Hedges Breaks Into Eudora Real Estate Game

[Erik Sine]

J. J. DeSimone

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Eudora residents will notice a new, bright sign in the downtown skyline.

Realty Executives: Hedges Realty recently opened an office at 112 E. 10th St.

Salesman and owner of the building Rob Lang said the Eudora office is a logical business expansion.

"It's a branch office that's new," Lang said. "We are branching off to supply the needs of people in Eudora. We already have offices in Lawrence, and we are just expanding to Eudora."

Branch broker Bryan Hedges said he had several realtors already working in Eudora, so it made sense for him to open a new office.

"We've got two agents that live in Eudora now and three or four realtors thinking about working out there, so we thought it was time to make a presence there," Hedges said.

Hedges said the first thing he made sure was in working order prior to the grand opening Jan. 6 was the new sign, which boasts his name. Hedges said he hoped the sign would become a welcome staple to the Eudora downtown.

"There was an existing sign there for an attorney; we just replaced his sign with one of ours with our logo," Hedges said. "It's a nice, illuminated sign so people can easily find it."

Lang said the most notable difference about Hedges Realty is the implementation of online transactions.

"We are going after the market of people that look on the net before they go to buy and sell a home," Lang said. "Doing the online presentations, it helps people make the decisions before it compels them to do anything."

Hedges said he is pleased with the business the new office has seen thus far, but readily welcomes more clients.

"We want to see more listings," Hedges said. "We feel like having a local office will help us get more listings there."

Lang said there will be an open house and ribbon cutting from 4 to 6 p.m. Friday at the Eudora location.

Also operating out of the location and owned by Lang is the new Douglas County Open Houses Web site, which features inexpensive online open house advertising.

Lang's son, Zach Lang, operates the Web site and said the purpose of the site is to allow for easy advertising.

"Basically, the only source for open house ads is the Lawrence Journal-World," Zach Lang said. "There weren't any easily accessible open house listings either locally or nationwide. Eighty percent of people starting to look for houses start online so we are working to help those people."

Hedges said the two businesses are separate and unrelated.

"We are not affiliated with the Web site, but we will use it to advertise," Hedges said.

The site can be reached at www.douglascountyopenhouses.com.