Todd Realty to become ERA Crossroads

Todd Realty will soon become ERA Crossroads when the local real estate company merged with Sherer and Associates, Fort Wayne. The name change will take place on Jan. 1. Along with the name change, Kay Young was named managing broker of the new firm. Young, left, is shown with Mandy McVey, operations manager for the company. Photo by Deb Patterson.
By Deb Patterson
InkFreeNews
SYRACUSE — The new year will bring a new name for Todd Realty, Syracuse, a local real estate office in business for 57 years. As of Jan. 1 the local real estate firm will be known as ERA Crossroads.
A merger took place in August when Mary Sherer and Mandy McVey of Sherer and Associates, Fort Wayne, merged with Todd Realty’s ERA franchise.
The new ERA Crossroads in Syracuse, will remain at 813 S. Huntington St.
“We were presented with the opportunity,” McVey stated. She explained Joe Todd was in the retirement process, but the franchise agreement was still there. “It was an opportunity to allow Joe to retire and keep his agreement with ERA,” said McVey. “We acquired that agreement, Joe was able to retire and the office was able to still stand.”
Todd Realty had been with ERA since 2019 and was legally known as Todd Realty ERA Powered.
Kay Young is the managing broker at Syracuse. Sherer will remain the managing broker at its Fort Wayne location. McVey is the company’s operations manager.
According to McVey, the delay in changing the name, was to make sure Todd’s reputation and respect was kept intact. “My mom has always ran her office as a family before business, and we wanted to make sure that same thing was happening here … We’re not the company that came in and took over and pushed everything to the side. That’s not what we wanted. We wanted to keep the family intact. … We kept the name so that everyone could work with their clients, they could let them know what was going on. It wasn’t just a company coming in and bulldozing everything. That was not the point. It’s still not the point.”
Young, who McVey stated is another version of her mother, stated “all agents are happy with the change and we hope to grow the number of agents we have.”
McVey added the company wants to grow but maintain the family atmosphere, keep the family vibe. “It’s family owned and operated and that speaks true to everything we do. The agents, they are selling and helping their clients. They are independent contractors. But if the agents don’t feel at home, if they don’t feel they’ve got a family to lean on, then we’ve done our job wrong. They need the support just as much as supporting their clients.”
They found the same true at Todd Realty. After hearing how the company was operated, McVey knew it was a perfect match. “That’s exactly how we operate in Fort Wayne. Just two different cities … fun to learn and see the things (done here) the way properties move and don’t move. It’s vastly different between the two markets.”
Staff at the two offices are being introduced to each other, allowing each to bounce things off the other, how things work in Syracuse and how things work in Fort Wayne, growing the knowledge of all agents.
The merger will also broaden the base of customers and clients for each.
“ERA gives us so many tools that it’s the hope by getting it in the hands of the agents, it will make the buying and selling process easier. … We’ve got a great program we’re getting up and running, ERA Moves,” said McVey.
ERA Moves gives coupons to buyers as they are moving, one coupon, for pizza, is sent out a few days before a move date. “It’s things like that that are so simple, that I think is so much for a buyer … give them the fuel, support that they got … we can make it a little bit easier … that could mean the world to somebody.”
Joe and Barbara Todd started the business in 1966 and for several years operated it out of their home on the east side of Lake Wawasee, including office space in the area of the state fish hatchery and in the State Bank of Syracuse building.
With the growth of the company and the area, a move was made into the current office, giving the growing company more room.
The company has been focused on making the buying and selling process easy for the clients as well as having a company that was a “family” that counted on each other to achieve a great business model.
Sherer and McVey are no strangers to the real estate world. Sherer has been in the real estate business for over 30 years. Her daughter grew up going to open houses and tagging along to showings.
Sherer worked for “anybody and everybody in Fort Wayne,” said McVey. Sherer then went out on her own and started Sherer and Associates. Her logo had a purple coffee cup, because she loved coffee and she loved the color purple. “She went independent because she wanted to sell by herself, do her own thing and then she realized quite a few agents waned to follow her. So she created a company with the agents,” said McVey.
When the market crashed and to help her younger agents who did not have the same strong referral base she had, she joined a real estate franchise and stayed with them until her contract expired. Wanting to continue to see what would be best for her agents, get them more visibility to the public, she partnered with ERA.
McVey received an undergraduate degree in education and traveled abroad teaching. She worked for a nonprofit and found she was interested in the business side. Returning to the United States, she received her MBA in educational sales. When COVID hit and losing her position, she felt what she was doing wasn’t what she was meant to do. Because her mom was making some changes in her own office and running the business, she was asked to become her mom’s assistant.
“She needed someone more to help with running the company so she could keep doing what she loves. She loves to run the business, loves being managing broker, but she likes to work with the agents, help educate them and she loves working with her clients. I kind of love the business side more, so I stepped into that role.”