Recently our local independent newspaper, appropriately named The Hopkinton Independent, ran an article about our homegrown Hopkinton Firm. Highlights were:

• with no franchise fees to cough up to far away corporate owners, we can use those dollars to better market our listings with intensive staging, professionally drawn floor plans, full motion video tours, neighborhood tours, and more;
• we've expressed our gratitude for our success by giving over $30,000 back to community causes
  
• Some causes we've been able to support include the Hopkinton Education Foundation, Project Just Because, the Hopkinton Parent Teacher Association, Hopkinton Little League, Hopkinton Lacrosse, Hopkinton Women's Club, and others.

Here is the article as it appeared in the paper:

Hopkinton’s own celebrates five years of town giving

by Amy Comcowich

    It's a philosophy that works.  Kathleen Buckley, founder and owner of STAR Realty, believes in community: she believes the community helped make her and her independent real estate brokerage so successful, and she believes giving back to the community is the best way she knows how to express her gratitude.
    Giving back to Hopkinton has happened in a number of ways over the past five years since she founded her business in 2004.  She has given financial support to the Hopkinton Education Foundation, Project Just Because, Hopkinton Little League, Hopkinton Lacrosse, Hopkinton Women's Club, the Police Association and the Hopkinton Garden Club to name a few of the approximate 30 organizations she has supported.
     Buckley credits her ability to provide so much support to these various causes to her decision to not affiliate with the larger, franchised real estate brokerages.  As an independent firm, she explains, she doesn't have to pay fees to a franchise - which can be eight percent of the real estate transaction fee. 
     "We don't have that piece of overhead... It allows us to use these funds to best market a property and it allows us to invest in the community," said Buckley. 
     She also said that not being part of a franchise keeps her and the five agents who work with her on their toes. 
   "With every transaction, our reputation is on the line," she said.
   "We're a small but mighty group" she said of her agents Beth Maguire, Paula Hurlbut, Lily Holden, Donna O'Brien and Pat O'Brien, all of whom call Hopkinton home.
     Buckley believes strongly in keeping her focus on Hopkinton.  By doing so, she and her agents can be experts on the community, and giving back to just this community allows her to make the biggest impact.
    Overall, Buckley estimates that she has given back at least $30,000 to the various charitable events and organizations.  She modestly points out, however, that she is just one of the local businesses that contribute time, talent and resources to Hopkinton, and she is simply happy to play her part. 
    On Buckley's STAR Realty website, StarRealtyHopkinton.com, it says "Hopkinton: where we live, where we work, where we give back."  
    From the community here in Hopkinton, where so many lives have been touched by Buckley's efforts, it can be said in response: "Kathleen Buckley: to whom we are grateful."