RE/MAX turns the page under new owners

RE/MAX Community Brokers has been a Gunnison Valley real estate fixture ever since Gunnison native Erich Ferchau opened both the Gunnison and Crested Butte franchise offices in 2000. Now, the ownership of the Gunnison office has passed hands to a new team of agents: Ahren “AJ” Cattles, Meaghan Nicholl and Brieonna Aljets. Although they may be new owners at the RE/MAX Community Brokers office, all three realtors are long-time residents of the Gunnison Valley and well-established in the industry.

“[My wife] Beth and I are enjoying more time with our children, their family and our three adorable grandchildren,” Ferchau said. “In doing so, we decided it was best to pass the baton onto the next generation of leaders in our community.”

Ferchau has spent two and a half decades cultivating close relationships with the people and families in the Gunnison valley. Although he has transitioned out of the ownership role at the RE/MAX Community Broker office, he remains an essential part of the team as an active agent and is still available there to help buyers and sellers.

“When Beth and I started the business 25 years ago, our mission statement for RE/MAX was to ‘provide dedicated, reliable, top-quality service, always!’,” Ferchau said. “Real estate is a relationship business and it was important to us that we turn the business over to someone who shared our philosophy about business and also treated people with the respect and consideration that we believe in.”

In the beginning of 2024, Ferchau and his wife sold half of the business to Cattles, a seasoned builder and contractor who expanded his professional reach to include real estate. His extensive construction and development expertise offers clients a rare and unique combination of industry insight, practical experience and infrastructural knowledge.

“We have worked with AJ for almost 20 years. [He] and his wife Jamie are wonderful people and proven business owners,” Ferchau said.

A year later, Ferchau decided to sell the rest of the business to agents Nicholl and Aljets. Also a Gunnison native, Nicholl’s story is similar to Ferchau’s in that they both left the valley to pursue school and other dreams, but returned to raise their families because they value the community.

“I’ve known Erich since 1999,” Nicholl said. “His son Evan and I were best friends throughout high school.”

The expertise of the new ownership team is rounded out by Aljet’s capabilities. She holds a degree in education and has a passion for training and consulting, allowing her to educate her clients as well as up-and-coming realtors in the industry. Her goal is for her clients and students to be able to take the information they learn from her and have the ability to easily apply it to real-life real estate situations.

The unique and diverse backgrounds and strengths of the three new owners of RE/MAX allows for an even wider range of expertise from a team that’s deeply invested in the success of their clients. From educational abilities to deep knowledge of building codes, structural soundness, local markets and the latest real estate happenings, the new RE/MAX team has their clients covered from all angles.

“People don’t hire a realtor, they hire someone to walk them through one of life’s biggest moments — that is usually emotional, stressful and complex,” Nicholl said. “That is a responsibility we take very seriously. Our goal is to continue raising the bar on customer service, whether that’s through better marketing, dialed in processes, stronger negotiation or creative solutions to challenges.”

Nicholl emphasized that while the ownership of the office has changed hands, it is still the same community and relationship-focused brokerage that Ferchau built — just with some fresh energy and new (but familiar) faces added to the mix. She encourages community members to stop into the office, not just to meet the new team, but to utilize their collective expertise as a resource.

“We want our office to be a resource for people, not just a real estate office,” said Nicholl. “If you need a recommendation for a contractor, would like an annual statement on your property’s value or have any questions at all, we want to have the opportunity to serve people without it being transactional. Real estate is always changing, but our commitment is constant: to serve our community with professionalism and heart.”

(Gia Wright can be contacted at 970.641.1414 or gia@gunnisontimes.com.)