The recent trend toward mergers and acquisitions involving real estate companies on Cape Cod has spilled over into the New Year, with two of the Middle Cape’s top firms announcing they are joining forces. But unlike most of the mergers announced in the past 12 months that involve a larger regional company eating up a smaller one, the latest union marries two independent agencies that expect to remain just that.

Principals of Dick Martin & Assoc. of South Yarmouth and Surette Realty of West Dennis confirmed last week that their two offices have merged to become one company effective Jan. 8.

While both offices were performing well independent of each other, company officials felt joining forces was a necessity in order to remain competitive in today’s marketplace on the Cape, which in recent years has seen the rapid expansion of companies like Kinlin Grover GMAC Real Estate and others.

For better or for worse, the public perception is that bigger is better, said Richard F. Martin, broker/owner of Dick Martin & Assoc., who just finished serving his term as 2000 president of the Cape Cod & Islands Association of Realtors. With the merger, we will be bigger in respect to size, but we will still be able to offer our clients and customers the personalized service they have come to expect.

The name of the new company will be Martin Surette Realty.

We were both doing fine by ourselves in our niche environments, Martin said, and we would have continued to do fine, as we are both very involved in the community. But it’s true we’re seeing that we lose listings to some of the bigger outfits that are out there based on them showing the client their higher figures.

Of course, if you have 150 brokers, your numbers are going to look better than an office with 10 or 20 brokers, Martin continued. Does that mean your house will get sold more efficiently? Not necessarily, but the numbers make a difference.

According to Amy Surette Greene, broker/owner of Surette Realty, the merger involved no money changing hands, only the formation of a joint company.

We’ve been talking about doing this for a while now, said Greene, a regional vice president for the Massachusetts Association of Realtors. About three or four years ago, we started running ads together in the newspaper, and we eventually started wondering, ‘would it really work if we merged?’ For the last year and a half, we’ve been working out the kinks.

‘Horror Stories’
Both Greene and Martin said they had been approached several times by larger companies interested in acquiring their respective companies, but each had their own reasons for turning the offers down.

A lot of other companies tried to buy us out, Greene said. But they wanted to take away my name, she said of her company that was founded by her parents, Robert Surette and the late Anita Surette, in 1972. Greene took over the company about 15 years ago.

My dad is still alive, and my mom and dad started the company, and I just didn’t want that to happen, Greene continued. Dick and I agreed we needed to do this.

He’s always been my number-one competition, Greene said of Martin. When you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. Greene said multiple-listing service statistics from last year show her as the top broker in Dennis, while Martin was the top broker in neighboring Yarmouth.

Martin’s reasons for not joining a larger real estate powerhouse also included the desire to keep his own name. Additionally, he said maintaining hands-on, local control of the business was equally important.

We both believe in running our companies hands-on, Martin said. We’re two of the top salespeople; we don’t just manage a bunch of newer agents like you see at some of the bigger companies.

I’ve also heard horror stories about the inefficiencies of some of the offices, he continued. If you want to pay someone for something you have to wait two weeks for the office in the Midwest to get the check drawn.

Martin added that he isn’t old enough to consider retirement, which would have been an option if a larger company acquired his office. Plus, with the amounts they were offering, it didn’t make sense, he said.

My name was important to me, and it comes to the point where money doesn’t matter, Greene said. My father was very pleased with the decision. He was aware of the buyout offers, and he always said if they money’s good, take it and run. But I’m only 41. I’m too young to retire.

One noticeable change, Greene said, is the combined company will have better advertising opportunities as a result of the pooling of funds. Additionally, the combined company will have a new Web site. We hope to be the dominant agency, maybe not in size, but in production, she said.

Dick Martin & Assoc. has about 10 associates, with Surette Realty bringing about 15 into the new company. Martin said while the new company will have a strong market share with its size, it still faces tough competition from Today Real Estate and Kinlin Grover GMAC offices nearby.

The Surette-Martin merger is the second time in recent memory that independent offices on the Cape have merged to form one larger, yet still independently run, office. About nine months ago, Ross Joly and Crystal Weinert from Joly Realty in Yarmouthport merged with McAbee Real Estate in Yarmouthport to form Joly McAbee Weinert Realty.

Martin said that he felt other independent companies might follow in the footsteps of the Surette-Martin and Joly-McAbee mergers in order to remain competitive in the marketplace. Greene, however, doesn’t see an emerging trend.

We wanted to be family-based real estate offices. We wanted to keep those values, Greene said. I don’t see too much of that happening. I don’t see many companies doing what we’re doing.

For now, Greene said, Martin Surette Realty does not have any major changes planned. We just want to make sure this works; we’re just getting our feet wet, she said. Martin, however, hinted that plans for the company might be more ambitious.

Right now it’s just the name change, but we may be looking at expansion possibilities in the near future, he said.