Since 1972, the men and women working inside Coldwell Banker Select Realtors have helped others buy and sell homes in the greater Erie area.

The business was started as Froehlich Agency Realtors by Ted Froehlich.  His son Toby is now the boss and grandson Matt is following in their footsteps.

"I've been around real estate my whole life.  It's a really fun business.  It's great working with people.  We help people out all the time.  Solve problems for people.  Help people get from one house to the next," said realtor Matt Froehlich. 

The Froehlich's company is a franchise of the nationwide Coldwell Banker network.  They employ a team of more than a hundred office staff members and real estate agents locally.  Realtors that deal with hundreds of properties at all times.

"At any given time in the year we have about between 1,300 and 1,500 active houses on the market," said Froehlich.

This year marks their 40th year in business.  Contrary to popular belief, the past few years haven't been as tough on the business as many would think. 

"We haven't seen a big loss nor have we seen a big increase either," said realtor Debbie Fries. 

"Our economy never got hurt as the rest of the nation did.  We never had that big bubble to begin with where properties increased 30, 40 percent like Florida and Nevada did.  So people in Erie County really haven't lost value unless they didn't maintain their house," said realtor Mark Hutchison. 

Hutchison, a 33 year real estate veteran, says right now is actually the best time he's ever seen for buyers.

"Right now you can get a conventional mortgage for 3.975 percent for 30 years.  The difference between say 16 percent, if you bought a house for $400,000 today, you'd have a payment the same as a $100,000 house back in 1981 and 82," he said.

And 24-year-veteran Debbie Fries says as long as you do the work, it's a sellers market too.

"If you're a seller, you've done your homework, you've prepared your home, they are selling.  But you really, really have to prepare your home and you have to make sure the price is in line where it should be," she said. 

No matter if you are a buyer or a seller, they're all ready and willing to help you through the process.

"We help people get across the finish line.  That's the way I like to say it," said Froehlich.