Mr Williamsburg, Revolutionary ideas on real estate!Hampton Roads Virginia

Although we are competitors I wanted to pass on this news..

TowneBank  announced today the merger of GSH Real Estate, a wholly owned subsidiary, with Virginia Beach based Prudential Decker Realty and Prudential McCardle Realty of Williamsburg. The resulting new company, Prudential Towne Realty, will be one of the largest home marketing firms in Hampton Roads. With almost $1 billion in combined closings in 2008, Prudential Towne will rank among the top 5% of all Prudential franchises in the country.

Richard B. Thurmond, William E. Wood’s president, said he had expected more mergers to happen by now. Last year, William E. Wood and Associates Realtors acquired Norfolk-based Cooke & Neff Inc., a property-management group.

“It was expected we would see consolidation in the real estate market because of the slowdown,” Thurmond said.

Companies will have to merge because there’s less business out there and fewer agents than there were a year ago, he said.

“We are combining the strengths of the highly respected Prudential brand with the experience, talents and relationships of over 600 real estate professionals in the greater Hampton Roads area to bring more and better services to home buyers and sellers,” said G. Robert Aston, Jr. Chairman and CEO of TowneBank. “In a 2008 Home Buyers/Sellers Study by J. D. Power and Associates, Prudential Real Estate was ranked highest in Seller Satisfaction. This recognition is indicative of the service quality our community can expect from Prudential Towne.”

TowneBank will own 65% of the new company. The former owners of Prudential Decker and Prudential McCardle will control the balance.

The executive leadership of Prudential Towne will be provided by Barbara Wolcott as Chairman and CEO, Kimber Smith, President and Carol “Randy” Smith as Senior Vice President. Sandee Ferebee, formerly the President of GSH, will become Chairman Emeritus and will also serve on the company’s board of directors.

J. Morgan Davis, President of Towne Financial Services Group, will also join the board along with Jon and Trey Decker.

In addition, Wolcott serves on the Virginia Beach board of TowneBank, Kimber Smith is a member of TowneBank’s Williamsburg board, and Ferebee is a member of the bank’s Hampton Roads Board.

The acquisition will mean the paring of 19 offices to 12, and probably 25 to 30 positions will be eliminated. The company is expected to have more than 600 associates, Aston said.

As one of Virginia’s top community banks, TowneBank operates  banking offices in Chesapeake, Hampton, Portsmouth, Newport News, Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Williamsburg and York County. Towne also offers a full range of financial services through its controlled divisions and subsidiaries that include Towne Investment Group, Towne Insurance Agency, TFA Benefits, TowneBank Mortgage, TowneBank Commercial Mortgage, GSH Real Estate Corporation, Corolla Classic Vacations and Corolla Real Estate. Local decision-making is a hallmark of its hometown banking strategy that is delivered through the leadership of each group’s President and Board of Directors. With total assets of $3.13 billion as of December 31, 2008, TowneBank is one of the largest banks headquartered in Virginia.

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