Top Workplaces: Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Base Camp wins second for small company

Broker/Owner John O’Reilly credits the success and camaraderie of the company’s employees and agents to these fundamental principles.

“The team we have in place — 60-plus agents work here, plus a staff of 5 that support them — do an amazing job,” O’Reilly said. “The agents love being here because we treat each other like family – in a good way.”

The closeness of the Base Camp team is seen not only in the professional interactions among colleagues, but also in simple exchanges that come naturally from working alongside respected coworkers. Such is the professional and personal trust in each other, O’Reilly said, that if agents who happen to be parents have a showing, they’ll think nothing of leaving their children with colleagues at the office.

In 2008, O’Reilly founded Base Camp Realty, which aligned with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate in 2016. This is the fourth year that the company has been named among Greater Richmond’s Top Workplaces.

O’Reilly said that his company focuses on making real estate transactions as seamless as possible. Buying or selling a home is fraught with potential snags — negotiations, financing, appraisals and inspections, for instance.

“Our clients know that they can depend on us. They know that we care about them first and, by the way, we do well,” he said.

Part of enhancing the client experience, O’Reilly said, is contributing to organizations and efforts that support the region’s well-being. Agents and employees regularly volunteer with local nonprofits, and the team supports coat and food drives as well as service organizations such as the USO.

“We benefit from a stronger community,” O’Reilly said. “We volunteer in the community because that makes this a place where people want to live.”

So committed is the Base Camp team to service and to the company’s core values that it earned national recognition by Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate in 2020 with a Community Involvement Award and in 2021 as the PAIGE Award winner, which honors the franchise that best represents the ideals.

“I’ve been in real estate for 25 years and been in business as Base Camp since 2008,” O’Reilly said. “Everybody loves what they do here because we are guided by our principles. We celebrate differences. … We are committed to growing professionally and personally and doing all this with excellence.”