Two Springs real estate companies merging

Stuart Scott Ltd. and ERA Shields Real Estate, two of Colorado Springs’ more well-known residential real estate companies, announced Monday they’re merging.

Both companies are headed by real estate veterans, who say the merger provides their like-minded firms with additional opportunities.

Stuart Scott, 63 and who’s been in real estate since 1972, started his local, independent brokerage in 1977. He specializes in the sale and marketing of high-end homes in the Colorado Springs area.

ERA Shields President Bill Hurt, 65, has been in real estate since 1978. He’s headed ERA Shields since 1996; it’s one of the area’s largest residential brokerages and is a franchise of ERA Real Estate, one of the nation’s biggest real estate companies. Hurt’s also the 2009-10 chairman of the Pikes Peak Association of Realtors.

Hurt said he’s looked for years to grow his company, which has 85 agents. Scott, his seven agents and staff bring a well-respected name and organization to ERA Shields, Hurt said. Both companies focus on customer service, and buyers and sellers look to do business with people they trust, he said.

”Our goal is to make sure that once somebody knows us, that they don’t ever feel a need to go to Google or the Yellow Pages or whatever ever again for real estate information,” Hurt said. “And I think we’ve demonstrated that.”

The Stuart Scott Ltd. Group — as it will be called — will become part of ERA Shields, allowing Scott’s company to affiliate with a nationally known real estate name and the services it offers, Hurt said. Scott’s agents will work in the ERA Shields’ northwest and southwest offices.

Scott said he’s looked for the past two years to slow down; the merger allows him to spend less time on administrative duties and more time with clients, he said. ERA Shields’ national and international scope also will allow broader exposure to his properties, Scott said.

Scott said he and his agents have participated in many transactions over the years with ERA Shields agents, including in the high-end market, so a merger was a natural fit.

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