For 34 years, Randall Realtors has been a fixture in the southern Rhode Island real estate market, specializing in high-end waterfront properties and the East Coast second-home market. After earlier expanding into the Cape Cod and southeastern Connecticut, this year Randall purchased Page Taft Real Living and its offices in Guilford, Madison and Essex, Conn. and formed the Randall Family of Companies. CEO Doug Randall took a few moments to speak to PBN about how the firm has been able to grow in the current economy and plans for the future.
PBN: What really attracted you to Page Taft and what convinced you this was the right time to expand further west along the Connecticut coast?
RANDALL: We’ve had a number of opportunities to expand over the last few years but many we’re not the right fit. However, when the opportunity to acquire Page Taft presented itself we knew it was the right move. First, we had known Page Taft’s owner, Karen Stephens, for a number of years and knew that our company cultures would fit well together. Page Taft has an excellent reputation in the three towns where they are located, which is key with us. We definitely look at reputation and image of a company that we merge with. Also, Page Taft’s offices are located in upscale coastal towns which abut our other Connecticut locations and we feel that it’s best to expand in contiguous areas. In addition, like Page Taft’s three offices, all but one of our 26 offices are coastal related and handle second homes, waterfront properties, resort properties and summer rentals. Finally, we saw economies of scale and ease of transition in this acquisition – we are both Real Living franchisee’s which means our signs stay the same, stationary, etc. … It is an almost seamless merger that way.
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PBN: What has allowed you to grow during this difficult period for real estate markets?
RANDALL: First, we have been fortunate to operate a profitable company in a time when other agencies have fallen on difficult times. This has allowed us to continue to market our properties and our brands while many others have had to cut back. That has allowed us to attract clients and agents to our companies and expand our market share. Next, many companies have looked to agencies like ours when they have run out of energy or resources. This has allowed us to blend in several great companies and/or offices over the last five years. Finally, our agents and management team are excellent, hard working professionals who continue to expand their business along with that of Page Taft, Kinlin Grover and Randall, Realtors. This creates just enough profit to allow us to acquire companies like Page Taft.
PBN: Will clients working with Page Taft notice anything different now that the firm is part of the Randall Family of Companies?
RANDALL: Our objective is to leave the Page Taft name and identity untouched and to bring them added support in areas like marketing, technology and back office functions. In many ways the consumer won’t perceive a change, but the Page Taft agents will notice that they simply have more resources at their disposal. This will allow them to offer more services to their clients and it should allow them to do their job more efficiently. Also, we should note that we believe that Page Taft does many things well and that some of their tools and services will be incorporated into Kinlin Grover and Randall, Realtors. That’s the beauty of having a family of companies – we can share resources, share ideas and achieve economy of scale while remaining true to our local identities of Page Taft, Kinlin Grover and Randall, Realtors.
PBN: Your footprint now extends from the edge of New Haven, Conn. to tip of Cape Cod. Are you looking to push further toward New York and Boston?
RANDALL: Right now we want to concentrate on the offices that we have in order to make sure that communication between the three companies is working well and that we are sharing ideas and resources with one another. Additionally, we have to remember that growth is always predicated on remaining profitable. This means that before looking to expand we need to be sure that we are getting our materials and services to our professionals in the field so they can pick which programs will help them do their jobs more efficiently and more effectively. After that is accomplished our plans could include new Page Taft locations towards the Branford and Hartford, Conn. areas. We have also looked at growing Kinlin Grover off of Cape Cod and into Plymouth and Middlesex Counties in Massachusetts. As for Randall Realtors, our goals include growth into the Newport and Providence markets. Of course, if in the near future, any opportunities become available in the right location we are always willing to think outside of the box.
PBN: Of the different segments of the real estate market you work in, what areas do you see the biggest opportunities going forward?
RANDALL: We operate in several segments of the real estate industry; residential sales, second home and estate properties, commercial real estate, summer rentals, year-round rentals and investment properties. With that said, our greatest opportunities going forward aren’t confined to any single segment. Instead, our opportunities lie in our ability to attract quality real estate professionals in all of our areas of business. By focusing on running a business that is based on high quality customer service and high standards of professionalism amongst our agents, managers and staff we can continue to build a culture that attracts the best people in our industry regardless of which segment of the business they focus on.
