Wilkins & Associates gains New York license

MILFORD - Wilkins & Associates Real Estate now has a real estate brokerage license from The New York Department of State, continuing the company’s expansion in 2006. “The New York license completes the tri-state licenses,” says President Thomas R. Wilkins. The Stroudsburg-based firm is already licensed in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Obtaining a New York license took two years, with the delay was due in part to New York and Pennsylvania signing a reciprocity agreement for agents since Wilkins began the licensing process. Because Wilkins & Associates filed as a foreign company doing business in New York, “Our Pennsylvania corporation is now able to conduct business, buy broker companies and actually open an office in New York under the name Wilkins & Associates Real Estate,” Wilkins notes. Last summer Wilkins & Associates opened an office in historic Milford, and Wilkins says it’s a natural progression from there into Port Jervis and Monticello, N.Y. Several agents from the Milford office will be licensed in both states and will be able to sell homes in New York without the company actually opening a New York. office immediately. The New York license will also strengthen the already strong New York ties Wilkins has through its full-time relocation department that opened last year. Wilkins actually offers listing incentives to homeowners in the tri-state area when they allow Wilkins to refer their home to a cooperating broker in New York and New Jersey and buy their Pocono home through a Wilkins’ agent. “It’s a win-win,” says Wilkins. “This just further expands the profitability of our relocation department.” In the first three months of 2006, the department has already done as much business as it did all of last year. And Wilkins declares, “We were pleased with last year’s numbers.”