Military Veteran with Forty Years of Southern Maryland Real Estate Expertise Taps Into ERA Powered® Branding Option
MADISON, N.J., (April 9, 2024) — ERA® Real Estate, a global franchising leader within the Anywhere Real Estate Inc. (NYSE: HOUS) portfolio of brands, announced today its latest affiliation with O’Brien Realty ERA Powered, a firm with over forty years of experience serving Southern Maryland from five locations throughout the region.
The firm is led by owner and principal broker, Mike O’Brien, who first founded the company in 1980. O’Brien is not only a real estate expert but also a Vietnam veteran who spent his early professional career working in finance with multiple Fortune 500 companies in Downtown Manhattan. After leaving city life behind, O’Brien planted new roots on the beaches of Southern Maryland, where he has since grown one of the largest real estate networks in the region, with over 100 agents working directly from his offices.
Assisting him in leadership is Vice President of Development, Toni Lowman. Lowman has spent her entire real estate career by O’Brien’s side. She trained with the company and became licensed as a real estate professional in 2016. Since then, she’s quickly risen through the ranks and now manages the company’s Calvert County offices.
Throughout the company’s forty-year tenure, the O’Brien agents have developed expertise in several areas of real estate. O’Brien himself has an in-depth background in land development and over 20 years of experience in the mortgage and title business. Mike and his agents are also well-versed in new construction, waterfront properties, farms, and land sales as well as residential and commercial transactions. Their service area covers all of Calvert, Charles, Prince George’s, and Saint Mary’s counties, where they have a history of working with many active or retired military clients based on the nearby military installations including PAX River and Andrews Air Force Base.
Now as part of the ERA Real Estate network, O’Brien and his full-service company’s affiliated agents will be able to utilize the brand’s robust business-building tools and leverage the most up-to-date marketing programs to connect buyers and sellers. O’Brien plans to rely on these updated technologies and platforms to attract like-minded brokers looking to create synergies that can fuel growth and expand the company’s existing footprint.
The ERA Powered® flexible branding option allows companies to leverage their local brand identity and benefit from ERA Real Estate’s full suite of learning, marketing, and servicing resources. O’Brien has already developed a historic reputation for being one of the longest-standing, most trusted real estate providers in Southern Maryland. With the support of the ERA Powered branding option, he can now streamline his existing agents’ efforts and quickly onboard new agents while preserving the name that many Maryland buyers and sellers are already familiar with.
O’Brien Realty ERA Powered has succeeded for decades largely thanks to its company culture focused on not only professionalism but also enthusiasm. Every affiliated agent is driven to provide the best services possible, and they take great pride in creating a seamless transaction experience. To O’Brien and his agents, real estate isn’t just about business; it’s about welcoming buyers and sellers into their company family and having fun while doing so.
The firm’s main office is located in California, Maryland, which sits along Chesapeake Bay on the shores of the Patuxent River. The area’s residents can enjoy a relatively quiet, suburban lifestyle with plenty of parks and beaches nearby. The region’s economy is largely fueled by government employers, partly thanks to its proximity to the nation’s capital. Some of these major employers include military installations such as Andrews Air Force Base and Naval Air Station Patuxent River, as well as other large institutions such as the University System of Maryland and Exelon, the nation’s largest utility company.
Details:
- O’Brien intends to leverage his company’s affiliation with ERA® Real Estate to connect with more clients outside of his current service area, as well as to provide his agents with a more robust and reliable network infrastructure.
- O’Brien plans to recruit more agents and work with other like-minded brokers to fuel expansion opportunities. Specifically, O’Brien wants to expand into the South Anne Arundel market, towards Annapolis. His focus on adding staff will be supported by the attraction of the ERA® brand’s highly engaged global referral network and the brand’s state-of-the-art technology suite, including the MoxiWorks® platform, which supports the delivery of a seamless, fast, connected client experience that can help drive business and boost productivity.
- Team ERA University will support organic growth through increased productivity as agents access the extensive professional development resources in the brand’s proven learning platform.
- Agents will also benefit from the ERA brand’s consumer-focused marketing programs such as TextERA, an effective lead generation tool that transforms yard signs into interactive property marketing, and the automated ERA Buyer and Seller Follow-Up Programs that help agents keep in touch with clients after the transaction, which can lead to referrals and repeat business.
- O’Brien and his company have very deep roots in the Southern Maryland community, largely thanks to the number of charitable events they host throughout the year. O’Brien Realty ERA Powered participates in summer concerts at the Calvert Marine Museum, and “The River Series” outdoor concerts at St. Mary’s College. O’Brien himself also has a $260 million Athletic and Recreation Center named in his honor, thanks to his frequent contributions to the school and in honor of his service as a trustee and member of the foundation. Other initiatives that the company supports include Toys4Tots, the Three Oaks and Project Echo homeless shelters, and the annual Dragon Boat Race Festival which raises funds for community members with developmental differences.
Quotes:
“Mike and his team are one of the premier real estate providers in Southern Maryland and we know that they’ll instantly make their presence felt within the ERA network. Mike’s experience goes beyond real estate sales and includes being named one of the area’s leading land developers as well. While he and his company are sure to make waves in the Maryland market, we are even more excited by how much his experience can benefit the greater ERA Real Estate family. Although the brand is what provides the physical tools and resources, every agent and broker is a resource in themself, and as many of the O’Brien clients can attest to, Mike is one of the most valuable.”
– Alex Vidal, president of ERA® Real Estate
“Longevity is the ultimate goal and that means securing future growth and taking a look at potential succession plans. While this process comes with plenty of moving parts, ERA Real Estate can provide the formal infrastructure to keep us grounded and always make sure we’re moving in the right direction while we handle more complex needs. In addition to nationally recognized systems and services, ERA Real Estate also provides us with the flexibility to handle these needs in the ways that we know work. It provides us with the opportunity to invigorate our brand for the future, without losing grip on our legacy.”
– Mike O’Brien, broker/owner of O’Brien Realty ERA Powered
“Although we’ve had success with growth initiatives in the past, it often required much more effort than it would with the help of a brand like ERA Real Estate. Keeping up with our large network’s technological wants and needs required a substantial amount of overhead, which ERA Real Estate can eliminate by providing us with in-house branded tools and services. As one of the main recruiters for our company, I know that the allure of programs like Team ERA University by itself will already make our lives much easier.”
– Toni Lowman, VP of Development of O’Brien Realty ERA Powered
About ERA Real Estate
ERA® Real Estate knows that real estate is as local as it gets. We believe that our core business values of collaboration, innovation, diversity and growth are needed more than ever. As a global leader in the residential real estate industry for nearly 50 years, ERA features a powerful network of like-minded entrepreneurs supported by the brand’s game-changing technology, products and powerful lead generation.
The ERA Real Estate network includes more than 43,000 affiliated brokers and independent sales associates and approximately 2,400 offices throughout the United States and 36 other countries and territories.
ERA Franchise Systems LLC (www.ERA.com) which operates the ERA Real Estate system, is a subsidiary of Anywhere Real Estate Inc. (NYSE: HOUS), a global provider of real estate services. ERA Real Estate information is available at www.ERA.com.
© 2024 ERA Franchise Systems LLC. All rights reserved. ERA® and the ERA Logo are registered service marks owned by ERA Franchise Systems LLC. ERA Franchise Systems LLC
Media Contacts:
Randi Rispoli
ERA Real Estate
973-407-5241