During last year’s pandemic, The Cavanaugh Team owners Tom and Cherya Cavanaugh braced themselves for the struggle that was sure to come from the beginnings of quarantine and global uncertainty. Instead, the husband-and-wife duo had their most successful year to date, bringing in more than $60M in volume for the year, selling 169 units in the Jacksonville, Florida, area. At the time, the team was under the RE/MAX umbrella, yet the Keller Williams culture had already poured into their business.
Throughout the pandemic, a KW team leader in their area organized a mastermind for agents to share strategies for pivoting their business. Cherya explains, “What I loved about that mastermind was that he went across the bridge and pulled in top producers from different brokerages. We spent every week working together, helping each other navigate our way through COVID. I attribute that mastermind group to helping us not only survive through a pandemic, but thrive and have the best year we’ve ever had in 2020.”
When they first arrived on the Florida scene, Tom, who had a background in the homebuilding industry as an executive with a national builder, and Cherya, an agent who grew up in the industry due to her Realtor mother and builder father, saw an opportunity in a new master plan community that was being developed in an area now known as Nocatee. In choosing their initial brokerage, they picked based on proximity to this new community, which they saw as essential for the future of their business.
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Eight years later, after creating lifelong bonds within the community and growing a team, they are ready for the next step – opening the first Keller Williams office in the Nocatee area. “Tom and I have been looking into ownership for a few years,” Cherya shares. “We were not an easy sell – we did a deep dive into the structure, platform, and processes of Keller Williams for seven months,” she says. “And, after joining a few weeks ago, we feel like the emoji with its mind blown.”
The partners are in for an exciting journey, but one of the aspects they are most intent on focusing on is team growth and structure. “We grew organically with no guidance and leadership, since our former brokerage wasn’t known for having a team platform,” Cherya explains. “So, we really started taking a hard look at whether we had the support and the leadership that we need to be even more effective than we already are. We are so excited about how amazing this move will be for the efficiency of our business at such a high level. We want to emphasize that as a team, we are not a real estate machine. Rather, we are providing exceptional service in the real estate industry, and the KW family allows our excellence to thrive.”