MCALPIN EDINA REALTY ‘S professional team of realtors won the prestigious Chairman’s Circle award for sales for the fourth year in a row. Pictured above are Jeff Schuman, Bruce McAlpin, Bonnie Howe and Cindy Lemm. (Submitted photo).
By Jennifer Edwards Staff Writer
The McAlpin Edina Realty team won Edina Realty's top award, the Chairman's Circle, for the fourth year in a row.
"This is almost unprecedented," said Bruce McAlpin, who leads the team. "Fewer than 70-80 agents achieve this award in any given year. It is a pretty prestigious award."
The award is presented to agencies which have averaged over $20 million in volume of sales during the course of a year.
"Even in a down market, to have been able to attain that level of sales year after year, is quite an accomplishment," McAlpin said. "We really try to make sure we do things in the same way for every property we represent. We list the property correctly at the right price so people will be interested in buying it, we market all our homes and we make sure we are there to answer the phones when people call."
McAlpin and his team market their homes in a number of different publications, on the Wright and Sherburne County cable channels and list them with MLS.
McAlpin believes the professionalism of his agents, who appreciate the trust their clients place in them, makes all the difference.
"Without that trust, we couldn't have attained these goals," McAlpin said. "You have a professional lawyer or a doctor. With us, you have a professional real estate agent."
Bruce hopes more and more agents approach the real estate business with professionalism.
"For some people, it has definitely been less about the client and more about the sale," he said.
"My team, bar none, is one of the strongest around," he said. "They do their due diligence and their experience is unbelievable. The minimum amount of time they have with us is three years and most individuals have been with us a lot longer than that."
In spite of today's uncertain market, McAlpin is diving into the foreclosure end of things. They have 75 homes currently listed in the Big Lake area.
"There is always something going on," he said. "We sold 11 homes in February and we are right on track to do about that again this month."
