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The late Pauline Deschamps was not only a pioneer in Bainbridge Island real estate, but founded what later became known as perhaps the original “Boutique” real estate firm. She believed that outstanding customer service combined with high integrity would always give a real estate professional a special edge over any competitor. Deschamps sold the first $100,000 home on Bainbridge Island as well as the first $1 million home there.
(Editor’s Note: This special section is dedicated to the memory of Pauline Deschamps) |
When homeowners buy and sell a house it’s natural that the first agencies that come to mind to help them with that task are the large, regional firms or national real estate franchises that established their presence on the Kitsap Peninsula a few decades ago. They’re the ones with the television ads and the full-page spreads in nationally recognized real estate magazines like Homes & Land.
But there is another local option: the independent real estate office. These independent businesses range from the old to the new, but a growing resurgence of independent offices means there’s more options for homeowners than ever.
Here is a sampling of the range of independent real estate boutiques doing business in the county.
Deschamps Realty
Deschamps Realty is the oldest, independent real estate office on Bainbridge Island. Founded 50 years ago by Bainbridge Island real estate legend, Pauline Deschamps, and currently owned by broker Georg Syvertsen. Deschamps holds the record for selling the first home on Bainbridge Island that sold for more $100,000 as well as the first home that sold for more than $1 million.
“We’re more hands on than the big companies,” said Syvertsen, who started with the firm more than 30 years ago as the office manager, and who after being mentored for many years by Deschamps, took over the business at the request of the Deschamps family after Pauline unexpectedly passed away several years ago. Being relatively small — the office usually has around 15 agents working for it — and independent, allows Syvertsen to be more directly involved with the business on a day to day basis.
Over the years, other companies have approached Deschamps wanting to buy the independent agency out.
“We’ve been approached by some of the big ones,” said Syvertsen. But his take on selling?
“Not as long as I’m here.”
Prowse and Company
Brenda Prowse founded Brenda Prowse Properties, recently renamed Prowse and Company, eight years ago after working for 17 years for John L. Scott. Frustration with working in a large, often slow-moving corporate system was the main reason that Prowse chose to make a go of it on her own.
“I can make decisions really quickly,” she said, “I can offer clients more amenities,” such as the home staging service she provides as a gift to her clients who are selling their homes, and the use of the company’s moving truck when clients move into their new homes.
Prowse, who focuses on the company’s listings, employs buyers’ agents who specialize in working with home buyers, as well as transaction coordinators who assist the agents in managing the volumes of paperwork real estate transactions require.
One of the largest benefits of being independent, said Prowse, is that she’s now able to give back more to the community. Prowse has been known to donate commissions from the sale of her listings to support various local non-profits.
“I can afford to do that because I own my own company,” she said. “That was huge for me.”
While owning a real estate company might seem daunting compared to “just” being an agent, Prowse doesn’t feel as if her workload has changed significantly.
“I don’t think I spend any more hours now,” she said. “I have a good staff. I worked just as hard at John L. Scott just to give up a huge portion of my profit to the corporation.”
Penny’s Team
Penny McLaughlin is a familiar face in the Kitsap County real estate community. Over her multi-decade career in real estate she’s worked for Windermere, John L. Scott and RE/MAX. She owned the RE/MAX office in Poulsbo, and shared ownership of the RE/MAX office on Bainbridge Island.
Two years ago this fall McLaughlin moved away from the big name chains and opened her own real estate office, Penny’s Team.
“The reason I went out on my own was service to clients,” she said. “I like to offer special programs to my clients. I want to make sure their interests are thoroughly represented.”
Working for the large corporations sometimes made it difficult for her to offer the service she felt her clients deserved, she said. For example, there were conflicts about the moving truck that she makes available to her clients, as well as to charities and service organizations, and the buyers’ agent, listing agent structure that she employs. There were challenges such as when the corporations affiliated with specific lenders or title companies, but McLaughlin felt her clients would be better served if they went to a different service provider.
McLaughlin sees the move to independence for real estate professionals as a growing trend, both nationally and locally.
“As corporations impose higher fees on the agents, top-producing agents are forced to go out on their own,” she said. “The only question I have is ‘why didn’t I do it sooner?’”
The Carver Real Estate Group
A little more than a year ago Tarrah Carver founded the Carver Real Estate Group, an independent real estate agency that also incorporates a full home loan company, Peninsula Financial Services, into its business. Although a relative newcomer to the Kitsap County real estate community, Carver is no real estate neophyte.
“I’ve been in and around the business my whole life,” she said. One of her first jobs was assisting her father in his real estate office when she was 13.
The Carver Real Estate Group’s business model is taken from a larger Edmonds real estate and home loan company, where Carver served as the office manager. She moved to Kitsap County to get a feel for the market and evaluate whether the real estate/loan company model would do well here. Since the company now has close to 40 agents working for it, the answer would seem to be yes.
Carver owns the company, but has separate brokers for the real estate and lending sides of the business. Each agent is an independent contractor and they are licensed and trained to both sell real estate and put together home loan packages for clients.
The company has been successful so far, which Carver credits in part to their “aggressive and progressive” marketing, agent training and commission splits.
“Once you build a name for yourself anyone can be successful,” she said.
The Watermark Group
The Watermark Group is a brand new real estate business in Kitsap, with a business model not usually found in the industry. The company is fully agent owned — each agent that works for Watermark owns an equal stake in the business.
The Watermark Group was the brainchild of Meisha Rouser and her husband, Jeff. The Rousers relocated here from the San Franciscio area with the goal of opening a business that followed this exact model.
“He’s the mastermind,” said Meisha Rouser of her husband, who is the company’s business manager, crediting him with much of the planning that was required to bring a company like this to life.
Rouser, who worked as a agent for RE/MAX while they spend more than a year putting together all the required elements for the business, cited three main reasons for using the agent-owned business structure.
“We want to give a much deeper, more meaningful relationship with clients,” she said. “We’re perceived more as advisors. We’ve created a collective force. We can accomplish so much more for the community.”
Also, she continued, in the traditional real estate office structure, “when you’re done selling real estate, you’re done.” By having a real financial stake in the business itself, however, agents are provided with residual income.
“In our business model agents are making almost twice as much,” Rouser said. | 
