‘It’s like heading again home’: Longtime true estate broker reunites with regional peers

With his recent adjust in brokerages and roles, Ray Ferguson’s 3 many years in Richmond household serious estate has, in a way, come total circle.

Previously a longtime agent with Joyner High-quality Qualities and more lately ending a four-yr stint as the regional lead for Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices PenFed Realty (BHHS), Ferguson has joined another brokerage – Shaheen, Ruth, Martin & Fonville Genuine Estate.

The shift reunites him with some of the area firm’s principals whom he’s recognized for decades. Ferguson and SRMF co-founder Scott Shaheen labored collectively at Joyner almost 30 yrs in the past, right after both followed their fathers’ leads into the business enterprise – as did fellow principal Mahood Fonville, who’s acknowledged Shaheen given that they were teens.

“We had been all working businesses, and all of our fathers form of guided the (Richmond) genuine estate sector to in which it is now,” said Ferguson, who is moving from leadership to product sales as an associate broker at SRMF.

“They’ve all passed now,” Ferguson stated of their dads, “so it’s type of like the next generation.”

Ferguson is the son of William “Bill” Ferguson, who owned neighborhood company Ferguson & Associates Realtors in the 1980s during a 45-calendar year profession in community real estate. Fonville’s father, Tempo Fonville, was part of Bowers, Nelms & Fonville, which was offered in 1998 to Prolonged & Foster Real Estate, now aspect of Berkshire Hathaway affiliate HomeServices of America.

Mahood then moved to Extensive & Foster – as did Shaheen from Joyner, which his father, Arthur Shaheen, aided type. The younger Shaheen and Fonville would perform at Very long & Foster with each other for nearly two many years, right up until they remaining with Martin and Ruth to kind SRMF 6 many years ago.

“Mahood and I, we’ve labored alongside one another forever, and Ray has been in and out of that doing the job romance,” Shaheen claimed. “The history goes back a lengthy way. We’re incredibly psyched to have him as section of our firm and to enable him get again into gross sales and back again up and operating once more.”

Having targeted much more on management with BHHS right up until his place was recently removed, Ferguson is having again to home profits that he claimed had been his forte. He stated he’s been chaotic due to the fact becoming a member of SRMF in November putting a mailing checklist collectively and reaching out to contacts in advance of some increased-greenback houses he’s arranging to listing in coming months.

“I figured, enable me go back to marketing. Allow me go back to what I’m fantastic at,” Ferguson stated. “That’s what I did for 30 many years.”

In doing so, he’s using a path comparable to Shaheen’s, who claimed he hadn’t bought a dwelling for additional than a decade when he left Long & Foster as a regional vice president.

“When the time arrived that his place was getting eliminated, we begun chatting a very little bit and I said, ‘You know, I experienced not bought a residence in 12 decades when I opened up Shaheen, Ruth, Martin & Fonville, due to the fact I’d been the regional,” Shaheen explained. “I stated, ‘I jumped proper back into it, Ray, and it’s been a phenomenal small business,’ and I stated, ‘You can stage back again into it actually quickly.’

“He’s likely to be back again into income, and I imagine he’ll do very very well at it, simply because ‘Once a salesperson, usually a salesperson,’” he mentioned.

At BHHS, Ferguson said his duties ended up becoming assumed by Dan Lesher, a senior VP in its Fredericksburg business office who Ferguson described to and who oversees the Central Virginia region. A call to BHHS was deferred to a enterprise spokeswoman, who confirmed Ferguson’s prior work but stated the corporation does not remark on staff challenges. Claire Forcier-Rowe, who Ferguson employed in 2020, remains handling broker of BHHS’s Richmond places of work.

Ferguson explained he was offered other roles with BHHS but stated he remaining with no terrible emotions soon after deciding he wished to get back again into income entire-time.

“I could have stayed at Berkshire Hathaway. They are a excellent corporation,” he claimed.

At SRMF, Ferguson joins a staff of 187 agents. Shaheen mentioned the company strike $875 million in revenue and 1,575 closings for the yr heading into December. He claimed the brokerage’s regular residence sale value was $535,000.

For Ferguson, he said he’s joined the suitable workforce for the closing extend of his vocation.

“It’s like likely back again home,” Ferguson explained. “It’s possibly the last chapter in my profession. I’ll cap out at 40 to 45 a long time, and then – I won’t be finished, but I’ll be in the background so to communicate.”