Franchise Updates: Motto Mortgage, ERA, BHGRE, Sotheby’s & Keller Williams

Updates on mergers, acquisitions and the happenings concerning real estate national franchise networks.

Momentum Builds for Motto Mortgage with 200 Offices Sold

Motto Franchising, LLC announced the sale of its 200th Motto Mortgage franchise since inception. Established in late 2016 as the first national mortgage brokerage franchise in the U.S., the Motto Mortgage brand recently celebrated their best stretch of annual franchise sales ever, exceeding 60 sales during the trailing 12-month period ending June 30. This momentum is particularly notable as franchise sales efforts transitioned to a largely virtual experience during the second quarter. The brand currently has more than 125 offices open in over 30 states.

Each Motto Mortgage office is independently owned, operated and licensed. To learn more about Motto Mortgage, or for license information for a Motto Mortgage office, email newsroom@mottomortgage.com, or visit www.mottomortgage.com/offices.

Tom DeWine of ERA Colonial Real Estate in Texas and Steve Doty of ERA Doty Real Estate in Arkansas Acquire ERA Team Real Estate

ERA® Real Estate, a global franchising leader within the Realogy family of companies, today announced that Tom DeWine, CEO of ERA Colonial Real Estate based in Harker Heights, Texas, and Steve Doty, Owner of ERA Doty Real Estate in Jonesboro, Ark., have partnered to acquire ERA Team Real Estate in Conway, Ark. Each firm will retain their individual names in their existing offices. This unique partnership showcases the growth opportunities that come from being affiliated with ERA Real Estate.

The DeWine and Doty partnership is indicative of the highly collaborative culture of the ERA brand. They first met 15 years ago during their initial ERA onboarding and have consulted with each other numerous times before taking an ownership stake in ERA Team Real Estate.

Each has had individual success before agreeing to join forces in Conway. DeWine, who took over his father Dennis’ ERA Colonial Real Estate in 2017, has helped grow the firm to the 12th largest in the ERA system. The central Texas powerhouse generated 1,829 transaction sides in 2019 equating to $489 million in sales volume. Doty bought his firm in 2005 and launched with five agents. Today the firm is the second largest in Jonesboro with 64 agents producing $102 million in sales volume.

ERA Team Real Estate, with 53 agents, is a market leader in Conway and ranked in the top 50 of all ERA franchises last year. Kelli Small, a 26-year real estate veteran who has been with the company for almost three years, will serve as Director of Sales. It was previously owned by Tracy and Mark Tidwell. Tracy will remain with the firm and continue to lead her successful Tracy Tidwell Team, one of the top teams in the nation with $24.3 million in sales volume in 2019 according to REAL Trends.

Conway, located 30 miles north of Little Rock, is one of the fastest growing cities in Arkansas with a population of 68,000. Known as the “City of Colleges,” Conway is home to the University of Central Arkansas, Hendrix College and Central Baptist College. Conway is also home to Acxiom Corporation, a leading information technology company that employs 1,450.

ERA Real Estate information is available at www.ExploreERA.com.

Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Expands Despite COVID-19

Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate, recognized as the real estate industry’s lifestyle brand, has already affiliated 13 new firms in 2020 including seven since the start of the pandemic’s impact in mid-March. This pace exceeds last year’s pace that saw a total of 14 new companies affiliate, which was the strongest growth year since 2012.

Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate added more than $400 million in sales volume during the first half of 2020 and also saw one of its original franchisees, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Masiello Group, renew for a 10-year term. In 2019, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Masiello Group completed 7,155 transaction sides with $1.7 billion in sales volume as one of the top real estate companies in the U.S. and third largest BHGRE affiliate according to REAL Trends.

New franchisees are benefitting from the brand’s name recognition and unique lifestyle expertise. This includes PinPointSM, BHGRE’s proprietary predictive marketing tool that utilizes Better Homes & Gardens® magazine and its publisher Meredith Corporation’s customer database of more than 175 million consumers.

The BHGRE brand increased its presence in California where it now has 18 franchisees with nine joining in the last 18 months. This included a merger of top North Monterey firms to create Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Best Life with double the market share of its leading competitor.

The BHGRE brand entered West Virginia for the first time with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Central.

A merger in the Columbia Basin of central Washington created Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Gary Mann Realty with 20% market share.

Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Gaetano Marra Homes was the first affiliate in brand history to join the BHGRE network via an entirely virtual process.

ERA Real Estate Momentum Advanced by New Affiliations and Creative M&As

Coming off the momentum of recent expansions into major metropolitan areas, strategic M&As, renewals and collaborative solutions to support local market evolution, ERA® Real Estate, a global franchising leader within the Realogy Corporation family of companies, continues to fuel additional growth for its network of affiliated brokers and agents with tailored marketing solutions.

According to recent market research of agents and brokers affiliated with the ERA Real Estate, independents and other brands conducted by Wakefield Research1, ERA Real Estate is regarded as a brand-leading competitors in growth speed and potential. Noted primarily as an experienced, full-service offering, ERA Real Estate is recognized for its culture, reputation, relationships and technology. Nearly 80% of surveyed ERA Real Estate agents report that the brand’s tools and technology positively impact their productivity. 

“While many aspects of 2020 did not go to plan for many because of COVID-19, ERA Real Estate’s focus on business tools and productive technology, coupled with a culture of support and camaraderie, supported a healthy expansion in the first half of the year,” said Sherry Chris, president and CEO of ERA Real Estate. “We are proud of our reputation in the industry as well as the many different solutions we have offered both existing and new affiliated brokers for potential growth. The confidence our top brokers have in the brand as a key aspect of their rewarding future is highlighted by important renewals that have occurred.”

 ERA Real Estate information is available at www.ExploreERA.com

Berkshire Hathaway Homesale Realty Opens New Office in Baltimore

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty has opened a new office in Baltimore’s Canton neighborhood as part of a merger with RE/MAX Sails.

Chris Cooke, co-owner of RE/MAX Sails, expresses his excitement in joining one of the fastest growing real estate companies in the Baltimore market. “In 16 years of real estate, I have only changed brokerages once and that was within the same brand. Homesale Realty is first in class in brand, technology and marketing.”

According to Rod Messick, CEO of Homesale Realty, the Canton office represents an important move to ensure a bright future for the company and our agents. He states, “Baltimore is a strategically important market for the future of Homesale and having the highly productive and well-respected teams and agents of this office join our company is a huge step in the future of our growth in Maryland.”

This is Homesale Realty’s 31st real estate office in the Baltimore Metropolitan and South-Central Pennsylvania markets. The new office expansion allows us to provide industry-leading products and services to the community. The Homesale Family is delighted to welcome an office full of talented, professional and passionate agents from Re/Max Sails. We believe we achieve more together and could not be more excited to see what the future holds.

Berkshire Hathaway Homesale Realty has 31 offices serving Maryland and Pennsylvania, including an office in Canton at 3500 Boston Street, Suite C

For more information, please visit www.Homesale.com.

Premier Sotheby’s International Realty Mergers With Regal Real Estate Professionals

Premier Sotheby’s International Realty announced today it has integrated the operations of Regal Real Estate Professionals, uniting two of the area’s leading luxury residential real estate brokerages to enhance its service to the Central Florida area.   

The four former Regal Real Estate Professionals offices, located in Orlando (Dr. Phillips), Winter Park, Clermont and Lake Mary, Fla., will now operate under the banner of Premier Sotheby’s International Realty.

The 85 real estate professionals formerly affiliated with Regal Real Estate Professionals will join the 175 currently on the Premier Sotheby’s International Realty team. 

Premier Sotheby’s International Realty’s position as the leader in homes sold above $1 million in Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Lake, and Volusia Counties is strengthened, fulfilling the company vision of being the luxury market leader in the communities it serves.

The company’s future ranking by RealTrends, currently the 28th largest real estate brokerage in the country by sales volume, will be enhanced.      

For more information, visit premiersothebysrealty.com.

Keller Williams Expands into Aruba, the Dominican Republic, and Peru

Keller Williams (KW), the world’s largest real estate technology franchise by agent count, is expanding across the Caribbean and South America. As momentum continues, KW has awarded new master licenses in Aruba, the Dominican Republic, and Peru. 

With the latest master license additions, the franchise now operates across 50 global regions. “The continued rapid growth of Keller Williams across the globe is fulfilling a dream that started with Gary Keller more than 30 years ago,” said William E. Soteroff, president of Keller Williams Worldwide (KWW), the international division of Keller Williams.

“Our proprietary systems and models, training and technology are the powerful combination that is attracting the best leaders in each country we seek to further build and embody our strong culture,” said Soteroff. 

As of July 30, KWW had 240 market centers (outside of the United States and Canada). KWW has 10,915 agents collectively operating outside the U.S. and Canada, up 34.1% since July 30, 2019. In Q3 ‘20, Entrepreneur Magazine also ranked Keller Williams a 2020 Top Global Franchise. Based on international size and growth, the franchise was ranked No. 22 out of the top 200 multinationals listed. 

For more information, visit kw.com.