FREDONIA - Local real estate firm ERA Team VP Real Estate, based in Chautauqua County, has announced its merger with Coldwell Banker Phil Mathyer Real Estate of Fredonia, Jamestown, Warren, Pa., and Bradford, Pa.; and ERA Larson Real Estate of Fredonia. The combined firm will conduct business as ERA Team VP Real Estate with its Fredonia office located at 25 Day St., Fredonia and its Jamestown office located at 395 E. Fairmount Ave., Lakewood. ERA Team VP Real Estate's Pennsylvania offices will operate in Bradford and Warren, Pa.
"This is a very natural strategic alliance as ERA Team VP has more than 25 years of experience in the Chautauqua Lake and southern Chautauqua County markets; ERA Larson has more than 30 years of experience in the Fredonia and northern Chautauqua County markets and Coldwell Banker Phil Mathyer Real Estate has more than 20 years of experience in the northern Chautauqua County and northwestern Pennsylvania markets," according to Bill Soffel, ERA Team VP president/CEO. "Clients and customers of all the firms will now benefit from a much broader marketing and networking reach, covering the entire Southern Tier of New York state as well as northwestern Pennsylvania."
In addition, ERA Team VP Real Estate also operates in Ellicottville in Cattaraugus County and in Cuba in Allegany County.
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Phil Mathyer, ERA Team VP associate broker; Bill Soffel, ERA Team VP CEO; David Bird, ERA Team VP associate broker; Melody Bohrer, ERA Franchise senior vice president of broker services; Theresa Hurt, ERA franchise director of transitions; and Mark Jeffers, ERA franchise executive business consultant, celebrate the merger Thursday.
"Attention to consumer needs has been a trademark of each of the merging companies," added Soffel. "Now we will be able to deliver our commitment to service to our customers from nine convenient office locations throughout southwestern New York State and northwestern Pennsylvania and fully leverage the ERA core values of innovation, collaboration and superior service."
Brokers Phil Mathyer, Soffel and David Bird all share a very similar outlook on the importance of professionalism and ethics within the real estate profession and have been very active within the real estate industry, at both the local and state level.
Officials expect the transition from Coldwell Banker to ERA will be smooth, as both national franchises are within the same parent organization, the Realogy Corporation, the world's largest real estate franchise network. "While Coldwell Banker and ERA share many of the same marketing and training tools, ERA's main focus is on innovation and technology," Soffel points out. "With the real estate market continuing to shift toward Web-based technologies, this focus will be a huge advantage to our clients and customers."
As ERA Larson Real Estate has been part of the ERA Franchise Systems for more than 30 years, this transition will be seamless, according to Soffel.