Stroudsburg – Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Wilkins & Associates, along with their sister companies, NEPA Management Associates, Inc. and Pennsylvania First Settlement Services II, LP, have moved from 404 Park Avenue to the BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS REAL ESTATE WILKINS & ASSOCIATES BHG BUSINESS CAMPUS (BHG Business Campus) in early August, 2015.
The BHG Business Campus is located just off the Shafers School House Road exit on Route 209/33, South of Stroudsburg Borough. The BHG Business Campus comprises 13,000 square feet of Class A office space on 2 levels. Best known as a chiropractor’s office, the building was vacant for 3 years until Thomas R. Wilkins, at the urging of his wife, Christine A. Wilkins, opened negotiations with the owners.
Said Thomas R. Wilkins, CEO, “It was definitely something that was meant to be. I went to view the building just to ‘look in the window’ and to our surprise, the owner, along with a real estate broker, were standing in the lobby. It turned out that the owner was just getting ready to list the property for sale or rent. I asked the owner if I could look inside, which, after doing so, immediately called Christine and said–this is going to be our new home.”
Christine Wilkins had her eye on the building and while not being totally familiar with it, had the insight to understand this was where we needed to be to grow the size of our business. Said Wilkins, “In my heart, I knew this is where we had to be. August 1st, 2015 was our new beginning.”
The Wilkins organization operates one of the largest real estate companies in Northeast Pennsylvania, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Wilkins & Associates, as well as the only full service Management company which, while being the largest, boasts the most diverse array of services for Property Owner Associations, townhome communities, individual investors, consulting, maintenance services and covers an area that includes Monroe, Pike, Carbon, Lackawanna and Northampton counties.
The other company in the Wilkins organization is Pennsylvania First Settlement Services, who handle title insurance and settlement services primarily for the Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate agents. PA1st has been operating since 2001 when the company was purchased from First American Title Insurance Company (FAF).
Wilkins handles a number of other real estate partnerships, some of which act as principles and other that act as minority stockholders.
Said Dawn Libecap, Admin Asst, Corporate Rentals, “I am so excited because now not only do I have Corporate Rental housing units available, I have training rooms, conference and meeting rooms and office suites available for rent by the day, week, month or on a long-term basis. Everything is brand new and we are the only ones in the Poconos that offer these services!” So far, Wilkins has relied on word of mouth and referrals from other companies that, while having meeting room space, need someplace to send their overflow, to rent office space and book events.
Libecap further remarked, “The persons that works in New York or New Jersey may only go into their office in the city twice a week. The remaining three days they may work from home, but have found that working in a professional environment with the latest in technology far surpasses trying to work in the spare bedroom. We have 3 office suites available for immediate occupancy by the day or the week.”
Wilkins estimates that within one year the Day Suites, Private and Shared office, Conference, Training and Meeting rooms which are available 7 days week, will show close to 80% occupancy. All of the units are fully equipped, furnished and connected. Free Wi-Fi and professional administrative services and technical support are always there for the asking. All of their facilities are available by the hour, day, week, weekends and evenings. Office suites start at $75.00 for a ½ day. Meeting and training rooms start at $85 to $150 and are also available for ½ and full days. Conference rooms start at $45.00 for ½ day and are available to accommodate 6 – 12 persons.
Said Wilkins, while our primary business will always be listing and selling real estate, for our entire tenure our company has been involved in all phases of real estate. That’s a part of our Mission Statement which says “Without losing the interpersonal skills necessary to sustain superior levels of customer and client satisfaction we assist people in achieving the best possible results from real estate transactions of all types.”
So far, the month of October there are a total of 5 scheduled and confirmed events.
Said Dennis Mooney, Senior V.P./Company Recruiter, we’re hosting a Career Night on October 29th. We’re inviting close to 80 recruits that are interested in a career and want to learn more about how they go about getting into the business. It’s obvious that the market has changed and we’re getting a mix of people that left the business and now want to come back into it, as well as a huge influx of young people looking for a career now that they are done with college. Not a change in career, but a primary career.” The event will have two featured nationally recognized speakers, seasoned agents that recruits can talk to, as well as the number of auxiliary businesses that we partner with such as Mortgage brokers, title companies, inspection companies and more.
Said Christine Wilkins, “This is a dream come true for Tom and I. I’m the primary team leader for the free training that’s offered to our agents (both seasoned and new) and I have put a tremendous amount of time, effort and my love into creating training and mentor programs to ensure the success of an agent if they follow what they’re taught. I want everyone to know there are no charges for this, our training is free.”
A number of other real estate companies in the Poconos either offer no formal training or charge for training, webinars, seminars and such.
Said Lynn Wilklow, Sales Manager and Bill Schutte, VP each handling the Bushkill and Milford offices respectively, “Don’t forget about us lol! We’re doing a barn burner business in Bushkill and Milford. We’re hiring agents and listing and selling homes of all shapes, sizes and prices.”
You can learn more about the Wilkins organization at www.BHGWilkins.com, follow them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/BHGWilkins, or simply call one of the 90 plus agents, employees and managers about why they work for the Wilkins organization.
