San Antonio News

Arlene Chalkley, Bob Brady and Tracy Cooper Graduate from ERA TOP Gun Academy

Thursday, April 26th, 2012

ERA COLONIAL REAL ESTATE Professionals Complete Advanced Training Program

San Antonio, TX – Leading local sales associates Arlene Chalkley, Bob Brady and Tracy Cooper of ERA Colonial Real Estate recently completed the ERA® Top Gun Academy, an advanced home buying and selling training program offered by ERA Franchise Systems LLC.

The ERA Top Gun Academy is designed to increase productivity by focusing on several skill areas essential to success in the industry. Each session builds on the individual’s understanding of his or her customer and offers techniques for identifying and providing tailored, personalized customer service.

 “Top Gun training is designed to help real estate professionals to continually enhance the level of customer service they offer,” said Molly Harvey, Vice President of Sales. “Arlene, Bob and Tracy’s pursuit of this training is a reflection of their professionalism and commitment to offering their clients outstanding real estate guidance.”

2012 Pilgrimage to the Alamo

Wednesday, April 25th, 2012

An Official Fiesta Event

ERA Colonial Real Estate agent, Bob Brady marched this year in the Pilgrimage to the Alamo with his fellow members of the Sons of the American Revolution.   The Daughters of the Republic of Texas has staged its Pilgrimage to the Alamo since 1925. The pilgrimage is a memorial tribute to the Alamo heroes and the heritage of Texas. A solemn, wreath-bearing procession of historic, civic, patriotic, military and school groups walks silently to the Alamo. At the same time, an announcer intones the names of the Alamo defenders from within the Alamo walls. The ceremony concludes with a brief memorial service.  Bob is in the row behind the banner second person from the right in the blue shirt.

Shane Hamilton – Jim Jackson Memorial Award Finalist for 2011

Friday, April 20th, 2012

ERA Colonial Real Estate is proud to recognize Shane Hamilton form the San Antonio Office for being a finalist for 2011 for the Jim Jackson Memorial Award.  This is Shane’s second year to be a finalist.

The Jim Jackson Memorial Award for 1st IN SERVICE® is named after the late co-founder and president of ERA Real Estate. This award honors the sales associate and/or the broker office that best demonstrates the commitment to being 1ST IN SERVICE® and 1st in Customer Satisfaction®. This award is based on how the consumers rated their buying or selling experience when working with ERA sales associates, teams and companies.

“Shane is a valued and respected agent on our team,” said Molly Harvey Vice President of Sales for ERA Colonial Real Estate.  “We are very proud of Shane’s dedication to providing superior service to his clients and he sets the example for our office and our company”

The criteria for sales associates is a minimum productivity of 30 transactions a year; a minimum of 13 surveys returned and a 20 percent or better survey return rate, and 95% or higher overall customer satisfaction rating. Nine finalists and one winner are selected and announced each year.

Cristina Tomlinson Earns ASP Designation

Thursday, April 19th, 2012

Cristina Tomlinson, Sales Associate with ERA Colonial Real Estate, has earned the Accredited Staging Professional (ASP) designation. As a benefit of graduating from the ASP course, Cristina is now a member of the ASP Home Staging Network and the International Association of Home Staging Professionals. ASP Home Staging is the most proven and time-tested method to help market and sell client’s home faster and for the most amount of money in any market. Every time. Cristina learned the staging techniques that will help her get top dollar for her clients. She learned how Staging works and how to communicate the benefits of Home Staging to her clients. Savvy home sellers and Real Estate Agents understand that in order to get offers and top dollar for their listings in the least amount of time, they need to professionally prepare homes with an Accredited Staging Professional (ASP). Cristina Tomlinson can be reached at 210-363-9139 and cristina.tomlinson@era.com

San Antonio Realtor, Brenda Wall, Prepares to Serve Military Families

Wednesday, April 18th, 2012

Brenda Wall of ERA Colonial Real Estate recently participated in Heroes Welcome Home Educational Program, a seminar that prepares Realtors to serve military families with their housing needs.  Brenda, the Relocation Director for ERA Colonial Real Estate, has been working with military families since she began her real estate career in San Antonio.  Brenda plans on taking the information she has learned from this class back to her team of agents to help them better serve our military families.

The program takes a comprehensive approach to educating realtors and provides them with the tools and resources they need to effectively counsel veterans, including disabled veterans, on their real estate options.  San Antonio is a military city.  Nearly 5,000 new military and civilian jobs will be created in San Antonio after the BERAC construction is completed with an economic impact of over $13.3 billion to the community, the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation estimates.

 In support of the ever-growing community of military, Brenda attended this seminar to learn how to assist returning and relocating military families achieve the dream of homeownership.

For more information on the program and a complete list of Realtors which have completed this seminar, visit www.SAHeroeswelcomehome.com

Platinum Top 50 – San Antonio Early Qualifiers Announced

Tuesday, April 10th, 2012

Platinum Top 50 of San Antonio will host the 9th Annual Early Qualifier Celebration on May 3rd at the Vistas of Sonoma Ranch .  Platinum Top 50 of San Antonio will honor five hundred residential REALTORS at this event whose sales production during the first six months of the award year ranked highest among all submissions.

The following agents from ERA Colonial Real Estate in San Antonio are being honored at the event:

Arlene Chalkley

Cristina Tomlinson

Christi Hensely

Chad Hughes

Charlene Busch

Danny Ashinhurst

Diana Ridgway

Jeanne Koplan

Kelly Lee

Norma Floyd

Patty Flores

Mike LaMacchia

Reagin McAllister

Shane Hamilton

Sharon Mayhugh

The Platinum Top 50 Awards Program annually recognizes fifty (50) residential REALTORS® for their outstanding achievements in: sales, education, industry participation and civic leadership. Often referred to as the most successful and well-rounded REALTORS®, Platinum Top 50 Winners exemplify: initiative, involvement, success, and philanthropy.

 Through participation in The Award Program, REALTORS® experience various products and services by PT50 Preferred Affiliates, allowing them to be on the cutting edge of what is new and exciting in the marketplace. 

 Congratulations to our Team on your sales success!

Chad Hughes Awarded Prestigious Designation by ERA Real Estate

Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012

Hughes Nationally Recognized for 2011 Performance San Antonio, TX ] (4/2/2012) – Chad Hughes of ERA Colonial Real Estate in San Antonio TX was awarded a Leaders’ Circle designation by ERA Franchise Systems LLC, a global franchise leader in the residential real estate industry. This designation, conferred at the 2012 ERA® International Business Conference (March 14-17, 2012) in New Orleans, La. recognizes the ERA network’s top producers for excellence in real estate sales.”

An unparalleled commitment to service has clearly contributed to Chad’s success and I am pleased to congratulate him on this impressive accomplishment,” said Charlie Young, president and chief executive officer of ERA Franchise Systems LLC.  “Fewer than 10 percent of our sales professionals earn this designation, making Chad not only a role model for the company but for the entire industry as well. Indeed, he serves as an exemplary ambassador for the brand and I am proud to have him representing ERA Real Estate.”

 To qualify for the Leaders’ Circle designation, ERA sales associates or selling-brokers must have achieved 65 total closed units or $200,000 in adjusted gross commission (AGC) in 2011. Associate or broker teams must have generated 97.5 total closed units or $300,000 in AGC to earn this designation.

Baker Hughes HQ Coming to Bexar

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

Houston-based oilfield supplier Baker Hughes announced plans to build a $30 million operations center in southeast Bexar County.

Baker Hughes said that it will develop a 64-acre site at I-37 and US 181 to create the operations center.

This new center will create more than 400 new jobs for the Bexar County/San Antonio area

SAN ANTONIO (San Antonio Express-News)

Buyer frenzy coming to bear on S.A. housing market

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

SAN ANTONIO – Home sales for the first six months of the year are down 8 percent, compared with first half 2010, according to the San Antonio Board of Realtors (SABOR).

It’s the hangover the San Antonio housing market has to go through. The culprit: A market skewed by the Homebuyer Tax Credit program, which was enacted at the end of 2009 as part of a larger economic stimulus package.

“Last year’s homebuyer tax credit spurred buyers to purchase homes in the first half of the year,” notes SABOR’s Angela Shields. “Because of the large influx of sales pushed into the first portion of 2010, we’re still seeing a skew in the year-over-year comparison to 2011.”

When the credit program was gone, so too was much of the momentum in the local housing market, explains Jack Inselmann of Metrostudy.

The good news is that the market appears to be righting itself. SABOR notes that sales for June 2011 were down a mere 2 percent, compared to sales reported for the previous June.

Read more at the San Antonio Business Journal.

Family Self-Sufficiency grant

Tuesday, June 7th, 2011

San Antonio Business Journal

The San Antonio Housing Authority has been awarded a $413,272 Family Self-Sufficiency grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to help public housing resident find jobs.

This is the largest grant of its kind awarded to a local housing authority. The money will support SAHA’s Family Self-Sufficiency Program and will be used toward the salaries of eight caseworkers who will work with program participants and assist them with job placement, training and education opportunities. The funds will be applied over a five-year period.

“These funds will provide access to the educational and job training opportunities needed to improve the earning potential of our client families,” SAHA President and CEO Lourdes Castro Ramírez says.