David Caveness, president and CEO of Carpenter REALTORS®, received RISMedia’s National Homeownership Award this past November during the 22nd Annual Power Broker Reception & Dinner, held in conjunction with the 2017 REALTORS® Conference & Expo.
An honor brought about thanks in large part to Caveness’ 43-plus years of excellence in the business, the National Homeownership Award is bestowed upon a member of the real estate community who continuously demonstrates extraordinary contributions toward increasing homeownership and building better communities.
“I decided to get into the real estate business at the age of 16,” says Caveness. “My father, a West Texas guy who earned his living as a doctor, used to take me out to look at ranch land with real estate people, and I thought being a broker was the coolest thing ever.”
So, after graduating high school, Caveness went to the University of Denver, graduating with a BSBA degree in real estate and construction management, entering the business in 1974.
Throughout his esteemed career, Caveness has served as director of Education for the Iowa Association of REALTORS®, national director of Education for Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Service and general manager for First Realty/Better Homes and Gardens in Des Moines, Iowa, before coming to Carpenter REALTORS® in 1989 as vice president and regional manager. In 2013, he was named president and CEO.
Since coming to the firm, Caveness has helped build the Indianapolis-based company from six offices and 120 agents to where it stands today with 32 offices and 685 agents.
Looking back on 2017, Caveness notes that the robust market has kept things exciting.
“This past year surprised me, as did 2016,” says Caveness. “I’m bewildered by just how strong the market is and how weak the listing inventory is. It’s virtually a fraction of what it was just a few years ago, and yet, this year we’re going to hit record sales in both units and dollar volume.”
As long as the market continues to expand and the company continues to do well, Caveness says Carpenter REALTORS® will keep up with the growth by adding locations and agent count. In 2017, the firm saw the addition of a few new neighborhoods, a trend Caveness is expecting to replicate this year.
“We’ve done some small mergers, which has helped us grow our business in the last year,” says Caveness. “We’re pretty careful about it, but we do see our company as a growth company, and as long as the market supports it, we will grow.”
Agents are attracted to the firm, he believes, because the company creates opportunities for brand new agents to enter the real estate business.
“We kind of specialize in that, and we’re proud of it,” says Caveness. “We prefer to hire new agents rather than a retread of someone that was trained elsewhere. We want to recruit people through our pre-licensing school and put them in our career-start training program that we offer each month and train them the Carpenter way.”
While keeping up with the latest and greatest technology can be a challenge, especially …read more
From:: Real Estate News