Tucson Team Is All in on Partnership

It didn’t take long for Laurie Hassey, who left the mortgage industry to sell real estate, and Layne Lundeen, a colleague at Long Realty in Tucson, to realize the benefits of teaming.

“We knew that joining forces would not only give us more marketing impact but would also add value for our clients,” said Hassey.

In 2014, with colleague Claire Durand, the three launched the Tanque Verde Trio team (TVtrio@longrealty.com), housed in the heart of Tucson’s Tanque Verde Valley and serving the greater Tucson area.

Last year, with Durand stepping solely into a sales role, the team’s nine active agents and two administrative agents sold 122 homes with a sales volume close to $70 million in a market where their average sales price is $550,000.

They have sold the most homes in the Tanque Verde Valley for seven years in a row, according to MLS statistics, and have more than once been awarded Long Realty Company’s highest honor, the Platinum Designation for achievement.

Like all successful teams, they take pride in their professionalism and market knowledge, but their ‘secret sauce,’ said Lundeen, is the distinctive way in which they work together.

“We truly do work as a team,” he said. “When you hire one of us, you hire all 11 of us, working together to promote and support your buying and selling goals.”

Barbara Pronin: You’re saying, then, that it’s your unique approach to teaming that powers your success?

Layne Lundeen: Without a doubt. When one team member gets a listing, we all meet with the seller to preview the home and provide perspective. Everyone on the team is fully invested in representing every listing, and one of us is always available to keep the seller up to date and answer any questions or concerns.

Laurie Hassey: Our team is housed in our own Long Realty branch office here in the valley, and we really are like a tightknit family, supporting each other professionally and personally.

BP: How do you manage to keep everyone on the same page?

LH: We meet every Thursday morning like clockwork. We talk about new listings, prospective listings, marketing strategies, scheduling, and the best ways to help each of our current buyers and sellers. We really do draw strength from one another. It’s like getting our batteries recharged. The fact is, we know we are better together – that as a team, we are capable of reaching levels greater than what we could flying solo.

BP: Who executes your marketing and social media strategies?

LH: Ideas come from the entire team, but two of our people primarily make them happen. We understand that if you follow the trend, you’ll always be behind it, so we try to think out of the box and tailor solutions to the individual needs of our clients.

BP: We find ourselves now in a slowing market. How is that impacting your business?

LL: Inventory is still pretty low here in Tucson, so while we’re no longer seeing the multiple offers that we saw last summer, prices have dropped only minimally. A home that might have sold in three days a year ago may now take 30 or 60 days.

LH: But there are still buyers out there. Just last week, we had three homes go under contract. Some buyers are deciding to pay points in order to buy down the mortgage rate.

BP: So, a little more creativity is called for?

LL: Yes, but here again, our team strategy helps. When the market began to slow in June of last year, for example, we frequently timed several open houses in the same area at the same time. If a buyer wasn’t interested in one home, we were able to direct them to the other nearby showings.

BP: What do you foresee in 2023?

LH: We think this will be a good year for us – certainly not the frenzy of the last couple of years, but a good year nonetheless. The real estate market will always cycle, and most of our team members have been around long enough to understand and deal with it.

LL: Also, we have a long history and a great reputation in this community for personalized service and getting first-rate results. As long as people need to move, we think we can count on a healthy share of new inquiries as well as referrals and repeat business.

BP: What’s your plan for growing your team going forward?

LH: We added two great people last year, which helped us continue to meet and exceed all our client expectations, and so we’re not actively looking to expand at the moment. We’re always open to new opportunity, of course, but our primary goal is to remain cohesive and support one another in providing superior customer service for every client, every time.

Recent Listing

4785 N Wolford Rd, Tucson, Arizona