Saunders & Associates, a leading independent real estate firm in the Hamptons, announced today it has hired Corcoran Group senior vice president and Shelter Island broker Penelope Moore to open up Shelter Island for the firm.
Only weeks ago, the Corcoran Group welcomed Ms. Moore into its “Silver Circle” of top producers. Ms. Moore becomes a senior vice president at Saunders & Associates. It’s the same position she held at Corcoran.
Ms. Moore’s real estate career has spanned 30 years and she was among the top 5 percent of producers throughout Corcoran’s New York City, Hamptons and Shelter Island offices.
“I’m not a person that makes job changes quickly or easily,” Ms. Moore said. “I have a lot of affection for them,” she said about her former Corcoran colleagues. But Saunders “really impressed me with their track record” and half of their team are former Corcoran employees, she said. What attracted her to the Hamptons-based group was its approach to selling real estate that’s different from what other large firms do, she said.
At Corcoran, her listings appeared only on her own broker’s page, while Saunders places listings on all of its agents’ and brokers’ pages to get the maximum exposure, she said. She also likes that she has backup assistance to handle a lot of the paper work that consumes time she would rather be spending with clients.
Ms. Moore will be working out of a satellite office adjacent to the Candlelite Inn on South Ferry Road.
“Penelope is an important part of making inroads on Shelter Island,” said Andrew Saunders, founder and owner of the company. He noted that Shelter Island is a “unique market” that couldn’t simply be treated as an extension of the Hamptons.
Ms. Moore started her career in the entertainment industry in New York City in 1980 at the Screen Actors Guild where she interpreted employment contracts for producers and actors. She also worked in public relations at the American Film Institute in Washington, D.C.
After 1983, she negotiated contracts at two talent agencies until moving into the real estate field in the late 1980s.
“Real estate just seemed to be a natural progression,” Ms. Moore said about the career transition when she spoke to the Reporter in February about being named to Corcoran’s “Silver Circle.”
Ms. Moore initially joined Allan Schneider Real Estate, which later merged with the Corcoran Group. While working in the field in New York City, she handled commercial leasing in Midtown and later in lower Manhattan from Soho to the World Trade Center area.
Saunders & Associates is comprised of just 10 percent of the total number of brokers in the area, but the firm accounted for 34 percent of the more than $2 billion in residential real estate sales from Southampton to Montauk in 2012, according to story in Real Estate Rama. It was involved in 34 percent of residential real estate sales from Southampton to Montauk, the story said.
With Ms. Moore on board, Saunders is able to extend its influence into the Shelter Island market as it has done in the Hamptons, according to the company’s press release.
Ms. Moore’s former senior managing director at Corcoran, Joseph DeSane, could not be reached for further comment.
