The first time Adam Duncombe met the man who is now his boss, Peter Dupuch, he was hardly old enough for pre-school. And Dupuch, now one of the leading names in real estate locally, was just starting out, showing the house where young Adam lived.

“It was my first listing and there was this little kid running around the house pointing out exactly what the buyer didn’t need to hear,” laughed Dupuch. “But this child had a lively spirit, a zest or zeal -- still does -- and when he came to me decades later and said he was interested in going into real estate, I invited him to join my team as an intern and after he qualified, to become an agent. From the first day on the job, I could see Adam had that indomitable spirit he showed as a tyke.”

At age 26, Adam Duncombe is the newest member of the Dupuch team. It’s a team that has an impressive scorecard even in a challenging real estate market.

Founded in 1993, ERA Dupuch Real Estate joined the ERA network eight years later and was the first franchise outside the United States to earn luxury market status. The firm has been the top-performing ERA affiliate in the Caribbean since 2008 beating competition in Turks & Caicos, Aruba, the Dominican Republic, Cayman Islands and Puerto Rico. It’s just one of the distinctions of ERA Dupuch. ERA Dupuch, now in in its second 10-year franchise agreement with the international brand, is also making its mark in the local profession. Carla Sweeting, ERA Dupuch Real Estate Agent of the Year in 2013, is Bahamas Real Estate Association (BREA) President and Broker Christine Wallace Whitfield is both a BREA Director and President of the Bahamas CRS Chapter.

“What I like about ERA Dupuch,” said the team’s newest member, Duncombe, “is that it is like a family. In some firms, you see this fierce competition, but here everyone helps everybody. Each agent brings a unique dimension to the table, but together there’s a real cohesion.” Duncombe points out the notables – Ken Chaplin, who after years in retail, turned to real estate and set records, David McCorquodale, who turned over more luxury property on Paradise Island in 2008-2009, the time when the markets all but crashed and burned, than anyone had in years, and two Sweetings, Carla who had her most successful year last year despite the continuing economic challenges, and Stephen Sweeting, a fourth generation real estate professional who is showing he heeded his family’s legacy, all the way back to great-grandfather’s wisdom about the value of land.

Peter reflects on the new generation of real estate professionals, those who believe that it’s not just about the buying and selling, but about building communities, national development, about projects that are right-sized for the island for which they are proposed.

Duncombe, the son of respected environmental advocate Sam Duncombe and dad Tony Duncombe, is a great believer in solar energy, rattling off figures of how much you can save in a year switching from an electric to a solar water heater. He won’t sell an island, private or not, to a developer who does not have the best long-term interest of The Bahamas at heart. But he does accept the fact that The Bahamas is dependent upon foreign investment.

“Too many Bahamians are petrified to invest in their own country. Few of those who can afford to do so, are creating opportunities,” he said, claiming the lack of investment by Bahamians creates a gap for outside money. “Foreigners come in and they can see the potential. There is nothing wrong with that so long as Bahamians are involved at every level in the process itself from concept to approvals. We need to stop talking about jobs and start talking about the quality of lives.”

“See,” says the boss he met two decades ago: “I told you he was passionate.” Duncombe chimes in: “Peter’s first sale was my parents’ house. I’m not sure what to do to top that story, but I’m really enjoying getting to know a lot of people and learning from such a great crew.”

20 Years – Adam Duncombe, left, first met ERA Dupuch Real Estate Founder and President Peter Dupuch when he was a tyke and Dupuch was showing Adam’s parents’ house. It was Dupuch’s first sale and this week the two reconnected officially when Duncombe joined the firm that has been the leading ERA affiliate in the region for more than five years.