At CR Properties, 'integrity matters'

Bob Hillery has been involved in the real estate industry for 17 years and began CR Properties in February 2012. After working in other brokerages, Hillery was inspired to start his own brokerage with his own rules and a friendly environment for realtors and clients.

"I wanted to create a supportive, cooperative, great place to work," he said.

As the owner of CR Properties and a broker here in Fallbrook, Hillery has a busy schedule. On an average day, he works with clients, supervises realtors, trains agents, helps with listings and preparations, and he also holds office hours where he is able to help the agents and answer questions.

His goal, through holding office hours, is to make sure that anyone with questions about real estate has a warm, receptive place to get their answers.

The best part about his job is that he is able to help others.

"This is a people business," he said. "I love being able to help my clients and the agents reach their goals. Whether the agents want four sales or 40 sales this year, I'll support them and help them reach their goals."

When COVID-19 caused a mandatory shutdown, even though CR Properties was determined to be an essential business, Hillery closed the office for two months and he and the agents worked remotely.

"We wanted to be responsible," he said. "Now, we are back in the office and we are gradually going back to working full time."

As for his clients, Hillery has noticed that since the shutdown, buyers are being more proactive and informing themselves. He said that they have been able to take the time to do the research beforehand, and they have a higher level of awareness.

"Our clients have been able to focus their efforts and become more informed," he said. "We're seeing them make decisions more quickly and they have more confidence in these decisions."

Since Hillery opened CR Properties, he has seen the business grow in many ways.

"We started with three agents, now we have 13," he said. "Our sales have grown dramatically since then." He hopes that in 2021 the business will continue to grow and he will continue keeping his eyes open for new opportunities.

Hillery said he is very proud of the working environment he has been able to create at CR Properties. After serving in the USMC for 30 years as an officer, he is experienced in leading a team and he said that he takes care of his agents and his clients like he would care for his troops.

"All of our agents are great people that are kind and knowledgeable," he said. We hire people that we would want to be around. No drama, no problems, just good people that are fun to work with."

The business uses a tagline that is very important to Hillery, "Because integrity matters." He believes that by doing the right thing by his clients, good things will come to him and his agents and the opportunities will be endless for CR Properties.