Kentwood, Northern Colorado perfect fit

FORT COLLINS — Gretchen Rosenberg of Kentwood Real Estate took a drive around Fort Collins with another broker, and immediately was sold on opening a branch in Northern Colorado.

Broker Shirley Watson of Timnath and her group wanted to find a highly regarded brokerage firm with a local base and international reach and thought of Kentwood, which has three branches in Denver and is owned by HomeServices of America, a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn.

“She and her core group were looking to leave the brokerage they were with, and they wanted to go with a local brand with national and international reach. Kentwood is a local brand but owned by Berkshire Hathaway,” said Rosenberg, president and chief executive officer of Kentwood Real Estate. “We had everything they wanted.”

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Watson had found that she and her group were no longer satisfied with the “status quo,” she said.

“We were searching for new solutions and focused on the pursuit of excellence,” Watson said in a written statement. “Kentwood is a company that strives to create the most professional ethical and expert real estate experience by pairing top talent with incomparable client service, the latest technology and standout marketing for custom solutions to client goals.”

Kentwood Real Estate, which opened its first branch in the Denver Tech Center in 1981, specializes in upscale residential properties but also offers a commercial office, Kentwood Commercial, and a leasing and property-management office, Denver Rental.

“Our reputation has always been as a luxury, high-end brokerage,” Rosenberg said, adding that the firm also works with first-time homebuyers. “We like to say we treat everyone the same. We’re excellent at all price points.”

Kentwood opened Kentwood Real Estate Cherry Creek in fall 1998 and Kentwood City Properties in downtown Denver in spring 1999. The firm added Kentwood Real Estate Northern Properties in October 2018, moving into a leased space at 2510 E. Harmony Road, Suite 202, in Fort Collins to serve Northern Colorado and the Boulder Valley.

“Our roots go deep in Colorado,” Rosenberg said. “We’re very passionate about serving our clients, and our brokers are the top of the heap.”

The firm is the highest producing in the state and among the top in the country for sales volume per agent, Rosenberg said. The firm closed more than $2 billion in volume in 2018 with the sale of 3,183 homes, she said.

“We have so few agents and do so much volume,” Rosenberg said.

Kentwood Northern Properties opened with four brokers, all incidentally women from Watson’s group, and now has eight who are a mix of men and women. Across the four branches, Kentwood has 230 brokers.

The original brokers are Watson, the office’s employing broker; Catherine Rogers, residential broker-associate; Andrea Stull, residential broker-associate; and Kris Laine, commercial and residential broker-associate. Sarah Tyler, broker-associate, soon joined the firm from a Re/Max office, followed by Matt and Paula King, who transferred internally from the Cherry Creek office and also are broker-associates.

Before the Fort Collins office opened, Rosenberg wanted to meet Watson and her group to ensure they were a fit for Kentwood. She appreciated the group’s level of knowledge about the Northern Colorado market, as well as how well the region’s growth is managed by its leaders.

“Northern Colorado is growing faster than the metro Denver area, and there’s a big tech boom going on,” Rosenberg said. “We feel there’s a whole lot of opportunity.”

The region presents a diversified and healthy economy with a large corporation relocation market for real estate agents as businesses move in and out of the area, Rosenberg said.

“The market is a very vibrant market,” Rosenberg said. “We see the mid-range and higher range markets are growing quite a bit.”

Kentwood Real Estate works with experienced, full-time brokers and does not offer a training program for new agents, said Rosenberg, who has worked in real estate for 22 years, the past 20 with Kentwood.

“We’re a company that adds brokers very selectively,” Rosenberg said. “Everyone is a full-time professional, very well trained and educated. … Our brokers are top of the heap.”

Kentwood hires brokers who are passionate about and imbedded in their communities, Rosenberg said.

“We encourage service in the community, either through volunteering or through donations,” Rosenberg said, adding that brokers help clients moving to Colorado find their way in a new community with information and referrals. “Our brokers understand it’s more than driving around showing them houses.”

Watson has worked in real estate in Northern Colorado for more than 30 years, plus directed two banks and served as one of five commissioners on the Colorado State Land Board for eight years, which manages the three million acres owned by the state of Colorado. She interacted with Kentwood agents through her work with the board and liked how the company is well respected and established in the community, she said. 

“The vision, the success and the deep sense of community and service Kentwood has created as one of the most successful and respected real estate agencies attracted us to pursue a northern presence and office,” Watson said in the written statement. “Our community in Northern Colorado is growing and changing and has a corporate base that is a great fit for the professionalism and success Kentwood offers. We are very pleased and proud to be associated with Kentwood and the strength this brand brings to Northern Colorado.”

Editor’s note: This story was changed to reflect the correct number of houses sold in 2018. The original contained an error.