Real estate industry news, executive appointments and more!

CRISTAL CELLAR PARTNERS WITH CENTURY 21 WEST COAST BROKERS TO BETTER SERVE SAN GABRIEL VALLEY CLIENTS

John Paul “JP” Sazon, broker/owner of Cristal Cellar, announced today a new partnership with Kevin Kwan, broker, CENTURY 21 West Coast Brokers, forming CENTURY 21 Cristal Cellar to better serve San Gabriel Valley real estate clients and customers and expand service offerings becoming a one-stop shop for homebuyers, homesellers and investors. Expanding upon the brokerage’s growth strategy, Sazon and Kwan, and their now combined 70 relentless sales professionals, will begin leveraging the CENTURY 21^® brand’s innovative productivity platform, world-class marketing, and agent learning and coaching to build long-term client relationships, earn industry-best quality service ratings and deliver personalized experiences to real estate consumers. 

CENTURY 21 SYSTEM RAISES $2.5 MILLION FOR EASTERSEALS IN 2020 BRINGING LIFETIME AGGREGATED SUPPORT TO $129 MILLION

Century 21 Real Estate LLC announced that in 2020 the CENTURY 21^® System collectively raised more than $2.5 million for Easterseals, an organization that for more than 100 years has been providing exceptional services, education, outreach and advocacy so people with disabilities can live, learn, work and thrive in their communities. Since the inception of this philanthropic partnership in 1979, the CENTURY 21 network’s independent franchisees and affiliated relentless sales professionals have collaborated to raise a total of $129 million. As the brand celebrates its 50^th anniversary in 2021, it also commemorates its 42 years of partnership with Easterseals, one of America’s largest nonprofit health care organizations providing comprehensive health care services and supports wellness to more than 1.5 million individuals with disabilities and their families annually.  

In 2020, for the seventh consecutive year, the top three Easterseals fundraisers from the CENTURY 21 System were:

1. CENTURY 21 Town & Country; Utica, Michigan
2. CENTURY 21 Judge Fite Company; Dallas, Texas
3. CENTURY 21 B.J. Roth Realty Ltd.; Barrie, Ontario, Canada.

This year, 13 of the Top 21 leading the CENTURY 21^® System fundraisers are Canadian firms, led by CENTURY 21 B.J. Roth in Ontario. The “Top 21” North American Fundraisers for Easterseals in 2020 are:

1. CENTURY 21 Town & Country, Utica, Michigan
2. CENTURY 21 Judge Fite Company, Dallas, Texas
3. CENTURY 21 B.J. Roth Realty Ltd., Barrie, Ontario, Canada
4. CENTURY 21 Scheetz, Carmel, Indiana
5. CENTURY 21 Leading Edge Realty Inc., Markham, Ontario, Canada
6. CENTURY 21 Heritage Group Ltd., Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada
7. CENTURY 21 Dome Realty Inc., Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
8. CENTURY 21 Real Estate Center, Lynnwood, Washington
9. CENTURY 21 Executives Realty Ltd., Vernon, British Columbia, Canada
10. CENTURY 21 North Homes Realty, Inc., Lynnwood, Washington
11. CENTURY 21 Heritage House Ltd., Woodstock, Ontario, Canada
12. CENTURY 21 Bamber Realty Ltd., Calgary, Alberta, Canada
13. CENTURY 21 Fusion, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
14. CENTURY 21 Assurance Realty Ltd., Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
15. CENTURY 21 Bachman & Associates, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
16. CENTURY 21 Arizona Foothills, Phoenix, Arizona
17. CENTURY 21 Coleman-Hornsby, Morris, Illinois
18. CENTURY 21 Beggins Enterprises, Apollo Beach, Florida
19. CENTURY 21 Westman Realty Ltd., Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
20. CENTURY 21 Miller Real Estate Ltd., Oakville, Ontario, Canada
21. CENTURY 21 Foothills Real Estate, High River, Alberta, Canada

HomeLight and the National Association of Real Estate Brokers Launch the Black Real Estate Agent Program to Support Aspiring Black Agents

HomeLight, the real estate technology platform that empowers people to achieve better outcomes when buying or selling their home, announced the launch of the Black Real Estate Agent Program in partnership with the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB), the largest and oldest minority professional real estate trade association in the United States. The HomeLight-NAREB Black Real Estate Agent Program — the first program of its kind in the United States — will provide financial, educational, and career support for aspiring Black real estate agents across the country, helping them achieve high-production success.

According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau data, Black Americans represent less than 6 percent of all real estate professionals. The HomeLight-NAREB Black Real Estate Agent Program will seek to increase the number of top-producing Black agents in real estate, with the ultimate goal of helping improve the rate of homeownership for Black Americans across the country.

As part of the program, HomeLight and NAREB will help cover many of the onboarding costs for new agents up to $5,000, including pre-licensing classes, agent exams, and select marketing and technology needs. Each program participant will be paired with an experienced NAREB Realtist who will serve as a mentor and advisor. Participants will also receive ongoing training and education above and beyond that which brokers typically provide.

U.S. Green Building Council Elects New Members and Officers to its 2021 Board of Directors

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) today announced newly elected members to its 2021 board of directors. The members bring leadership and expertise in such areas as community development, the connection between human and environmental health, equity and sustainable real estate development. The members were selected to help further align activities with USGBC’s new vision, healthy people in healthy places equals a healthy economy. The board also announced its 2021 officers.

Elected members include Dr. Aaron Bernstein, Interim Director for Center for Climate, Health and the Global Environment at Harvard T.H. School of Public Health (Harvard C-CHANGE). His work at Harvard C-CHANGE examines the human health effects of global environmental changes with the aim of promoting a deeper understanding of these subjects among students, educators, policymakers and the public. He is also a pediatrician at Boston Children’s Hospital. Dr. Bernstein was re-elected to a two-year term.

Anyeley Hallová is the founder of Adre and brings 17 years of experience from mixed-use developments to office headquarters. She founded Adre, a real estate development firm focused on real estate projects that seek to create wealth for the Black community and underrepresented groups that traditionally lack access to real estate ownership and investment. Her civic work includes a governor appointment to Oregon’s Land Conservation and Development Commission, where she serves as vice-chair and a mayoral appointment to Portland’s Adjustment Committee, Community Involvement Committee for the Portland Plan and Policy Expert Group for Residential Development and Compatibility for the Comp Plan. Ms. Hallová was elected to a two-year term.

Dr. Ruth Thomas-Squance is the director of Field Building at the Build Healthy Places Network where she directs the organization’s national Field Building Strategy, positioning cross-sector partnerships from community development, public health and healthcare sectors to lead and leverage community-centered investments across the country to address social determinants of health and advance racial equity. She brings 15 years of experience working in multi-sector collaborations with diverse partners. Dr. Thomas-Squance’s passion for contributing to the promotion of health and social equity has taken her from a successful career in biomedical research to management in the non-profit and public sectors.

Lakisha Ann Woods is the president and CEO at the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) where she leads the organization in advancing building science and technology. Prior to NIBS, Woods was the senior vice president and chief marketing officer at the National Association of Home Builders where she oversaw all marketing, revenue-generating programs and national partnerships. Woods currently serves on the American Society of Association Executives board of directors and Advisory Board of Crosswalk. She was re-elected to a three-year term.

Dr. Marwa Zaatari is a partner at Dzine Partners and co-chair of enVerid Systems Advisory Board. She leads research and development of “Air as a Service” around heat exchanger coils, ventilation, filtration and IAQ measurements. Her work continues to advance building science methods in assessing performance-based procedures to design and operate buildings to optimize energy and people efficiency. Dr. Zaatari has extensive experience in identifying and quantifying the sources, fate and transport of indoor air pollutants, as well as assessing performance related to energy efficiency, exposure and economic impacts of indoor pollution. Dr. Zaatari was elected to a three-year term.

These elected board members will join USGBC’s CEO and two additional members: Daniel McQuade, managing director at Global Infrastructure Solutions and Karen Weigert, executive vice president of business strategy, finance and regional operations at Slipstream.

The board elected Dr. Aaron Bernstein as chair; Lakisha Ann Woods as vice chair; and Karen Weigert as secretary-treasurer.

Lone Wolf appoints Greg Robertson as head of sales to deliver end-to-end solutions to associations, MLSs, and franchisors

Lone Wolf Technologies (“Lone Wolf”), the North American leader in residential real estate technology, today announced that it has named Greg Robertson as Head of Sales, MLS/Associations/Franchisors. This appointment comes at a pivotal time in Lone Wolf’s growth, as it seeks to transform the way the real estate agents, brokers, and associations interact with technology through completely connected cloud suites.

Robertson, co-founder of W+R Studios, joins Lone Wolf with a wealth of sales, operational, and industry knowledge. He has been active in the real estate technology industry since 1992, and currently produces the popular Vendor Alley blog, as well as multiple podcasts on industry issues, including Listing Bits. He has made appearances on the Swanepoel Power 200 list of the most powerful people in real estate, and has been present on the Inman 100, a list of the most influential leaders in real estate.

In his new role, Robertson will lead the company’s Association and Franchise Cloud initiatives, spearheading a seasoned sales team to help associations and MLSs across North America bring more value through member benefits, so they can help guide their agents through this dynamic market. He will also be instrumental in positioning Cloud CMA as part of Association Cloud, so agents can create beautiful and effective listing presentations and front ends using choice solutions that pull information directly from the MLS.

Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty Hits Best Year Ever with $4 Billion in Sales

Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty, one of the nation’s leading realtors, had its best year to date in 2020, reaching $4 billion in sales amidst and despite the challenges of the industry shutdown during the first wave of the pandemic.  The company also achieved the highest average sales price at every level of the Long Island market with 3,867 units, an average sales price of $1,025,717, and with 70 percent of those sales under $1 million.   

“2020 was a year like no other,” added Chief Operating Officer Deborah Hauser.  “It challenged us like never before and transformed the way we live and work.  We came together and against the odds, achieved the most successful year in company history.”

ROSE & WOMBLE REALTY COMPANY ANNOUNCES NEW MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE

Rose & Womble Realty Company, one of the largest Real Estate companies in Southeastern Virginia, recently announced the promotion of key leaders across divisions. The new President, J. Van Rose, announced plans to restructure the management team with Art Zachary’s pending retirement. “With my move to President, we’ve chosen to realign our leadership positions and streamline our focus to set ourselves on course for continued success in what we know to be a very competitive market.” Rose stated in his address.

Terri Stickle was named Vice President of Financial Services and Business Development where she will pursue new and profitable business opportunities for Rose & Womble Realty while continuing to oversee Relocation, Customer Service, and the Corporate Marketing Team. 

Dianne Gordonn was promoted to Vice President of Operations where she will oversee Human Resources, Facilities, and New Homes. 

Terry Gearhart has been promoted to General Manager of New Homes. Our New Homes department serves thirty builder clients throughout our area.

Ron Foresta Jr. will lead the Resale Division as General Manager. Our Resale Division is thriving with thirteen offices and their Agents helping make homeownership dreams come true.