GILROY
– Moving toward rapid expansion in the South Bay Area, Intero
Real Estate will open its second South Valley office in Gilroy next
week.
GILROY – Moving toward rapid expansion in the South Bay Area, Intero Real Estate will open its second South Valley office in Gilroy next week.
The company will house about 22 real estate agents in its “interim office” located at 751 First St., the former site of the Seven Oaks Reality office, said Jerry Kiss, Intero vice president and managing partner. Kiss will manage the new location.
Ground breaking will take place today on its permanent location next to Blockbuster Video on First Street, he said. This 5,600-square foot building will be completed in mid-April, and house up to 50 real-estate agents, he said.
“We’re going for the quality agents and not just numbers,” he said. The Intero offices are designed to have an “elegant, quality feel,” and each agent has a spacious private office instead of working in cubicles, he said.
Many former Coldwell Banker agents have joined Intero, he said, and they bring their experience of the South Valley real estate market to the new company.
Intero is Italian for “integrity,” said Kevin Moles, vice president and managing partner at the company’s Morgan Hill office. It is a newcomer to the competitive Bay Area real estate market and Morgan Hill was its first site to open. On Dec. 23, it will open an office in Hollister with 20 agents in the former Coldwell Banker location. Next year, it also plans to open offices in Cupertino, Los Gatos and the Willow Glen district of San Jose.
Moles started Intero with Gino Blefari, his partner at Contempo Reality.
Blefari heads Intero as its president and CEO.
The Morgan Hill office had about 62 sales or transfers in its first five weeks of operation amounting to about $30 million, Moles said.
Currently, the Morgan Hill site represents about $120 million in properties in its inventory.
Kiss said he expects the Gilroy site will be comparable in terms of business and inventory.
“One of the things I think is important (for starting Intero) is we thought there was a void in our real estate market,” Moss said, describing a limited choice for agents and consumers in the region.
“This is the first time in the last five years that there was a new opening that came into the market.”
Intero’s focus will be on higher-end quality of service for both agents and consumers, he said.
“When the market gets a little more difficult, people won’t go with a cousin in the real estate market, but with a good quality agent.”
Mark Wangsness, an agent at Intero’s Morgan Hill office, said he is pleased with how the company has treated him so far.
“It’s probably the best company I ever worked at,” he said. “They treat their employees very well. It’s very much like a family.”
