Meet the Ruffners: The family behind Exeter’s independent real estate brokerage

EXETER — At around 11 or 12 years old, Lewis Ruffner recalled picking up his mother’s ringing phone — he said it would ring quite often.

“Ruffner Real Estate,” he’d answer. “OK, I’ll get Florence (Ruffner) for you.”

This was about 42 years ago, when Florence Ruffner had just started being a real estate broker in Exeter, and her office was still in her breezeway at her then-home on Thelma Drive.

As her business grew, she brought her office downtown — starting at the building where Laney & Lu is now located — before settling at the current office at 185 Water St. in 1986. Despite offers from other companies to merge, she had kept the business independent and family-centered.

“It’s always nice to have your name on the door,” she said. “Where else could you go work that you’re already known, your name is known? And I think we have a great reputation.”

Recently, the brokerage welcomed its third generation of the Ruffner family into the office, having Florence, her two sons, Lewis and Scott, and her granddaughter, Liz, working under one roof.

“Everybody gets along great. As long as they do what I tell ‘em,” Florence joked.

How the family business went from 'security blanket' to true calling

Real estate was not the initial plan for Lewis and Scott — they both went to colleges in Minnesota to study criminal justice and history, respectively.

For Lewis, he said it was testimonies from people in the field that made him uncertain about continuing his career in criminal justice.

“When I worked with some of the Minneapolis police, folks in prisons, everyone working in that system said don’t go into this field — there weren't a lot of people happy with those careers,” he said. “So I decided to come back home (to work in real estate), it’s a great field to meet people from all different walks of life.”

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Still, Lewis said, real estate was not his first choice then. His goal was to work for a couple of years and “hopefully meet someone and get into something else,” which he did.

He went on to work in holistic medicine for 25 years before returning to the family business. This time, it's because he felt like it was the perfect fit. He described the experience as coming “full circle.”

Scott, on the other hand, said there was one thing he was sure of when he left Exeter for college: that he “wasn’t going to come back and work” for the family business.

Of course, the exact opposite happened, he said.

After brief stints in music and waiting on tables, Scott said he found a calling in real estate and decided to use the family business as an opportunity to get into the industry. Scott is also the executive director of TEAM (Town of Exeter Arts and Music), responsible for events such as Tune and Fork Tuesdays.

Scott’s wife, Mollie, was already working for the company when they met. She started in 2005 and got married to Scott in 2011.

“If somebody works here, it doesn’t mean that they have to be family,” joked Florence.

Although both brothers agreed the family business is a “security blanket” for them, they both noted they were not forced into it. Coming into the industry, they said felt “right” for them. And they did it at different times and different phases of their lives.

The recent Ruffner to join the family business, Liz (Lewis’ daughter), was a University of New Hampshire graduate in 2021. Unsure, Liz studied marketing because she “wanted to pick something versatile.”

Liz, who briefly worked in sales in the holistic medicine industry, recently obtained her real estate license. She plans on using her degree to help with the marketing side of Ruffner Real Estate.

Just like any other family business, Scott said the job comes with “ups, downs and middles.”

“There’s no getting away from it,” joked Liz, referring to business conversations during dinner. “If anything, Christmas dinner discussion wraps it (the year) up.”

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Leaving behind a family legacy

It was Florence's husband Harry’s job at the Seabrook nuclear power plant that brought them from Louisville, Kentucky, to New Hampshire 46 years ago.

Florence worked as a dental hygienist early in her career but had some family in real estate and was intrigued by the profession. After moving to Exeter, she got her license and worked with Realtor John Gilmore, who died six months after she started working for him.

She went to work for Mill Ridge in Stratham before deciding to go out on her own.

“Well, I thought I was gonna do it part-time… there’s no part-time in real estate,” she said. “I was thinking when the time came for my kids to go to college, it would be nice to have extra income, and so here I am 42 years later.”

Florence said there is a lot of pride in knowing that she will be leaving a legacy behind if and when she retires. She said she has put in a lot of hard work into her business, with over $43 million in sales as of last year.

"I love it, I love it," she said. "I've worked very hard for 42 years to build a reputation I have and give the service we all give, I love it. Someday when I'm in the (retirement) home, they can keep going."

Florence said what keeps her going is the people.

"You meet so many wonderful, interesting people," she said. "It's different (people) all the time… you’re constantly learning. Almost all of my close friends I know them through real estate."

At 77 years old, Florence has no plans to stop anytime soon, saying that sales are “in her blood.”

“When I’m in a nursing home, I’ll be renting out rooms with my walker,” she joked.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Ruffner Real Estate: A family affair in Exeter