2007 Annual Report
A summary of the 2007 Annual Report for The Long & Foster
® Companies
is featured below. You can also
download the entire
full color report as a PDF (Portable Document Format, 795kb), where you
can read all the details of our highly successful 39th year in business.
Report Highlights
2007 Market Overview
Despite the continued slowdown in residential real estate activity, 2007 remained
a strong year for The Long & Foster® Companies. While threats of a possible
recession loomed and the meltdown in subprime mortgages fueled a rise in foreclosures,
Long & Foster Real Estate agents still managed to help their neighbors buy and
sell homes 95,871 times in 2007, worth $35.4 billion – a decrease of only 12% from
2006. The company’s other core businesses—Prosperity Mortgage®, Long & Foster®
Settlement Services, and Long & Foster® Insurance—added real estate equivalent
sales volumes of $25.6 billion, down just 5%. Total 2007 sales for all The Long
& Foster Companies was $61 billion, a modest 6% reduction overall.
Fortunately, the Mid-Atlantic marketplace, while not immune to the prevalent consumer
psychology caused by the broad national trends, does have some important local strengths
that mitigate the ills being suffered by other formerly high-flying metropolitan
areas. Chief among these are very low unemployment and strong job growth throughout
the Long & Foster region, with most new jobs being in the professional and business
services sector which carry high average wages. In some neighborhoods in the company’s
regional market area, home prices – and even sales volume – were actually up, underscoring
the company’s core belief that “residential real estate truly is a local business.”
And there is hope for the future, with continuing low mortgage interest rates and
declining home prices, which will bring home values in line with their economic
worth relative to wages and rents.
As always, The Long & Foster® Companies continues to face these challenges with
a mix of realism and optimism. Certainly, decreased revenues across the board squeezed
profitability, necessitating careful scrutiny of every corporate expense and tough
decisions regarding business activities that would have to be reduced or eliminated
to ensure profitability in the face of a protracted decline in real estate sales.
But growth and investment continued, with the acquisition of four new firms. The
highly-respected blue-chip brokerage W.C. & A.N. Miller REALTORS® added seven
new offices and 400 outstanding agents, while Tri-County REALTORS®, LLC of Wilmington,
Delaware, Realty Executives J&J Realty of Moorestown, New Jersey, and Fiola Blum,
Inc. added more than 120 experienced real estate professionals to Long & Foster’s
already stellar team. Long & Foster Settlement Services also added two new Prestige
Partners®, Sage Title Group and Settlement Pros. In all, more than 2,027 experienced
agents recognized the company’s solid financial underpinnings and joined forces
with Long & Foster during 2007.
2007 Initiatives
- Growth: Construction continues on the The Long & Foster Companies’ 282,200
square foot headquarters building in Chantilly, Virginia, with the grand opening
scheduled for May 2008. This magnificent brick structure is part of a 39-acre executive
campus that will house other office buildings and hotels near Dulles International
Airport.
- Diversity: The Long & Foster® Companies’ commitment to helping the growing
Latino market remained a priority in 2007, thanks to the dedicated assistance of
Prosperity Mortgage’s Latino Division.
- Training: The Long & Foster® Companies provided their agents with a wide
variety of training and continuing education opportunities. These included a lecture
by the National Association of REALTORS®’ Chief Economist Lawrence Yun on the outlook
for U.S. housing, a presentation by a panel of company top producers at the annual
Gold Team Brunch entitled “Achieving Success in a Changing Market,” the superb Brian
Buffini “100 Days to Greatness” program for more advanced agents, and the nationally-recognized
Star Builders® program for newly-licensed agents.
- Recognition: Several Long & Foster agents made the REAL Trends/The Wall
Street Journal “Top 200 Real Estate Professionals” List for 2007. Creig Northrop
and his team were number two in America, with over $401 million in sales volume.
Other Long & Foster teams honored were Debbie Dogrul, Marc Fleisher, and Greg
Holmes. As individual agents, both Tom Poss and Nancy Itteilag, who was number nine
in the country with individual sales of $142 million, were recognized. And President
and Chief Operating Officer of The Long & Foster Companies, Brenda Shipplett,
was honored in the October 2007 issue of Washingtonian magazine, as one of the area’s
“Power 150, People Who Make Things Happen.”
- Technology: The Information Services department revamped the company’s public
website, www.longandfoster.com, and logged over seven million unique visitors during
the year who spent an average of 10 minutes online per visit. Free agent websites
for Long & Foster agents continued to be utilized and enhanced as the latest
lead-generating tool.
2007 – In Summary
How is The Long & Foster® Companies able to stand so strong in the face of a
unpredictable housing market? Because the company is built upon a solid foundation
of enduring values: integrity and innovation; honesty and good old-fashioned customer
service; a reputation for hard work and fairness; a dominant market share and solid
brand; and their steadfast support of—and respect for—their hardworking, highly-professional
agents and employees.
In short, The Long & Foster® Companies continues to be an island of stability
in a sea of uncertainty during turbulent times. With its market share exceeding
its next three competitors combined, there’s no doubt that the future remains bright
for the largest and most-respected privately owned real estate company in the nation.