Tools, Teams and Attention to Detail

Kathy Quaid and Maureen Rooney of Keller Williams Premiere Properties work as a team, and emphasize a face-to-face approach to their expanding market in the Wheaton and Glen Ellyn area. They recently experimented with using tools provided by Trulia and Zillow to see if it would help them reach more clients. Instead, they found that working with their own websites and social media strategy helped them reach out to their sphere of influence more efficiently.

  They also focus on bringing a high level of energy and attention to detail to their listings. Quaid and Rooney both got into real estate 11 years ago, Quaid working primarily in Glen Ellyn with Prudential Rubloff and Rooney with Coldwell Banker in Wheaton. They were each among the top agents at their respective brokerages in their first year. They kept running into each other and struck up a rapport. Four and a half years ago, they decided to go into business together with Keller Williams. They didn’t like how other agents showed properties and wanted to improve on how homes were presented in both open houses and in marketing materials.

“We didn’t care for most of the imaging and the remarks and photography,” Rooney says. “We thought by having a home staged perfectly, presented right from landscaping to interiors to furnishings to photography and on in, that the listing would be more likely to sell quicker rather than staying on the market.”

Like Brooks, they have a highly localized approach in their market and have found that face-to-face interactions generate the best response. They have strong connections to the area, as well. Quaid grew up in Wheaton and raised her family in Glen Ellyn, where she currently lives. Rooney moved to Glen Ellyn when she was in her teens, raised her family there and now lives in Wheaton. They work closely with their sellers to collaborate on new ideas and to stay current with trends that the buyer might expect to see in the property. Last year, they completed 87 transactions for $40 million.

“Maureen and I are a team and believe that two heads are better than one, but we also work with our sellers as part of our team,” Quaid said. “We use the information and ideas that they come up with, and keep current with the color trends or any kind of trend that the buyers are expecting.”

Brooks also collaborates with a team to help her stay on top, but hers is a family team. She takes care of the listings, while her husband, who joined her in the business nine years ago, handles the buyers. Their daughter joined them about four and a half years ago, and handles the technology side by keeping Brooks’ website updated and maintaining her presence on social media.