Freedom Real Estate and Coldwell Banker Springfield Merge

The Coldwell Banker Springfield team is growing after a merger with Freedom Real Estate and now has a total of 45 real estate agents.

Don Cave, the managing broker of Coldwell Banker Springfield, noted that in addition to their presence in the local market, they have an even larger footprint. “Honig Realty, our parent group, did $3.2 billion in volume and over 17,000 transactions in 2017,” he said. “We’re up to 53 office altogether. They go from Springfield, Illinois to Appleton, Wisconsin.”

Diane Davenport, who was the managing broker and a co-owner of Freedom Real Estate, is now a regional trainer/broker for Coldwell Banker Springfield. Julie McCormick and Hero Tameling, the other previous co-owners of Freedom Real Estate, transferred their licenses to Coldwell Banker Springfield as well, along with Jodi Moscardelli, Becky Jo Carver, Andrew Kinney, Pam Biswell, and Kerris Osborn. In addition, Jim and Freda Wall recently transferred their licenses from The Real Estate Group.

“Coldwell approached us about a year ago, and we just felt the timing was right,” said Julie McCormick, who was one of the owners of Freedom Real Estate. “Our agents were getting to the point that we felt responsible for some new lead generation and digital is definitely a driving force, so it came down to what we could offer our agents.”

McCormick cited Coldwell’s statewide and national presence, as well as the increased technology available through a larger company, as a strong consideration in making the move. “We would have had to spend upwards of $100,000 for some systems,” she said, explaining that the investment in technology can be cost-prohibitive for smaller agencies.

The Springfield agents who were previously working out of the Freedom Real Estate office in Piper Glen have moved into the Coldwell Banker location at 4205 W. Wabash, but the Freedom Real Estate location in Jacksonville will remain open and become a satellite office for Coldwell. Kerris Osborn will be working from the Jacksonville location.

McCormick said she was already quite familiar with Coldwell Banker, having initially started her real estate career there. “We really like that Coldwell is a family-owned franchise, and they have a lot of the same values that we do as far as putting the customer first,” she said. “It seemed like the right time for everybody.”

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