Pleasanton, CA— January 12, 2016 — NextHome is proud to announce our newest addition to the franchise, NextHome Treasure Valley. This is the franchise’s first brokerage in the state of Idaho.
Owned and operated by top producing real estate broker, Ben Myers, the office will provide residential real estate services to Meridian, Boise, Caldwell, Eagle, Nampa, Star, Middleton, Kuna and the remainder of the greater Boise area. The brokerage will also assist with the acquisitions and sales of multi-family properties.
Originally from the home construction side of the real estate industry, Myers started his career as a construction worker who built homes from the ground up. Focusing on the Sun Valley area of Idaho, Myers was able to work on all aspects of building a home – from foundation to finish.
While working outside during the builds, Myers recalls working in temperatures as low as 5 degrees and in weather conditions that would regularly snow for days at a time.
“Working in those types of conditions really helped me realize that I needed to work smarter, not harder,” recalled Myers. “I remember spending weeks building a home and then meeting the real estate agent who would come in to view the home, provide the marketing, and sell the home. I wanted to be a part of that process.”
In 2000, Myers obtained his real estate license and joined a local franchisee brokerage in Boise after seeing their advertisement in the paper. However, his career didn’t start off with a bang. It was more of a “thud”.
“In my first year in real estate, I sold a grand total of two houses,” said Myers. “I didn’t focus on the activities that would help me close more transactions. It took some tough love from my office manager to help me get on track.”
In June of 2001, his office manager sat Myers down and told him he was at a crossroads. Myers had to focus on doing what was needed to sell more homes, or go back to building the very homes he was trying to sell.
It worked.
From July 2001 until the end of the year, Myers closed 17 transactions. It was the beginning of a six-year run where Myers sold between $5 million and $7 million annually in a market where the average sales price hovers around $175,000.
By the fall of 2008, Myers made the decision to go out on his own and opened Rocky Mountain Real Estate. He built the brokerage to 12 agents strong and turned it into a local powerhouse. While the company continued to increase market share, Myers realized he needed more tools to support his agents.
In summer of 2015, Myers received a postcard featuring a real estate franchise looking to open in the Boise market. Myers fully intended to remain an independent brokerage that would purchase the tools necessary for his agents, and did not want to affiliate with a franchise.
His office manager, Jenn Harrington, suggested they check out NextHome and make a decision after learning more details about the company’s offerings.
“I went into the phone call with the intention of ruling the company out,” said Myers. “The original one hour call turned into a three hour call because I kept asking questions and becoming more intrigued. After our call, we knew NextHome was for us.”
“During my original call with Ben, I could feel his hesitation about doing anything with a franchise,” recalls NextHome’s Vice President of Sales, Charis Moreno. “But as the call continued, I could hear that Ben’s interest was peaking and that he wanted to provide the best real estate tools to make his agents more productive. Under Ben’s leadership, the NextHome Treasure Valley team is the perfect group of real estate professionals to launch NextHome in Idaho.”
In addition to Harrington as the Office Manager, NextHome Treasure Valley has positioned Heath Van Patten as the brokerage’s General Manager. Van Patten will be responsible for the growth of the brokerage, while Harrington will focus on working with the agents and the day-to-day operation of the office.
Please join us in welcoming Ben, Heath, Jenn, and the rest of NextHome Treasure Valley to the NextHome family!
Interested in being a part of the NextHome Real Estate Franchise? Contact VP of Sales Charis Moreno at Charis@NextHome.com.
Each office is an independently owned and operated business.