult thing to realize is that real estate is traditionally viewed as a transaction-oriented business," Hunt says. "Our objective is to [focus] on people who have [ongoing] needs for their house - refinancing, insurance, expansion, and evaluating the price [as the house gets older]. We don't want them to think about who to call, we want it to be automatic."

But perhaps its greatest customer-service device is r-house's promise to the consumer. According to Hunt, r-house offers a practically unprecedented guarantee that ERA will buy the home if r-house can't sell it.

Hunt's approach has helped the company succeed during its infancy in Central New York. As of June 30, r-house had 36 pending transactions - ranked 11th in the market out of 166 brokers, up from 41st at the end of March. The company also had 65 listings at the end of June (ranked 14th), up from a 25th ranking at the end of March. Hunt intends to be in the top five in the market within the next 12 months.

R-house also has used the Internet to increase business. In May, nearly 1.17 million people visited Hunt's two Web sites www.r-house.com and www.huntrealestate.com - up from 719,255 in January (a 62-percent increase).

Market watch

Robert E. Berkey, vice president of operations and chief operating officer of Pyramid Brokerage Company's Syracuse office - located at 5786 Widewaters Parkway - has monitored Hunt's progress. Pyramid also operates offices in Buffalo and Rochester.

"[So far] Peter really is expanding on the residential side of the business," Berkey says. "He does have a commercial division in Buffalo, but we haven't seen any commercial expansion beyond the Buffalo market."

Susan Wilson, owner of Weichert Realtors/Syracuse Homes, speculates that r-house might face "tough" competition in Central New York. Wilson's company operates offices on Indian Hill Road in Manlius and East Genesee Street in Fayetteville.

"The market right now is very, very vibrant. It has been for the last three years," Wilson says. "I'm so busy running my own business, I don't take a whole lot of notice of what he's doing. I'm not worried about somebody else's business."

Ellie Hayman of Gallinger has noticed an influx of new participants in the real-estate market: r-house, New Jerseyheadquartered Weichert Realtors, and Albany-based Coldwell Banker.

"I think we have enough established players, but they seem to; think we're a great marketplace - a good resource for them," Hayman says. "They must have done their homework. If you know what you're doing and you have a good track record, I don't think these [new realtors] will hurt you."

Hayman says she isn't watching carefully any of the new realestate companies that have come into the area.

Buffalo roots

People who know Hunt from his business in Buffalo think rhouse will succeed in Central New York. Kathryn Davis, vice president of corporate communications for the Clearwater Development Firm in downtown Buffalo, says Hunt's reputation for pleasing his customers might be cause for concern among existing real-estate agents.

"I would definitely work on building up my customer service, because that is his strong point," Davis says. "That's where he'll pull away clients. Word of mouth alone generates him huge amounts of revenue... Honestly, you cannot have a conversation about real estate without his name coming up. He is definitely the biggest player, and he continues to grow every day."

James Fink, Business First's real-estate reporter, echoed Davis's sentiments.

"Peter is extremely savvy," Fink says. "[He has] probably some of the best business sense I've ever seen. Everything he touches turns to gold... He has an uncanny knack of looking at something and seeing its potential and realizing its potential.

"I think Peter knows exactly what he's doing," Fink continues. "He thrives on competition. He's no more afraid of entering a market than Burger King or McDonald's. If you're that talented and that successful, entering a market is a non-factor."