Real estate office exodus

By Josh Spilker

An odd sign was on display late last month at Weichert Realtors’ downtown office – Intracoastal agent Todd Toconis offered the building for lease or sale.

The odd thing is that Taconis sold Town and Country Real Estate, which had its office in the same space, to Weichert in January.

The display appears to be a sign of a deal gone bad.

In addition to Toconis joining Intracoastal in April, most of the other approximately two dozen other former Town and Country agents have also left Weichert, according to people who used to work there.

“They bought my business, but I wasn’t required necessarily to stay there,” Toconis said of Weichert Coastal Choice.

Toconis said that there was not a non-compete agreement between him and the owners of Weichert Coastal Choice.

Calls and emails seeking comment from Weichert Coastal Choice President and CEO Michael Patterson and a company marketing official were not returned.

“One of the reasons I sold, I spent a tremendous amount of time running a company, and I didn’t feel I had enough time to share between the two,” Toconis said, indicating his responsibilities leading a real estate agency and rental firm. Toconis started the rental management agency in downtown Wilmington in 1995 and opened Town and Country Real Estate in 1999, according to his bio on the Intracoastal website.

Weichert Coastal Choice has four offices in the Wilmington area, including an Oleander Drive location, a Southport office, an Ocean Isle office, and a corporate location.

Gene Bush, the former broker-in-charge of the downtown Weichert Coastal Choice office and Town and Country, has moved to the Envirian Real Estate office on Castle Street.

“Agents do that,” Bush said about his reasons for changing agencies. Bush said that no other agents from Weichert Coastal Choice had moved to Envirian yet.

With the hiring of Todd Toconis, Intracoastal is poised to move into the downtown Wilmington real estate market.

“We’ve always done a lot of business in downtown Wilmington, we were really excited to bring someone like Todd Toconis and his group, because they’ve been real successful in downtown sales,” said Jim Wallace, President of Intracoastal Realty. Wallace confirmed the hiring of four to five agents from the former Weichert Coastal Choice office.

At press time, Toconis had about thirty residential listings with Intracoastal, most in the downtown area and several at Bannerman Station.

Wallace also indicated that there will be a downtown Intracoastal presence.

“That will happen, we don’t have a timetable,” Wallace said.

“They bought my business, but I wasn’t required necessarily to stay there,” Toconis said of Weichert Coastal Choice.

Toconis said that there was not a non-compete agreement between him and the owners of Weichert Coastal Choice. Calls and emails seeking comment from Weichert Coastal Choice President and CEO Michael Patterson and a company marketing official were not returned.

“One of the reasons I sold, I spent a tremendous amount of time running a company, and I didn’t feel I had enough time to share between the two,” Toconis said, indicating his responsibilities leading a real estate agency and rental firm. Toconis started the rental management agency in downtown Wilmington in 1995 and opened Town and Country Real Estate in 1999, according to his bio on the Intracoastal website.

Weichert Coastal Choice has four offices in the Wilmington area, including an Oleander Drive location, a Southport office, an Ocean Isle office, and a corporate location.

Gene Bush, the former broker-in-charge of the downtown Weichert Coastal Choice office and Town and Country, has moved to the Envirian Real Estate office on Castle Street.

“Agents do that,” Bush said about his reasons for changing agencies. Bush said that no other agents from Weichert Coastal Choice had moved to Envirian yet.

With the hiring of Todd Toconis, Intracoastal is poised to move into the downtown Wilmington real estate market. “We’ve always done a lot of business in downtown Wilmington, we were really excited to bring someone like Todd Toconis and his group, because they’ve been real successful in downtown sales,” said Jim Wallace, President of Intracoastal Realty. Wallace confirmed the hiring of four to five agents from the former Weichert Coastal Choice office.

At press time, Toconis had about thirty residential listings with Intracoastal, most in the downtown area and several at Bannerman Station.

Wallace also indicated that there will be a downtown Intracoastal presence. “That will happen, we don’t have a timetable,” Wallace said.