In the Region/Westchester - For Some Brokers, 2011 Was Tops Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times Nancy Kennedy, a broker with Houlihan Lawrence, at a house that she is showing in Croton-on-Hudson. Ms. Kennedy logged upward of $60 million in sales last year, more than when the market was at its peak five years ago. SINGLE-FAMILY home sales in Westchester were down about 4.5 percent in 2011 from the year before, and dollar volume was off about 6 percent - partly the result of the downward trend of house prices, said P. Gilbert Mercurio, who recently retired as chief executive of the Westchester-Putnam Board of Realtors. Yet despite this and other discouraging news from Westchester's housing market, 2011 was not a bad year for everyone. Several brokerages reported banner years - among them McClellan Sotheby's International Realty in Pelham; Better Homes and Gardens Rand Realty in White Plains; Houlihan Lawrence, based in Bronxville; and Keller Williams NY Realty in White Plains and Bedford. Also, some agents racked up more sales in 2011 than before the housing market imploded several years ago. Westchester's top-producing agent, Nancy Kennedy of Houlihan Lawrence, logged upward of $60 million in sales last year, more than when the market was at its peak five years ago. Houlihan Lawrence, which has offices in several counties with 15 of Westchester's 20 top-producing sales agents, captured 34 percent of the total dollar volume in the county - $2.6 billion - in 2011, similar to 2010. In 2009, it captured 30 percent. For most, however, the market barely lumbered along. Many agents dropped out of the field altogether. As a result of the hard times, membership in the Westchester-Putnam Board of Realtors fell in recent years to 6,700 from 8,000 - a decline that prompted its merger on Jan. 1 with counterpart groups in Rockland and Orange. Similarly, some agencies were absorbed by larger ones, notably Nelson Vrooman GMAC Real Estate in White Plains, which was acquired by Better Homes and Gardens Rand. Those who thrived in 2011 attributed their success to a combination of variables, including an aggressive response to a recalcitrant market - specifically, increased advertising and greater reliance on the Internet and technology. Another factor was New York City's strengthened market, which allowed more property owners to sell their condominiums and cooperatives there and move north. In Pelham, 29 miles from Manhattan by Metro-North - dollar volume increased, said Sona Davidian, an owner of McClellan Sotheby's. The tally for all sales in town was $166 million in 2011, up from $147 million in 2010. According to Ms. Davidian, McClellan Sotheby's made $82 million of that amount; in 2010, it took in $64 million. The agency sold just three more houses in 2011 than in 2010, but of the total, more were on the expensive end. Gary Leogrande, the principal of Keller Williams NY Realty, took a different tack. Whereas other agencies shied away from foreclosures and short sales, he said his agency embraced them, becoming a specialist in the field. "Five years ago most of the transactions we completed were normal, not distressed, sales," said Mr. Leogrande, the president of the Empire Access Multiple Listing Service. Now 15 percent of our business is short sales and and/or bank-owned properties, and it's paid off for us. Mr. Leogrande's brokerage logged more than $100 million in Westchester sales last year, exceeding the previous year's levels, he said - although he declined to reveal the numbers for 2010. To beat the odds in an ailing market, agencies like Better Homes and Gardens Rand Realty went on the offensive by acquiring smaller, struggling agencies, said J. P. Endres, the office manager for Rand in White Plains. "While others were closing, we expanded," said Ms. Endres, who is also the secretary-treasurer of the New York State Association of Realtors. Some people get paralyzed in a market like this one. Others forge ahead. In addition to Nelson Vrooman, her agency acquired the Gorbutt Group, an independent firm in White Plains, and Century 21 Wolff, which had several offices in the county. It also opened offices in Larchmont, Scarsdale and Somers, going toe-to-toe with agencies well established in those towns. Better Homes and Gardens Rand, which has offices in Putnam, Orange, Rockland and Dutchess Counties, has also begun expanding into northern New Jersey and is now eyeing Connecticut, Ms. Endres said. She also said its White Plains office alone completed $100 million in sales in 2011, up from $56 million in 2007. "The key is how you handle yourself in an adverse market," she said. In flush times, like 2005, anybody can sell a house; in tough times, it's another story. Ms. Kennedy of Houlihan Lawrence, which had 15 of the county's top-producing brokers, proved that point. Her year was "one of the best years I've ever had," she said. One tactic adopted by Ms. Kennedy - who works out of Houlihan's Croton office, and who has just assumed the presidency of the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors, the newly merged trade group - was to jettison the adage that all real estate is local. "As the market became more challenging," she said, "I expanded my territory. You can't afford to specialize anymore in a specific territory, or for that matter, even limit yourself to a specific price range. "In past years, buyers moved on to another broker if they weren't able to find a house in your area," she said, adding that the new rule in a changed market is to "stay with a client wherever they go, until they find the house of their dreams and the deal is done."