Published in the February 21, 2019 edition.

By GAIL LOWE

WAKEFIELD — On a cold morning in February, a visitor to Christopher J. Barrett Realtors at 73 Albion St. finds co-owner Christopher M. (Chris) Barrett seated at a desk once owned by his father.

CHRISTOPHER M. BARRETT, is shown behind the desk once owned by his father for whom the business is named. (Gail Lowe Photo)

It is a massive, elegant piece of furniture that looks like mahogany or another type of hardwood. The younger Chris Barrett looks at home in his office, even while renovations are underway on the first and second floors. He shows his visitor a listing published in the Daily Item in 1969 for a home on Outlook Road that was priced at $35,900.

“It was one of the first homes we sold,” he says.

2019 marks a milestone for this prominent Wakefield real estate company. It was 50 years ago that Christopher J. Barrett founded the company after being co-owner of the former Townsman Real Estate, also on Albion Street, for a few years. Discussions are now underway about how to celebrate the achievement sometime this year.

“He had the personality for the business,” says Chris. “He was a real salesman, and he understood and cared about people and their needs.”

His mother Marilyn puts in her two cents worth, saying, “My husband was a master at sales.” He may have bordered on genius, too, having come up with a spin-off of an advertising tagline used to sell Lanvin’s Arpege perfume in the mid-1900s. Chris Barrett, the elder, turned “Promise her anything but give her Arpege” into “Promise her anything but give her location.”

When Chris Barrett died in April 2013, the family business continued with Marilyn and not only his son Chris but two other sons Michael and Gerald. Fourth son David offers support to the business, but his main career is in software training.

Chris emphasizes that there is no hierarchy in their company, but each of them brings a special talent to the table. Chris, for example, handles advertising and marketing while Michael oversees the financial end of things and Gerald handles education and training. Chris also serves as co-president of the Wakefield-Lynnfield Chamber of Commerce.

“If there were a president of our company, it would be our mother. She’s sharp, full of personality. She’s just an extraordinary woman” says Chris, adding that theirs is a close-knit family. “We all live within a half mile of each other on the West Side.”

The father of three talks easily about what it’s like to have built a career around real estate, a job he loves. He began working for his father after being a real estate appraiser in Lynnfield.

“My father asked for my help one day, and that was it. I never left,” he says, adding that he is now celebrating 33 years in the business while his brother Mike is celebrating 32.

The Barretts have an affinity for Wakefield and are known for giving back to the community. Before his death, Chris Barrett, as he was widely known, had been a long-term Trustee and member of the Board of Investment at The Savings Bank and was a member of the West Side Social Club, Knights of Columbus and past vice president of the Chamber of Commerce in Wakefield. He was also an active member of the Bear Hill Golf Club in Stoneham for 43 years and had been vice president of Bear Hill Associates at the time of his death.

Chris’s wife Karen, a track and cross country coach at Wakefield Memorial High School, also gives to the community by coaching various sports teams.

There are 20 realtors on the office staff plus one person who handles administrative duties.

“We’re good at what we do — from negotiating to pricing strategies — and we work really hard for our customers,” he comments.

Asked if he has ever sold the same house twice, he smiles. “Many times and sometimes three times if someone is flipping a house.”

One of the rewards of selling real estate in Wakefield, he continues, is getting people into a nice community.

“People want to put down roots,” Chris says. “And there’s no better place than Wakefield. We have a great downtown, the Lake and good people.”

Does Chris see any room for improvement? “Yes, I’d like to see a different traffic flow downtown and maybe some cobblestones.”

About the current market, he says that inventory remains low and that it seems as if the spring market is already here.

“We’re in a fabulous (real estate) cycle for a lot of people,” he says, adding that he has been through three market cycles — one in the 1980s, another in the 1990s and again in 2008. “There will always be cycles. But eventually we move out of them.”

“A tradition of service” is printed on Chris’s business card. “That’s what we’re all about. We take both tradition and service seriously.”

With that in mind, wouldn’t his father be proud to know that the company he once owned was ranked number one by the MLS Property Information Network (PIN) in single and multi family home sales and total units in Wakefield in 2018. It also had three of the top six producers in Wakefield in 2018.