Ten real estate agents formerly aligned with Windermere Real Estate offices in the Spokane area have left that franchise and joined in a partnership to open an independent Spokane Valley real estate office here, named Live Real Estate LLC.

Co-owner Dan Lysek, who is the designated broker for the new venture, says the business opened Sept. 23 in a 2,000-square-foot office space at 12120 E. Mission, in Spokane Valley.

A total of 13 people are involved in the owner group, including nine real estate agents who previously worked at a Windermere satellite office in Liberty Lake, and a 10th agent who worked in a Spokane Valley office of Windermere. The other three owners include two spouses and one real estate agent currently living in Hawaii who is moving to Spokane.

The owners who are real estate agents here include Lysek, Paul Murray, Nick Morelli, Tom Chesher, Eric Eden, Sandra Bartel, Tim Shea, Terry White, Stephanie Butler, and Nichole Andreasen. The other owners include Mandy Berner, the agent licensed in Hawaii; Nick Morelli's wife, Kyra Morelli; and Andreasen's husband, Chris Andreasen.

Lysek, who previously worked as a broker at the Windermere Liberty Lake office, says he left that position in August and at that time planned to form a real estate company as a single agent. He says he then got calls from other agents he had worked with at Windermere requesting to join in a real estate office partnership.

"At first I was thinking I was going to do a single-owner operation out of my home or something very small," Lysek says. "The group started talking, and we're a very tight group. The idea was to do this as a group ownership. We decided to put together a company by agents, for agents."

Lysek says the ownership group sought to create a low-overhead real estate agency, and a model that allows a larger commission amount to go to agents, who typically split revenues from a home sale with an affiliated real estate agency or franchise.

"We're hoping to attract additional Realtors," Lysek says. "We have a fee base for someone who wants to work at home; that's the lowest. Then we have a fee base for someone who uses an office setup we call a cafe-style workspace that's small with room for a laptop. We also offer semiprivate offices, and that's another option."

Lysek declines to say what those fee amounts are, although he says the group wants to keep the rates low for agents. He says about half of the real estate agents who are owners have chosen to work from a home office, and the other half will work from a desk at the Live Real Estate office.

Lysek adds, "The way technology has gone, they don't need to have a brick-and-mortar anymore."