Saying, “I just want to do what I love the most and do the best — list and sell real estate,” in a joint statement, Penny McLaughlin announced she had sold her Poulsbo brokerage, RE/Max Unlimited North to Frank Leach, effective Nov. 1. Leach is the owner of RE/Max Platinum Services in Silverdale.

McLaughlin, who will stay with the office as an associate, has been the top-producing Realtor in Kitsap County off and on for the past decade. She and Leach have both continually been in the top five in the county for as long as any one can remember.

“Buying Penny’s office seemed like a natural extension for us to be able to provide superior brokerage services to the rest of the community where we do business,” said Leach.

“I love real estate,” McLauglin said. “I eat sleep and breathe it. I love listing and selling. What I found I didn’t like, was managing. This gives me the perfect opportunity to do what I do best in the most positive atmosphere imaginable.”

Leach is known in the industry locally for his positive attitude and his trademark motivational cards he regularly hands outs to people he meets and does business with. He also bases his company’s entire customer service philosophy on the book “Raving Fans” and teaches classes in it to other firms, tailoring them to their line of business.

“This was a natural for us,” he said. “This is all about growing great professionals and giving them all the opportunity we can to help them further their careers.”

Real estate companies split commissions with agents on a negotiated percentage, with brokers paying many of the agent’s expenses, such as advertising. Many splits are incentive-based, so when agents reach certain levels of production, commissions increase, but go back to the base level at the beginning of each new year. With RE/Max, agents receive 100 percent of their commissions, pay a monthly “desk fee” to the broker and are responsible for all their own overhead.

Leach said his Silverdale office is growing in terms of agents, and more have committed to come on board at the first of the year when the commission splits change. He expects the same thing to happen in Poulsbo.

No decision had been made on the management of the Poulsbo office at the time of the sale.