RE III hooks up with Better Homes & Gardens
The area's largest real estate firm, which closed two offices in 2008, has joined the Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate franchise, the companies announced today. The new entity will be known as Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate III and will still be managed by chairman/CEO Jeff Gaffney and president Art Pearson, according to press release. The former RE III has 227 agents in nine area offices; Better Homes boasts 125 offices in 15 states.
It's not immediately clear how the move will benefit Real Estate III, and Gaffney did not return phone calls from the Hook. But in a release he says, “We have always embraced change, philosophically, and we are always looking at strategic moves that can benefit our associates and our clients.”
Real Estate III was founded in 1972 by Frank Kessler, who also developed gated-community Glenmore.
6 comments
Here's why home prices will continue dropping in this area
http://realcville.blogspot.com/2010/03/9-reasons-home-prices-will-contin...
Hysterical is the only comment I can make. LOL
http://www.marijeanjaggers.com/2010/04/09/five-steps-bhg-real-estate-iii...
Better to merge than to be wiped off the face of the planet: "It’s not immediately clear how the move will benefit Real Estate III"
If you can buy a house for a monthly payment close to what you can rent it for, it's a sensible deal. If not you have overpaid and cannot ever come out even unless values keep going up. The disconnect between rents and purchase costs began about 15 years ago, but people still felt like financial geniuses during the heady days of the bubble. Buying now outside the sub $300K range is a bad deal in this area and even then one must be cautious that true value is there. Don't try to catch a falling knife.
Realtors are struggling in this area and others, caught in a declining market and trying to find any gimmick to bridge the gap between suddenly discerning buyers and sellers who stubbornly refuse to accede to reality.
The economy stinks and I am in the process of buying a house. They say there is one born every minute!
Homeownership rates are on the decline according to this article in today's Washington Post. This move was most likely one of desperation, to avoid going the way of several other firms-into bankruptcy.
"Economy has shifted Americans' attitudes about homeownership and money"
By Sadie Dingfelder
Special to The Washington Post
Saturday, April 10, 2010
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/08/AR201004...