12/20/2009

By MICHAEL STRAND

Salina Journal

To borrow from Mark Twain -- recent rumors of Peggy Piper's retirement are greatly exaggerated.

Sure, last month she and Dave Antrim sold the Coldwell Banker franchise to Mike Payne, Mary Kindlesparger and Steve Thompson, and Antrim is pulling up stakes and moving to the Kansas City area.

But Piper's staying put -- not only in Salina but in her office at the Salina real estate firm.

Since the announcement of the change in ownership, Piper said, "Everybody's been coming up to me and congratulating me on my retirement -- I'm not retiring!"

The change in ownership won't mean a change in her daily job of connecting sellers and buyers, she said.

"The only thing that's changing is my name won't be on the sign," she said. "My position will be the same as it's always been."

Over her 33 years in the real estate business, Piper has earned enough awards and plaques to cover a table, and she's even kept datebook information about clients and what kind of house they're looking for -- going back to 1977.

Piper started in real estate in 1976. At the time, the company her husband worked for was on strike, leaving the family dependent on farm income.

One day, she ran into a friend and joked that "If Bob didn't go back to work soon, I'd have to get a job." That friend suggested she look into real estate.

"I thought that sounded like fun," she said. She went on to earn her real estate license in April 1976 and worked out of different offices before opening a firm with Antrim in the early 1980s.

Her timing in getting into real estate was good, she recalled.

"The market was really good in the late '70s -- if you listed a home, you could pretty much count on it selling," she said.

The market slowed down in the early 1980s, she said, dragged down by mortgage interest rates in the mid- to high-teens, but that was only temporary.

It was also in the early '80s that the national Coldwell Banker company was looking for a partner in Salina.

At first, Piper said, the company contacted Gib Wenger; before long, Wenger's firm merged with the Antrim Piper firm and became part of the Coldwell Banker network.

"That's how we got that long name," Piper said.

After 33 years in the business, she's helped sell some homes multiple times; one current listing is for a house she sold in her first year in the business.

And while she says, "I never sell a home, the home sells itself," she has an important role in making sure potential buyers see homes that meet their needs.

"I ask people to talk to me when we're going through a house," she said. "When they comment on what they like, or say something like 'I need a bigger kitchen,' I'm thinking about other homes, and it helps me know what they want," she said, adding it's easier to get that information informally during a walk-through than just sitting in her office and asking people what kind of house they want.

And, she tells people, if they know a house isn't right for them as soon as they walk through the door, to just say so.

"There's no point in taking up their time if they know it's not the one for them," she said.

She still loves meeting new people -- and making new friends.

As for any retirement plans, Piper says there are none.

"Why would I?" she said. "You wouldn't have a reason to get up in the morning, and the four walls at home would drive me crazy. I enjoy what I do and don't see why I'd quit."

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

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