The growing New York-based brokerage Serhant added more agents to its roster recently, this time in the vacation destination that is North Carolina’s Outer Banks.
The five-person team known as the OBX Island Guys, led by Shane Collins and Adam Burkhimer, joined Serhant, citing the company’s technology and size as key reasons behind the move. Kirsten Shackelford, who is also new to Serhant and shares an office with Collins and his team, credited the brokerage’s collaborative culture as key to her decision to shift from another firm.
“On the Outer Banks, it’s not enough to list property," broker-owner Collins told Homes.com. "You’ve got to make it unforgettable, because we have a lot of competition. That global reach will let us list homes in a way other agents cannot.”
Serhant, founded by TV personality Ryan Serhant, started expanding outside New York in 2023. This year, the company opened offices in Washington, D.C., and Phoenix.
Collins, Shackelford and their colleagues serve clients along a narrow 95-mile-long stretch of land on North Carolina’s eastern end, from Corolla on the north to Hatteras on the South. The Atlantic Ocean is on one side and the Albemarle and Pamlico sounds are on the other. About 80% of Collins’ clientele are second-home buyers and owners, and most of them are primarily interested in homes as investments. The remaining 20% want homes year-round, many of them on Roanoke Island about halfway between the south and north ends.
Lately, more of the second-home buyers Collins said he is seeing want to stay in their houses a few times each year, rather than rent out their properties all the time. People in their 60s or 70s will come during the offseason between March and November, while younger, working people tend to visit for long weekends. Those who are pure investors are not finding the returns worth their while at the moment, Collins said.
“What you have to ask buyers is, 'How much [are you doing this] for love and how much for money?'” he said.
Collins described himself as a people person who interacts more with clients, while his teammate of 11 years Burkhimer handles the back-end, data-oriented aspects of the business. Their other colleagues on the team are Cara Muglia, Anthony Leone and Karen “KC” Collins.
Shackelford moved from Coldwell Banker after experiencing Serhant’s agent-focused culture. She said she was impressed that colleagues were eager to share resources with her, such as phone and email scripts for cold-contacting potential clients.
It was thanks to a veteran Serhant agent who shared his phone script that Shackelford landed one of her current listings, a set of three large vacation rental properties priced at $17 million known as the Three Authors. The 10-acre property has 46 bedrooms.
“They give you not only the tools and support, but they also put you in a room with agents who tell you how they did it,” she told Homes.com. “I just love that culture.”