Successful Realtor Tara Coveney channels her love of Hingham to fulfill her client’s home-owning dreams.
By Lisa Cavanaugh
Living in the same town for nearly three decades gives a person a uniquely local perspective. For Coldwell Banker real estate agent Tara Coveney, her knowledge of and affection for Hingham, Massachusetts, translates into career success. “It’s so important to know your market really well,” says Coveney. “I’ve been part of the community here for more than 25 years, so I feel that I have an advantage in terms of understanding the real estate environment in Hingham and the surrounding towns.”
In fact, Coveney was the #1 Realtor in Hingham and the South Shore in 2022, for the 16th consecutive year, is the number #2 Coldwell Banker agent in New England and regularly ranks in the top 20 agents nationwide. She is one of only two agents on the South Shore who were ranked in the Wall Street Journal as a Top 250 Agent nationwide. Her passion for representing home buyers and sellers comes from a background in real estate as well as years in the business world. “I’m originally from Bedford, New York,” says Coveney, “where my mother was a successful Realtor, so I guess the occupation is in my DNA.”
After graduating with a degree in finance from Boston College, Coveney’s sales career began at IBM and then a major software company before she contemplated selling real estate. “At one point, I had four kids under the age of five,” she says, “so I was pretty busy!” Once her children were all in school, Coveney felt it was an ideal time to segue from the corporate world into her new career. “My husband, Tom, and I were already quite involved in the community, and I knew I could use my knowledge of the area and emulate my mother’s success in real estate,” says Coveney.
Quickly becoming Hingham’s top agent, Coveney discovered her intrinsic passion for helping people find their perfect home. “I really love connecting with my clients, from first-time buyers to repeat customers,” she says. “And I enjoy working within any tier, from modest starter homes and condos to luxury waterfront estates. Everyone, no matter where they are in their home-owning journey, has the same need for a professional agent with market knowledge to represent and guide them.”
She credits her experience, deep market knowledge, and her ability to listen to her clients for her distinctive success within the market. “It can be very stressful to sell your home or look for a new house. My goal is to make the process as easy for my clients as possible and to advise them as if they were my own family. “
Coveney is a very hands-on broker with a strong work ethic who fully embraces her real estate career. “Not to sound too cliched, but I truly love what I do; I get up every day looking forward to the job ahead.”
It wasn’t always easy, though. “Raising a family and working full-time was challenging at times, but we made it work, “says Coveney. “My kids are older now, so balancing is much easier at this point.”
Because of her personal approach to her work, Coveney tends to develop long-lasting relationships with both her buyers and sellers. She gets many of her new clients from word-of-mouth referrals and often works with the same homeowners at different stages. “I do have a lot of repeat clients,” she says. “Folks who bought a first home through me, and then perhaps upgraded to a larger property and are now downsizing. Then their kids call me to house hunt, and the cycle starts all over. I get to see the whole scope of their lives that way.”
Her many years of experience have been especially useful for weathering the vicissitudes of the real estate market. “I’ve seen both downturns and hot markets over the years and every twist and turn of a deal,” she says. The key to managing these challenges is always the same, she says: “Listen to your client. Understand their goals and objectives and what they dream of in a home, or their ideal selling timeline, and use your knowledge of your market to help them achieve that goal.”
Tara takes her job seriously (“It is full-time, 24/7,” she says, cheerfully) and clearly seems to like it that way. This kind of passion and dedication guarantees the satisfying collaborations between Coveney and multitudes of home buyers and sellers on the South Shore will continue for years to come.
