The relocation comes during the agency’s 65th anniversary year and symbolizes a future shift to fourth-generation owners

EASTHAMPTON—Taylor Real Estate, which is celebrating 65 years of operation this year, announced recently it will move to a new location on Liberty Street in Easthampton in June.

Chuck Conner, a third-generation owner of the business founded by his grandfather in 1955, said the new office space offers convenient off-street parking for clients and staff as well as on-site storage for the firm’s plentiful “For Sale” signage, and a newer, brighter work space for staff.

“We have been helping clients move for 65 years, and now it’s our turn to pack up and go,” Conner said.

He noted that the move is symbolic of moving the firm into the future, when ownership and operations will be assumed by Conner’s daughters, Megan Conner and Danica Achin, both licensed Realtors with the firm. In addition to working with buyers and sellers, Megan Conner handles administration and advertising, and Achin is the rental division manager.

“We’re moving toward the future—Danica and myself being the fourth generation coming in,” Megan Conner said. “We’re moving forward.”

For most of the past 65 years, the real estate firm run by the Conners has been located on Main Street—otherwise known as Shop Row.

Chuck Conner’s grandfather Charles Taylor founded the Charles W. Taylor Agency at 85 Main St. in 1955. In 1965, when Taylor passed the business to his daughter, Bernice, and her husband, Bob Conner—Chuck Conner’s parents—the business was run out of the Conners’ Easthampton home. 

Around 1980, the Conners reopened the office at 77 Main St., later moving to 87 Main St.—until now. Chuck Conner expects the move to 4A Liberty St. will be complete by mid-June. Liberty Street is off of Union Street, making the new space equally central to downtown and also accessible to walkers and bicyclists arriving via the Manhan Rail Trail.

“We’ll still be steps to downtown,” Megan Conner said. “We are really excited. We’ve all been saying it will be a really nice, fresh start, especially as people are getting back to work after the pandemic closures and getting back to regular routines again. It will be really nice.”

Megan Conner added that the inconvenience of change is dwarfed by the improvements the new space will offer clients and staff. 

Chuck Conner said the new office for Taylor Real Estate will provide the same amount of square footage as the Main Street space at about 1,500 square feet. The Liberty Street space will allow for a more open floor plan for Taylor’s roughly 12 full- and part-time agents.

“It has more natural light and good acoustics, which creates a more open-concept and pleasing environment,” Conner added.

While Taylor Real Estate has been a Main Street staple from the start, there have been many changes in its rich, 65-year history, among them a name change. The business was originally the Charles W. Taylor Agency; the name was changed in 2013 to Taylor Real Estate, over three decades after Chuck Conner started working full-time with his parents. 

Conner said additional change has come in the form of new technology that allows a digital approach to marketing and communication and the execution of documentation. Houses can be shown to potential buyers via virtual visits made possible by professional photography, and closing papers can be signed electronically.

“We can do almost every aspect of our work remotely with cell phones,” he added.

These advances have come in handy over the past few months, as COVID-19 spread across the region. “People have been very hesitant to be around other people, interacting,” Megan Conner said. 

Achin said, “Technology has saved us during this time.”

For more information on Taylor Real Estate, visit www.taylorrealtors.net.

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Pete Crisafulli has longtime mental health and education background

EASTHAMPTON—Taylor Real Estate announced it has hired Pete Crisafulli to serve as a licensed agent for the longtime, family-owned firm.

The role represents the start of a second career for Crisafulli, who has a counseling background and has spent three decades in social services and education.

Early on in his first career, Crisafulli was a therapist and clinical director for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children for eight years, and he later served as an administrator in the Frontier Regional School District for 18 years.

“I wanted a change,” Crisafulli said, noting he has owned several homes in his life and has had a longtime interest in real estate and real estate investing. “I’m definitely a people person, and I enjoy helping other people achieve their goals and dreams. I thought working in real estate would be a great way to do that.”

Crisafulli came to Western Massachusetts in 1988 to attend Springfield College, where he earned a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Queens College.

Crisafulli volunteered as a coach for many years and served on boards for the Easthampton Youth Soccer Association and Easthampton Little League.

He currently lives in Southampton but will soon return to Easthampton, where he lived for 25 years previously.

For more information on Taylor Real Estate, visit www.taylorrealtors.net.

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Megan Conner and Danica Achin hope to carry on family-owned business’ legacy

EASTHAMPTON—When the day was over for Megan Conner in eighth grade, she’d head to Taylor Real Estate for a different kind of learning in the family business. She built up the courage to answer the phone that seemed to always be ringing, and her grandmother, Bernice Conner, taught her to transfer calls to individual Realtors.

Danica Achin remembers taking messages from clients who were calling their home, looking for her father, Chuck Conner. Her first actual job with the company came when she was 17 and answered the phone in the office and helped with administrative tasks.

Recently, Conner and Achin have taken on more responsibility with the business their great-grandfather founded in 1955, marking the beginning of an informal succession plan.

Both women are Realtors with the firm. Conner is also an administrative and advertising assistant with duties that include delving into financial management and handling requests for sponsorships. Achin is the rental division manager.

They hope to one day assume ownership of the company and teach the trade to their own children.

“It’s really important the business stay in the family,” Conner said. “My ancestors put a lot of time and work into maintaining the business and building up our reputation. We now have an opportunity to carry on their legacy.”

Conner and Achin’s great-grandfather Charles Taylor founded the Easthampton business as the Charles W. Taylor Agency in 1955. Taylor then passed the business to his daughter, Bernice, and her husband, Bob Conner—Chuck Conner’s parents, and Megan Conner and Achin’s grandparents.

In 2013, the name changed to Taylor Real Estate.

Chuck Conner started working full-time at Taylor Real Estate with his parents after graduating from college in 1981. Soon after, he took on management responsibilities for the firm.

Megan Conner earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a specialty in developmental disabilities and human services in 2017 from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She obtained a real estate license in June 2017.

Over the years, Conner has prepared listings, photographed homes and apartments for sale or rent, and prepared advertising for listings and open houses.

After high school, Achin worked for her mother’s cleaning business while simultaneously working in the office at Taylor Real Estate. In 2014, she became the business’ rental agent.

Achin earned her real estate license in 2014 and took over the Rental Department.

“Chuck has instilled a great work ethic in both of us,” Achin said. “We work as a team and always help each other out.

“The goal is for us to take care of the business the way Chuck does now and stay as involved as possible in the community,” Conner added. “We are both young and driven, which helps us to work as hard as we can to help people every day. We love our community and the people in it.”

For more information on Taylor Real Estate, visit www.taylorrealtors.net.

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Three agents earn real estate licenses

EASTHAMPTON—Taylor Real Estate announced it has hired a new employee who recently earned her real estate license, and two other agents have also been licensed in the past year.

Hannah Winters came on board in April as a rental specialist, and she will lead the family-owned firm’s Rental Department. Winters and realtors Megan Conner and Sue Camp also earned the credentials that will allow them to represent a buyer or seller in a real estate transaction.

Originally from Portland, Oregon, Winters moved to Western Massachusetts in 2015. She is working on an associate’s degree in business administration at Holyoke Community College and, in the fall, she will attend the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she hopes to earn a bachelor’s degree in accounting. She has volunteered with AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps in the past and also has experience in hospitality management.

Conner, the daughter of Taylor Real Estate owner Chuck T. Conner, is an Easthampton native who grew up working in the business. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a specialty in developmental disabilities and human services from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Conner has extensive experience in customer service, having worked at Taylor Real Estate as the administrative and advertising assistant for the past nine years. She previously served as a developmental specialist relief staff at Riverside Industries.

Camp is a longtime resident of Southampton with more than 20 years of customer service experience. She holds an associate’s degree in biomedical engineering technology from Springfield Technical Community College and is a volunteer for Dakin Humane Society and the Therapeutic Equestrian Center in Holyoke.

For more information on Taylor Real Estate, visit www.taylorrealtors.net.

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