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A few showers early becoming a steady rain for the afternoon. Thunder possible. High 64F. Winds SSE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%..
Rain showers early becoming a steady light rain overnight. Low 44F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Updated: April 12, 2024 @ 7:59 am
Vermont Community Newspaper Group
Erika Gaudreau
Toby Merk
Red Barn Realty of Vermont has sold.
Erika Gaudreau is the new owner and broker of the real estate company.
Gaudreau grew up in Newport News, Va., as her father was in the U.S. Navy. She stayed in her hometown after high school graduation and, at some point, received a hefty speeding ticket. Her sentence was to perform community service in the emergency room at the local hospital and she instantly caught the health care bug.
Erika Gaudreau
She held various jobs in nursing and, later, in health care consulting. She met her husband during a Master of Business Administration program at Northeastern in Boston. Both felt the itch to get back in to skiing, and their first visit to Stowe took place during Stowe Rotary Club’s Oktoberfest one fall and they were hooked.
After a decade of coming up from Boston, Gaudreau and her family made the move. She started her real estate career with the Coldwell Banker office Stowe village, but knew she wanted to own real estate business.
Within months, she was approached by a Red Barn Realty associate as Toby Merk was ready to retire.
Merk started her real estate career in 1978 in Pittsfield, Mass., before moving to Chatham on Cape Cod in the early 1980s and eventually bought Pine Acres, a real estate office there.
“I didn’t know much about the business end of it but figured it out and business boomed,” Merk recalled.
About 20 years later, Merk got itchy for adventure. She sold her real estate office to her daughter and a co-worker. Merk bought a Porsche, moved to Vermont, traveled, kept horses, chickens and dogs on a gentlewoman’s farm.
Realizing she couldn’t play forever, Merk hopped back in to real estate.
Toby Merk
She opened Red Barn Realty in 2012 as a boutique real estate firm. Fast forward a dozen years, and Merk started to think of retirement. While her health is robust, her knees — not so much — so she decided to return to the place her family still calls home: Cape Cod.
“Erika and I hit it off right away,” said Merk. “She was the kind of person I wanted to take Red Barn into the future. She’s professional and has great business acumen and creativity.”
The two women closed the deal on Jan. 5.
“I think the biggest challenge today in real estate is the amount of competition in the area,” said Gaudreau. “Our business philosophy is that there is enough for everyone, and we all have special niches within the industry. Everyone can do well, especially if we work together.”
Gaudreau has changed the company’s logo, increased her media presence and, cue back to her interior design degree — yes, she has one of those too — remodeled the office’s interior.
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