Dylan Snyder of Signarama applies signage for the new eXp Realty office that moved into the former McCleerey’s Sporting Goods store in downtown Greenfield.
Mitchell Kirk | Daily Reporter
GREENFIELD – A real estate office is opening in a former longtime sporting goods store downtown.
The eXp Realty branch moved into 22 S. State St., which housed McCleerey’s Sporting Goods until its closing in October 2021.
James Abner, the eXp Realty branch’s manager, brings 11 years of real estate experience. His team, Abner Realty Group, has been with eXp since January 2021. He’s had family in the Greenfield, New Palestine and Shelbyville area all his life and moved back to Greenfield in August from Noblesville.
A work task initially sparked his move to Greenfield, as a client reached out to him about selling their home there.
“This is everything my wife and I always wanted,” Abner said he realized when visiting the home.
He asked his wife, who works at Brandywine Community Church in Greenfield, if she was interested in moving to the city. She was, and his role with his client quickly shifted from realtor to buyer.
Abner, who always wanted to have his own real estate office, noticed eXp Realty didn’t have one in Greenfield. After speaking with his ex-wife, Diana Abner, with whom he co-manages Abner Realty Group, they determined they could make a go of it.
“This is a permanent fixture for us,” Abner said. “We’re here for good. It was the right timing.”
Real estate is coming off of a hot market, Abner noted, with low inventory and high demand in the area. While interest rates are starting to cool that situation, numbers remain strong, he continued.
Some might think it unwise to open an office as the market starts to shift, but Abner disagrees.
“This is actually a great opportunity because the agents that want to put in the work and want to learn – I’ve got a great opportunity here to take some agents that maybe are only selling three to four houses a year and learn to sell 10 to 15 houses a year,” he said.
The former sporting goods store with its open-concept design and slat walls for hanging products has been receiving renovations as it transitions into a modern real estate office. The dressing room was torn out and replaced with a kitchenette. A conference room was added. The space also got new LED flat-panel lighting, new flooring and new paint. Abner anticipates the office to be fully functional by the end of the week.
As a cloud brokerage, eXp Realty doesn’t have work spaces in the traditional sense of offices and cubicles, but rather branches for larger teams that take on more of the feel of a coffee shop with comfortable furniture and tables, Abner said. He expects agents to come and go as needed and anticipates them using the space for meeting with clients after being out showing houses and needing to sit down for drawing up paperwork. The office has a reception desk and Abner plans to eventually have a full-time administrator for walk-in traffic. The team also has a few affiliates like title companies and lenders that want a presence in the building as well, Abner said.
He hopes to start a second phase in the future on the building’s second floor by renovating it into a marketing and design space with a recording studio for online videos.
His team includes seven employees with two more anticipated by the end of the year. Abner plans to start marketing out to other agents too and his goal is to have 25 by the end of 2023. He’s also thinking about a membership program for other eXp Realty agents that would allow them to use the space as well, harnessing a part of the company’s philosophy he’s always admired.
“It’s an abundance mindset,” Abner said. “Everybody wants to help everybody do more.”
The branch will lease the space from longtime building owner Steve McCleerey, whom Abner said has been positive to work with. Abner added he’s been talking with a historian about tracking down historical photos of the property to create a decorative tribute to McCleerey’s Sporting Goods and other businesses that called it home before eXp Realty.
