Scores of community members turned out last week to cut the ribbon on Keller Williams Realty’s new office in Buda. Great Locations, one of the county’s largest real estate brokerage firms, became a Keller Williams franchise earlier this month, owner Jason Tarr said. (Keller Williams photo by Jessi Hebert/Image 1 Studios)
by BRAD ROLLINS
The first months of 2011 have seen significant shakeups in the local residential real estate scene with two major players repositioning themselves in Hays County markets.
In March, Buda-based ERA Millennium Realty absorbed a smaller San Marcos-based ERA franchise, All Texas Realty, to form what owner David Aston says is the largest residential real estate firm in Hays County.
Then in April, Buda-based Great Locations became a franchise of Keller Williams, the national real estate giant whose operations in the Austin metro market are owned by Mary Tenant.
Putting accurate numbers to real estate agent’s claims is a difficult proposition because information on sales volume and value is often considered proprietary and reporting to the Austin and San Marcos boards of Realtors overlaps. Nevertheless, no one doubts Aston and Great Locations principals’ claims that their operations are at the top of their fields in the Kyle and Buda areas.
Great Locations owner Jason Tarr said he began looking at national companies with which to affiliate when it became clear that they would increasingly open offices in the growing Kyle-Buda residential and commercial markets. He said he explored franchising opportunities with Century 21, Coldwell Banker, Remax and others.
“Keller Williams rose to the top and as they started looking at my operation and what we’ve done and how we are competing in the market, they got really excited about the possibility of partnering with us as well,” Tarr said.
The new arrangement mainly impacts Great Location’s operations in Kyle and Buda. The company here took over one of Buda’s most prominent real estate companies, Given Properties, in 2008 including its office at the high-traffic intersection of FM 967 and FM 1626.
Great Locations will continue to operate under its own name in San Marcos and New Braunfels and Tarr will also continue to operate his San Marcos property management business. He said he hopes to roll his San Marcos real estate office, which does more business in leases than it does in sales, into the Keller Williams franchise as single-family home sales strengthen there.
“San Marcos doesn’t have the sales volume that the Kyle-Buda market has and [Keller Williams] isn’t as interested. San Marcos isn’t really on their radar,” Tarr said.
In ERA Millennium’s case, San Marcos-based ERA All Texas Realty’s two partners, Mark Vela and Andy Gallegos, and their two employees will operate as a team within ERA Millennium, Aston said.
Both Millennium and All Texas specialize in bank-owned and foreclosed properties with Millennium primarily operating between south Austin and New Braunfels and All Texas holding listings in an area stretching from Georgetown to San Antonio, Aston said. All Texas Realty recently secured a contract to sell homes on behalf of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
