MORGAN HILL
– Intero Real Estate Services, created by five of the most
enduring South County Realtors, has sprung up in Morgan Hill within
the last 60 days.
MORGAN HILL – Intero Real Estate Services, created by five of the most enduring South County Realtors, has sprung up in Morgan Hill within the last 60 days. The new 10,000-square foot office building, occupied by 42 Realtors, opened on Saturday.
Intero Vice President and Managing Partner Kevin Moles said integrity, which is what Intero means in Italian, is the cornerstone of the new real estate firm, which already boasts the number one market share in Morgan Hill, Gilroy and San Benito County.
“Our goal from the beginning has been very simple,” Moles said. “It is to hire the best agents possible, the highest quality, best trained people we can.”
Moles, along with his five partners, hopes to create an independent real estate company that caters to the needs of the customers and its Realtors without having a corporate feel – a void in today’s real estate industry, he said.
Moles opened Contempo Realty in Morgan Hill in 1984. It later was sold to NRT in 1997, which in turn acquired several companies. The real estate office eventually became Century 21 Contempo then Coldwell Banker Contempo.
Gino Blefari, a partner at Contempo and current president of Intero, created Intero’s business plan and recruited the current vice presidents, including Moles, Jerry Meyer, Jerry Kiss, John Thompson and Tom Tognelli. The group led focus groups with consumers and Realtors to find out their demands and needs, and created Intero with those in mind, Moles said, who came aboard Aug. 25.
“We’re starting out with a very large facility and state-of-the-art technology,” Moles said. “Everything we’ve done has been absolutely state of the art. It’s not been harebrained. It’s been well thought out and executed. I think it’s the most ambitious real estate company I’ve seen starting out of the chute, with the funding and leadership in this area is phenomenal.”
Intero’s opening marks the largest real estate facility in the area and one of the largest in terms of the number of agents, Moles said. It specializes in residential real estate and has plans to open a commercial division. To date, 42 agents are working at Intero, many of whom are well-established South County Realtors, with eight more expected to sign on. The average Realtor has 14 years industry experience, Moles said.
Plans also are in the works to open four more offices – in Gilroy, Hollister, San Jose and Cupertino. First up is Hollister’s office at 330 Tres Pinos Road. Staffed with up to 40 Realtors, the office is slated to open Dec. 1, said Branch Manager Renee Kunz.
Gilroy’s office, expected to open April 1 at the corner of First and Wren streets, will start out with about 20 agents with plans to expand to up to 45, said Branch Manager Jerry Kiss. A temporary modular office building will open the first week in November to serve clients until the permanent 6,500 square feet office has opened.
“We’re very excited about being part of the community,” Kiss said. “It’s a great location. We’ll be a one-stop center for all of your real estate needs.”
The San Jose and Cupertino offices, the latter of which will serve as Intero’s headquarters, are slated to open within the next 60 to 90 days.
Intero’s biggest challenge in a relatively small geographical area is the competitive nature of the business, Moles said.
“A small number of people control the business, so the key is to get the very best people. We are fortunate to have done that,” he said.
Intero Real Estate Services, is located at 175 E. Main St., Suite 130 in Morgan Hill. The firm can be contacted by calling 778-7474.
