Top real-estate firm closing

Five area Coldwell Banker Wachholz and Co. Real Estate offices in Northwest Montana will close their doors Nov. 5.

Ryon Brewer, Coldwell Banker chief operating officer and managing broker, announced the closures Wednesday. The offices are in leased buildings in Kalispell, Whitefish, Lakeside, Eureka and Plains.

The 40 brokers and sales associates affiliated with the agency all are independent contractors, Brewer said. Most are expected to move to other area agencies “and their listings and customers will go with them.”

“Our exceptional agents will continue to provide the same level of service they are known for,” he said.

 Eight staffers, including Brewer, will lose their jobs with the office closures. Brewer moved to the Flathead Valley to start his job at the agency on July 1.

Coldwell Banker Wachholz and Co. Real Estate was founded by Paul Wachholz in 1981 in Kalispell.

He and Robert “Nad” Nadvornick were the only employees in early years. The company grew to include nine offices throughout Northwest Montana at its peak a few years ago. Wachholz sold the company in 2002 to Kirk Scoggins, an outside investor, who has operated it since.

Wachholz affiliated with the Coldwell Banker franchise in 1985. He and Nadvornick are still brokers with the agency.

Wachholz couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday.

Nadvornick said while the closure is hard for him, “since I’ve been with them since day one,” he’s excited for a new opportunity. “I think something good with come out of this. Change is good.”

He recalled the early days when he and Wachholz literally crawled through a window to reach their second-story offices above Wheeler Jewelry on Main Street because the street was torn up “about 10 feet deep” as new utilities were being installed and clay hauled out.

“We made it through those days and we’ll make it through these days,” Nadvornick said.

Nadvornick said he’s not certain where he will work after Nov. 5. “We’re trying to set something up where the majority of our agents will join together and go to one agency together and make it a stronger place,” he said.

The agency ranked as the No. 1 Coldwell Banker office in Montana in 2002, which ranked it among the top 25 percent of Coldwell Banker offices in the country.

It has consistently ranked high on the Coldwell Banker lists and was the largest real estate office in Kalispell for years. At its peak in 2006, there were 115 real estate agents with the firm.

“We were definitely a real player,” Brewer said.

Brewer attributed the closure to overall declines in the real estate industry.

“The company’s fortunes have been susceptible to the economic conditions of the times, and have mirrored the decline of the local, regional and national real estate markets,” Brewer said.

The effect of the downturn in the luxury real estate market has been particularly difficult for the agency, he said.

The downturn in the real estate market hit Montana a little later than most of the rest of the country, Brewer said, but its effects here were major.

Kalispell and the Bitterroot Valley were particularly hard hit, he said, mainly because the real estate market in those areas is dependent on newcomers “who buoy the market. We have to figure out if those in-migrants are ready to return to this area and buy property, especially in the higher price ranges.”

Brewer said with high unemployment continuing across the United States and the lack of improvement in the gross domestic product numbers, there probably are not enough changes in real estate markets across the country to allow people to sell their homes elsewhere and come to the Flathead Valley with enough money to buy property.

“I think we’ll be in the market for a while,” he said. “It’s not a momentary situation in an otherwise robust housing market.”

Rather, he said, the market has corrected itself to where it was several years ago. “We’ll be in this market for an extended period of time. If you have not found a way to be profitable in this market today, you won’t be profitable as a company six months from today. It’s not going to get better any time soon.”

Kalispell Chamber of Commerce President Joe Unterreiner said the news of the Coldwell Banker closures was disappointing.

“These offices have been a mainstay of the communities in which they serve,” Unterreiner said in a press release. “We would like to take this opportunity to wish all their employees and owners well.”

Agents have already been contacting their clients to tell them of the office closure, Brewer said. “A top priority of the company is making sure its clients’ interests are protected and that there is minimal disruption for those with pending transactions or listings.”

Essentially, any listing agreements between the company and the client will be canceled and the real estate agent will create a new contract mirroring the terms of the old contract, but with a new brokerage firm, he said.

Once the local offices close, the nearest Coldwell Banker franchise office will be in Missoula. But, Brewer speculated that because Coldwell Banker is “the largest and most successful brand in the nation,” it won’t take long for another Flathead Valley agency to become affiliated with Coldwell Banker.

Brewer isn’t certain about his own future, but said since he has lived in the Flathead for only a few months, he most likely will move back to the Bitterroot Valley “and find a new opportunity.”

He plans to help local staffers as much as possible to find new positions. “We have an excellent staff. Most folks have been with the company for several years, so it’s doubly hard,” Brewer said.

Reporter Shelley Ridenour may be reached at 758-4439 or by e-mail at sridenour@dailyinterlake.com.