By MICHAEL STRAND

Salina Journal

One of Salina's top real estate agencies is under new ownership and will likely see a name change soon.

Dave Antrim and Peggy Piper sold their stakes in Coldwell Banker Antrim-Piper Wenger Realtors, 631 E. Crawford, to a trio of the firm's longtime agents.

Mike Payne, Mary Kindlesparger and Steve Thompson closed the deal with Antrim and Piper on Nov. 2, Antrim said Thursday.

The idea of selling the business surfaced quite some time ago, Antrim said, and one day he brought it up to Piper.

"We had a conversation at noon one day," Antrim said. "I told her I thought it was time to turn over the reins, and she thought it was, too."

Antrim said he first approached Kindlesparger, who started with the company in 1993 and had recently been promoted to office manager.

"She had really started doing my job, too," Antrim said. "She was doing such a good job, I just floated the idea to her of owning a real estate company -- and that started the ball rolling."

"We have known each other for a long time," Payne said of his new business partners. "Each of us thought the other had the right kinds of strengths and would bring the right things to the business that we needed -- we complement each other."

Payne has been with the firm for 10 years and Thompson for 11.

Payne said he had known Antrim "since I was in high school -- I'd always known and respected him. He was a teacher when I was in high school, and I knew when I decided to go into real estate that was where I wanted to be."

Payne said the name of the firm will be changed to reflect the new ownership, "but we haven't gotten that figured out yet."

Beyond that, he said, there will be few outward changes.

"One of the things we've always strived for is quality and attention to clients and giving them the best care possible," he said. "Our niche has always been full service, and we hope to enhance and expand on that."

What changes there are, he said, will be "nothing glaring -- but there will be some subtle changes, ways to take that next step -- moving into the 21st century a little further. ... It's always fun to try new ideas."

Despite what you might hear about the real estate market in the national news, Payne says, "It's a great time to buy into a firm."

"I think it gets a little tainted from the world news," he said. "We're (Salina) a little isolated from that. We don't have the big peaks or the big valleys either -- I'm not worried about that."

Antrim, who said he's "only 60," said he decided "it was time for somebody younger, fresher and brighter to take the reins -- we've got a really great team of three people who were ready to do that."

"It wasn't really hard -- it was an easy decision," Antrim said. "I realized we had a lot of life ahead -- I'd been in real estate for 35 years."

He's bought a new home in Parkville, Mo., between Kansas City and the Kansas City International Airport.

"I've lived almost my whole life in Salina, taught school there, raised my kids there, it's been great," he said. "We're looking forward to a new life, new excitement and new opportunities."

n Reporter Mike Strand can be reached at 822-1418 or by e-mail at mstrand@salina.com.

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