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Realtor gets new owners, moniker By DAVID PRESZLER Realestaters Better Homes and Gardens, Medford's largest residential real estate office, is getting new owners and a new name. Founder Bob Bills has agreed to sell the 30-year-old business to Lori and Steve Hawkins. The deal is set to close early next month; terms were not disclosed. "It was a logical time for me to step out and move on," said Bills, 62. He will begin a semi-retirement but continue to be an associate broker with the firm. The company is also severing ties with the Better Homes and Gardens network to join a regional franchise group called John L. Scott Real Estate. The business becomes John L. Scott Southern Oregon Real Estate on Feb. 11. The Hawkinses have managed the company since August 1998 while Bills cared for his late wife, Patti. Patti Bills, former director of Medford's Visitor and Convention Bureau, died Sept. 22, 1999, after battling lung cancer and two strokes. Bills said he was grateful that the Hawkinses were there to manage the business during his wife's illness. Returning after so long proved difficult and he decided to let them take over for good. "Once you are out of the business for over a year," he said, "it's hard to get back in with the same intensity." Lori Hawkins, 51, will serve as the company's president, while Steve Hawkins, 56, will serve as chief financial officer. Lori Hawkins started her real estate career with Realestaters in 1979. The Hawkinses later started and ran Placesetters, a gourmet cooking shop, before moving to Southern California to work in real estate. They returned to the Rogue Valley in 1996 when Lori became sales manager at Realestaters and Steve joined the firm as a sales associate. The Hawkins plan to expand the firm's reach beyond Jackson County and are exploring several possible mergers. "Our intentions are to expand," said Steve Hawkins. "We want to have full real estate services throughout Southern Oregon." The company's 55 to 60 associates, who work as independent contractors, are expected to remain with the firm. Bills and four other brokers -- Don Herried, Don Whalin, Ann Rice and Reed Ryan -- formed Realestaters 30 years ago this month. It was at its founding -- and remains -- Medford's largest residential firm, bringing together five leading brokers. "It set a new standard for real estate firms," Bills said of Realestaters' legacy. "It gave everybody a target, something to be as good as. It was an impetus for upgrading the entire industry." Bills became the sole owner 15 years ago. He served as president of the Oregon Association of Realtors in 1991 and was named Oregon Realtor of the Year in 1994. Bills estimates the firm has handled 17,000 to 18,000 transactions in its history. The first, he recalls, was the 1970 sale of a modest East Medford house south of Barnett Road. The price? $19,500. The Realestaters' name will disappear with the move to John L. Scott. The Hawkinses said the move is a response to changes within Better Homes and Gardens. GMAC -- General Motors Acceptance Corp. -- bought the real estate division and wanted offices to start using the GMAC name. The brokers opposed that because of the association people have with GMAC and auto financing. So the Hawkinses decided to seek a new affiliation and settled on John L. Scott, a family-owned company based in Bellevue, Wash., with 93 offices in three states and 2,500 associates. Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA