Local real estate firm Evers & Co. officially opens the doors of its second D.C. office today and plans to double the number of agents working for the 20-year-old firm. The Dupont Circle location will supplement its existing Friendship Heights office and add 20 agents to its current staff of 42.
In a cooling housing market, owner Donna Evers is using the expansion as a way to signal her confidence in Washington-area home sales.
“We believe so strongly in the future of the Washington housing market that we’re opening an office in Dupont,” said Evers, a 32-year veteran of the real estate industry.
Evers, who has owned her own firm for 20 years, said though the market has cooled significantly since its peak in 2005, she is confident it will bounce back.
“It’s not the same kind of downturn as it was in 1990. We went through a serious and prolonged recession in the ’90s,” she said. “I don’t think we’re going to see any sort of prolonged recession, especially regionwide.”
In fact, the market has already shown signs of leveling off, and analysts are expecting home values to return to single-digit growth next year.
Long & Foster has also expressed confidence in the market with the opening of a new headquarters building in Chantilly.
Last month, the national firm opened a 285,000-square-foot office building to house 500 employees.
“It’s a positive sing that local real estate offices are expanding,” said Jill Landsman, a spokeswoman for the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors. “Anyone that opens a new office is going to be prepared for the [ups and downs] of the business cycle.”
