Client-focused real estate firm adds new customer services and online tools to enhance its reputation as the area's premier sales volume leader.

SOUTHERN PINES, NC By shattering its own records set just last year, Prudential Gouger O'Neal & Saunders (PGOS) Real Estate has once more retained its unique status as the highest volume sales leader in the area.

PGOS is the oldest real estate firm in Pinehurst/Southern Pines area and has occupied the leadership position in the local market for more than 35 years. By focusing on customer service, the brokerage has maintained a dominant market share and continuously and consecutively earned its #1 rank. With 36 sales associates, PGOS closed over $142,000,000 of sales in 2006, setting a record for sales over the last several years and outperforming the nearest competitor by over $22,000,000.

When asked to explain the company's secret to success, PGOS President Kay Beran attributes their unprecedented track record to customer loyalty and a depth of professional experience.

"Our firm has a client base that has been with us for generations," she says. "We are selling to the children of the families we began with years ago, and some of our agents are children of the agents who started with us many years ago."

While making history and enjoying seniority in the country club and historical properties market, PGOS has also kept up with the times by adding innovative customer service features and high-tech REALTOR tools and resources.

Three of the most recent programs are the Online Seller Advantage, The Yahoo Platform Advantage and the exclusive Prudential Buyer Advantage a program that provides more than $1,000 in discounts to buyers for such things as mortgage closing costs, home warranties, and home improvement supply rebates.

Online Seller Advantage - available only to Prudential REALTORS is a proprietary service that allows listing sales professionals to collaborate online with sellers, enabling sellers to automatically receive real-time updates on the status of their properties for sale and trends in their local marketplace. The features go beyond virtual tours and other visual online listing enhancements to provide reliable, quick, accurate information in a user-friendly format for customers selling homes.

Through Online Advantage clients can stay informed regarding how often their Online property listing was viewed, how many viewers saved the property in their "favorite property" portfolio, and what new listings or price changes have occurred in the neighborhood. Alerts are also provided regarding changes in status such as sold, pending, price reduced, or removed from the market for competitive properties in the seller's local area.

In addition, a special Yahoo! display can be attached to the featured property's yard sign with a unique "ID number." The ID number is designed to be inserted into the Yahoo search function and provides automatic display of the property on the web. With one click access the home of your choice!

PGOS plans to expand its use of new technologies and innovative professional partnerships, while focusing on the needs of individual clients in the local region as it has done for decades.

And while the "bursting bubble" in housing during 2006 created one of the most challenging years in recent memory for builders and Realtors across the USA, Beran and her colleagues at PGOS continued to shatter sales records. Beran predicts that 2007 will be even better as a healthy economy, controlled inflation, attractive interest rates, and tremendous demand from Baby Boomer buyers continues to fuel the Pinehurst/Southern Pines real estate market.

Prudential Gouger O'Neal & Saunders Real Estate is an independently owned and operated member of Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, Inc., a Prudential Financial company. PGOS opened its doors in 1971 and has been affiliated with Prudential since 1995.