If you've been around for more than 35 years, you're doing most everything right, no matter what business you're in.

Century 21 Davis Realty was started by Bob and Nina Davis in 1974 on Neal Street in downtown Grass Valley. It is the second-oldest Century 21 franchisee in Northern California, established when Century 21 was only three years old.

In the early 1980s, the local Century 21 franchise was purchased from the Davises by several of the top-producing brokers at the time, including Jody Wood and Michael Wilkie.

On Easter 1993, the firm moved into a newly constructed office at 901 La Barr Meadows Road that Wood and Wilkie built.

Their survival through good times and bad “has to do with our national recognition,” Wilkie said.

“Secondly, we have good training, the best in the business,” Wilkie said. “Third, we're in a real good, single-office location.”

Since the move, the employees have seen many changes in the market place, the industry and the economy.

With recessions in the 1980s and the 1990s, “We saw things beginning to change, so we made financial decisions to tighten our belt on costs and overhead,” Wilkie said. That same strategy was implemented in the last few years with the recent severe downturn in the housing market.

“A number of agencies and Realtors around town have vanished” because they had too many offices and inflated costs, Wilkie said.

Technology has become particularly important for the job of the real estate agent, Wilkie said.

When many of the senior agents started their careers with this company, computers and cellular telephones were not around.

“We looked up listings by hand. They were printed in a monthly multiple listings publication produced by the local board of Realtors,” said Irene Starr.

Starr is the senior agent in the office, having started her second career with Century 21 in 1977, after working for Hewlett Packard in San Jose.

The former Silicon Valley manager had her home sold through a friend who worked for Century 21. When she got to Nevada County, she applied with the national real estate firm's local office.

“Bob Davis made me an offer I couldn't refuse,” Starr said. She continues to prosper in a tough time for real estate because “I have a large sphere of influence,” built up over the years.

That term is usually used in city planning matters, but for Starr, it's a bit more personal. It means she has sold homes to families and then to the children and grandchildren of the original purchasers.

The local office has stayed alive because of good management, Starr said.

“They can work the ups and downs. You've got to roll with the flow in real estate.”

Newest partner Jim Myers can trace his Century 21 roots back to the 1970s as well.

“I was just beginning my first year of high school at Nevada Union,” said Jim Myers. “I remember walking past that building on Neal Street where a sandwich shop now (is located), and seeing all those people in there walking about in their distinctive gold coats."

“We owe much of our success to our agents and their training,” said Gene Lehman, sales manager and partner. “We are very lucky to have the agents that set the standard in the county for integrity, honesty, and hard work.”

To contact Senior Staff Writer Dave Moller, e-mail dmoller@theunion.com or call 477-4237.