The Long & Foster Cos. reported that 2004’s sales for all of its companies reached a record high of more than $56.3 billion, with sales increasing 30 percent from the previous year.
All of The Long & Foster Cos. reported all-time company record sales last year, including: Long & Foster Real Estate Inc., with sales of $39.1 billion on 124,256 properties sold, up 32 percent over 2003; Prosperity Mortgage, the firm’s mortgage affiliate, $4 billion in volume, up 4 percent; Long & Foster Insurance, $3 billion in volume, up 14 percent; and Mid-States Title, $10.2 billion in volume, up 40 percent.
“It was another year of unprecedented growth for Long & Foster and for the real estate industry,” Wes Foster, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of The Long & Foster Cos., said. “The Washington, D.C./Baltimore region has demonstrated incredible growth over the past seven years. Job growth in the region has been the best predictor of the real estate market, and the quality of the jobs in our company’s core market area – professional, managerial, jobs related to federal contracting, procurement, homeland security, as well as jobs in the high-tech and bio-tech industries – has made the region a strong one indeed for residential real estate,” Foster said. “I expect this trend to continue in 2005,” Foster concluded.
All of Long & Foster’s 10 regions posted increases for 2004. They were: Virginia/West Virginia (40 offices) up 28 percent to $12.3 billion; the overall Baltimore, Md./Southern Pa. region (46 offices) up 35 percent to $7.4 billion; Washington, D.C. (11 offices) up 32 percent to $2.8 billion; Suburban Maryland (19 offices) up 32 percent to $6 billion; Western Maryland (10 offices) up 24 percent to $730 million; the Eastern Shore region (14 offices) up 24 percent to $1.4 billion; the Hampton Roads, Va., region (12 offices) up 40 percent to $1.4 billion; the Richmond region (20 offices) up 13 percent to $2.5 billion; the Southern Maryland region (16 offices) up 31 percent to $2 billion; and the Philadelphia/Delaware Valley region (16 offices) up 56 percent to $1.5 billion. Long & Fosters newest region, Southwestern Virginia, (9 offices) posted a sales volume of $335 million.
The top five selling offices in the company during 2004 were as follows, (in descending order): Bethesda/Gateway, Md., ($1.3 billion); McLean, Va., ($816 million); Fair Oaks, Va., ($812 million); Chevy Chase/Woodley Park, Washington, D.C., ($757 million); and Burke/Fairfax Station/Clifton/Lorton in Virginia ($740 million).
The Long & Foster Cos. has more than 200 sales offices and 14,000 sales associates throughout Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware, North Carolina, New Jersey and the District of Columbia.
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