The building at 14401 Sommerville Court in Midlothian, where Paul Wesley Real Estate is opening an office. (Chesterfield County property record image)
A new brokerage from a former president of industry giant Long & Foster Real Estate is making a move into the Richmond market.
Paul Wesley Real Estate, a Northern Virginia-based brokerage launched earlier this year by Larry “Boomer” Foster, is opening an office in Midlothian with longtime Richmond agent Joan Dorsey signed on to lead it as managing broker.
Dorsey, who previously led Long & Foster’s Midlothian office for nine years, is joined by about 25 other agents who have signed on with Paul Wesley, many of them fellow Long & Foster alums.
The new company, which Boomer Foster launched in April, has leased a 3,000-square-foot space at 14401 Sommerville Court, in the Sommerville Office Park along Midlothian Turnpike just east of Route 288 and Westchester Commons. An opening date has not been announced.
Larry “Boomer” Foster
Foster, a former president of Long & Foster and nephew of founder and namesake Wes Foster, worked with Dorsey while they were both with the company and reached out when he was preparing to launch Paul Wesley, the name a nod to his uncle, whose full name is Paul Wesley Foster Jr.
The Reston-based company now totals over 100 agents in Maryland, D.C. and Virginia, where it’s expanded to Staunton, Waynesboro and Charlottesville based on interest from agents in those markets. Boomer Foster said similar interest and connections in Richmond made it a logical next step.
“I’ve had a lot of agents reach out to me down in the Richmond marketplace, and Joan is so very well-respected and has been a pillar in the real estate community there for a very long time,” he said. “Joan was a no-brainer to reach out to and ask to be a part of what we’re doing, and I think she’s excited about the opportunity to do something new and different and what we’re bringing to the market.”
Dorsey, who co-owned local brokerage Jefferson Properties before selling it to Long & Foster in 2017, said she sees the move as a chance to get back to her real estate roots.
“I wanted to join a company that has a longtime history in real estate – a small, family-owned company, without the corporate oversight – and get back to what the basics of real estate really are,” Dorsey said, “which is outstanding service to your clients, repeat business that comes from all that, and working with the best agents in town.”
Joan Dorsey
Foster launched Paul Wesley after waiting out a non-compete agreement with Long & Foster, which he led as president of its general brokerage through the company’s 2017 sale to HomeServices of America, an affiliate of Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway.
Freed up from that agreement earlier this year, Foster said he started hiring employees in March and opened the Reston office, but held off on adding agents for two months to allow the company’s systems to be stress-tested first. Foster said the 100-plus agents who now make up Paul Wesley companywide bring an annual productivity amounting to over $700 million in sales.
The brokerage operates on a traditional commission-split model that Foster said is negotiated per agent. He said agent commissions can range from 50% on up, using a sliding scale based on productivity. Agents aren’t charged fees beyond contributions to errors and omissions insurance.
Foster said the brokerage will stand apart from competitors in Richmond through a blend of an old-school sales approach and new technology and other resources provided for agents.
“I think what we’re bringing to the table is something that’s particularly attractive to agents down there, which is a company based on values like character and integrity and honor, and focused on the consumer experience, but we can also bring them big-company technology and support that’s going to help them do their business more efficiently and better over time,” he said.
While he plans to eventually open a second Richmond office on the north side of the river, Foster said maximizing agent count is not a goal.
“I’m not really trying to do the body count thing. When I was at the helm of Long & Foster, I remember having a discussion with my uncle who started the company about having body count, and he would love to tell me about how we had 15,000 agents in eight states and the District of Columbia. I would point out that only 8,000 of them had done a piece of business last year, so you have 7,000 agents who may have the agent title but they’re not actually transacting anything,” he said.
“What I am attracted to is finding agents who would flourish within our culture and with our tools. I want highly professional and productive agents, and I want really good human beings, because at the end of the day, I believe happy people are more productive people.”
Recent additions to the Midlothian office include The Morgan Team, a former Long & Foster team led by Al Morgan; Rick Tetterton, formerly with Long & Foster’s Tri-Cities Southpark office, and Nancy Steinke, who’s also coming over from that office and is set to start with Paul Wesley later this month.
Paul Wesley joins a crowded residential brokerage scene in Richmond that includes not only Long & Foster, the market’s perennial sales leader, but also homegrown brokerages Hometown Realty and Shaheen, Ruth, Martin & Fonville Real Estate, which its founders formed after jumping ship from Long & Foster a decade ago.
The post NoVA-based brokerage led by former Long & Foster chief opening local office in Midlo appeared first on Richmond BizSense.
