The history of Latah Realty is a wonderful example of the true American dream. It all started with one self-taught man passionate about real estate and interested in helping others!
Gary Tribble
Gary Tribble is the founder of Latah Realty, which has been running successfully for 39 years. Before becoming a REALTOR®, Tribble constructed the first condominiums in Moscow, which are located about three blocks from Latah Realty.
Tribble saw real estate agents selling the condos and said, “Why don’t I get licensed so I can do that? So that just evolved. I got licensed, I liked to be my own boss. The rest is history!”
In March of 1981, Tribble got his real estate license and he worked at Hordeman Realty for a year. He then purchased Hordeman and three experienced agents came to work for him.
“It was a journey. When I first started at Hordeman Realty, they didn’t have a listing for two or three years. They were also an insurance company,” Tribble said.
In March of 1982, Tribble formed the business, Latah Realty. Tribble only had one year of experience, so he owned the business while working under a designated broker. Many real estate business owners also act as the designated broker for the company, but this is not always the case. A year after creating Latah Realty, Tribble obtained his broker’s license and became the designated broker.
To become a real estate broker in Idaho, agents must complete additional educational classes and have two years of experience as a REALTOR®.
A designated broker is, “an individual holding a broker’s license who has full authority to conduct the real estate activities of a real estate business” (Law Insider). He worked as the designated broker and owner for about 30 years before transitioning out of those positions and becoming an associate broker of Latah Realty.
“I studied, and studied, and studied,” Tribble said. “I wasn’t learning from anybody.”
Eventually Tribble brought over a few more people, one of which was an agent from California who taught Tribble and the other agents the ropes of the business. Tribble notes that when the company was very small, with four or five agents, he really enjoyed the management side of things.
“I loved it,” Tribble said, “It was a well-oiled machine.”
Although, once the company grew to past 10 agents, Tribble said the administrative side of running Latah Realty became strenuous, and eventually he wanted to step away as an owner and work as an agent instead. At the time, Sean Wilson was working as an agent at another company; Tribble noticed his drive and approached Wilson about buying into Latah Realty.
“He was up and coming, a really good agent, and people liked him!” Tribble said.
Tribble said that Wilson was reluctant to begin running the business on his own. The two were talking about who else they could add to the team when they saw Darcy Anderson walk across the street in front of them, and Wilson suggested that Anderson would be someone he would like to partner up with. Anderson was also working at a different real estate company when they approached her and asked if she would be interested in buying Latah Realty. Tribble said the three of them spent two or three years transitioning so they could make sure this was the right fit for everyone involved.
Although the total transition took a while, Tribble said, “It was working from the start.”
Wilson and Anderson celebrated 10 years of owning and operating the business on January 11th this year (2021).
Darcy Anderson and Sean Wilson
Wilson commented, “We are only as good as the people we work with and we are blessed to work side by side with the best in the business. When this all started, we did it because we longed to spend our days in a place where we were excited to go to work every day.”
“We spend more time with the people we work with than our own families,” Anderson said, “To create a strong positive culture that is supportive of everyone involved in our business was the goal and we are doing that every day. We love where we work, and we love the people we work with.”
Gary Tribble, Sean Wilson, and Darcy Anderson have led the way for Latah Realty to become the business it is today. Tribble said that any real estate business would not be successful without agents who live to work and love the hustle, and that is what Latah Realty culture is all about.
Misty Curry and Bret Carpenter
“You take any top agent around and you put them in Walmart or Sears, and they will rise,” Tribble said, “They will go up to be a manager, they will be a leader.”
Creating a top-notch real estate company is a combination of tactful and honest leadership and hardworking passionate agents who love what they do. Tribble started the legacy 39 years ago, and Latah Realty continues to be one of the best real estate companies in the area.
