Members of the newly combined realty teams gather near the TJC office in Stapleton’s 29th Ave. Town Center. From left, Damon Knop and Rhonda Knop of Distinctive Properties and Tom and Kari Cummings, owners of TJC Real Estate & Management Services.

Stapleton residents and realtors Damon Knop and Tom Cummings had long run in the same circles. Both were among the earliest residents of Stapleton in the early 2000s. But despite working at different brokerages, they viewed one another as colleagues, not competitors. In fact, over drinks at The Bistro two years ago as they discussed affordable housing, a specialty of Knop’s, they offhandedly entertained the thought of joining forces.

Fast forward to 2017, and Knop’s firm, Distinctive Properties, has become a team working under the brokerage license of TJC Real Estate & Management Services, owned by Cummings and his wife Kari.

“We put it together in about two weeks,” said Tom Cummings. And the transition has been smooth, according to both groups, with a natural fit of culture, philosophy and office practices. Both teams agreed the only real challenge has been logistics—dealing with real estate board regulations and attending to all the organizational details of a merger while still running a business.

Cummings and Knop say the merger has been a boon to both operations. “It’s a way for us to grow quickly with experienced realtors,” said Kari Cummings. “It gives us another part of the metro Denver area in which to have a stronger presence.” And Damon Knop, who has been recognized for his expertise in affordable housing transactions, brings to TJC his years of knowledge and experience that are essential in affordable-home sales and purchases in Stapleton (or elsewhere in Denver or Colorado).

For Knop and Distinctive Properties, becoming part of TJC offered a way for their team to focus on what they like to do best – selling properties, not managing the staff and the paperwork, said Rhonda Knop, Damon’s mother and an owner of Distinctive Properties. And TJC Management’s many years of property management adds a new area of expertise to Distinctive Properties’ focus on residential sales.

The merger “checked a lot of boxes for both companies,” said Rhonda Knop.

The new company will operate legally under TJC’s brokerage license, but the TJC and Distinctive teams will continue to use their existing logos. The combined teams have 18 real estate agents and a 10-person property management staff working in two offices – TJC’s 29th Ave. Town Center location in Stapleton and Distinctive Properties’ Golden Triangle office.