History of Coldwell Banker United
A HISTORY OF COLDWELL BANKER UNITED, REALTORS®
May 16, 2007
Coldwell Banker United, Realtors® was founded by Richard A. Smith as Richard Smith Company on July 1, 1970, in College Station, Texas. Originally a commercial brokerage company, it entered the residential market in 1971 after moving to expanded quarters in Bryan, Texas. In 1974 after rapid growth, the company re-entered the College Station market by opening a branch office. By the mid ’70s, the company had become the volume sales leader in Bryan-College Station with two offices and 16 sales agents handling residential, commercial, industrial, and farm and ranch sales. The company also had started a construction division and was active in land development. During the ’70s, several highly successful land syndications were formed with local investors.
In 1986, the company affiliated with Coldwell Banker, the nation's largest real estate company, and operated as Coldwell Banker Richard Smith, Realtors®. However, as a franchisee, it remained an independently owned and operated company. At that time Coldwell Banker had almost 1,900 offices with 40,000 sales associates throughout the U.S. Since affiliating with Coldwell Banker, the company has grown rapidly.
On March 1, 1990, the company acquired five Coldwell Banker residential offices in the Austin area from Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage.
On January 1, 1996, the company acquired eight residential real estate brokerage offices in the greater Houston area from Coldwell Banker United, Realtors® and three residential offices in Killeen/Ft. Hood from Coldwell Banker Wright Real Estate. These acquisitions made the company the largest Coldwell Banker affiliate in Texas in transaction sides and the 5th largest affiliate in the nation.
In 1997, the company expanded again with the acquisition of ERA Whisenhunt in Killeen, Coldwell Banker Lighthouse Realty in Galveston, Aldous Realty in Lake Jackson, and Nancy Sartain, Realtors® in Houston. Between February 1998 and the end of 2000, the company acquired Ferester & Associates, RE/MAX Southbelt, and five Century 21 offices in the Houston area. All were converted to Coldwell Banker United, Realtors®. In March 2001 the company acquired the residential operations of Henry S. Miller, Realtors® in Austin and Houston which at that time included 12 branch offices. Then, in August 2001 the company acquired the Will Clark Real Estate office and the Century 21 Real-Tec office in Angleton, Texas.
On September 11, 2002, the company extended its operation to the southeast when it acquired 11 offices in Charlotte, N.C. and Columbia, S.C. At the time of this acquisition, all company offices adopted the name Coldwell Banker United, Realtors®
On June 23, 2003, the company expanded to East Texas by acquiring three offices from Pirtle Real Estate Services in Tyler, Bullard and Whitehouse, Texas. The Lindale, Texas branch was acquired from Town & Lake Realty in August of 2003.
The year 2004 brought the company several new additions. In January, the company acquired Forest Associates Realtors located in Northwest Houston, Texas; in June, three Coldwell Banker Stepp Tuttle offices in Rock Hill, Ft. Mill and Lancaster, South Carolina; in July, Hunter Realty in Statesville, North Carolina; and, in August Coldwell Banker Real Estate Professionals in Conroe, Texas. Also, in the spring of 2004, the company acquired Buyer’s Agent Realty in Spring, Texas.
On January 4, 2005, the company acquired Lakehaven Associates offices in Mt. Vernon, Texas, Mt. Pleasant, Texas, and Emory/Lake Fork, Texas. On May 3, 2005, Coldwell Banker Treadway, Realtors which is located in Texarkana, Texas was acquired by the company. House Hunters of Texas, an Austin, Texas company, was acquired in July 2005. Commins-Moses Realty Company, Inc. of Sumter, South Carolina was added to the company’s roster in May 2006. In the Houston area, the company acquired Coldwell Banker Madeline O’Brien and Coldwell Banker Swilley-Hudson in September 2006 and Coldwell Banker Mandola Realty in February 2007. Lilly Real Estate in Mt. Pleasant, Texas was acquired in April 2007.
The company's offices are located throughout central and southeast Texas in Austin, Round Rock, Georgetown, College Station, Killeen and Copperas Cove. Also, there are a number of offices in the greater Houston area including the city of Houston, Bellaire, Sugar Land, Katy, The Woodlands, Humble, Kingwood and Conroe. Other Texas branch offices are located in Galveston, Tyler, Texarkana, Lindale, Bullard, Whitehouse, Mt. Pleasant, Mt. Vernon, and Lake Jackson. There are 10 branch offices in Charlotte, N.C. area, five offices in Columbia, S.C. and one office in Sumter, S.C. All offices are managed by a Vice President, Branch Manager with a wealth of experience in residential real estate sales.
According to both “REAL Trends” and “RISMedia,” industry trade publications, the company, in 2006, was ranked #8 nationally in transaction sides. The 2006 reports are a compilation of nationwide studies of leading real estate companies that represent a comprehensive collection of data assembled on the leaders of the residential brokerage industry.
Coldwell Banker United, Realtors® currently operates 55 residential branch offices and one commercial branch office with a sales force of over 1,946 sales associates and over 345 employees. The company closed over 27,029 transaction sides in 2006 with a sales volume of over $5.5 billion.
The company is a principal broker with Cartus Mobility, a company which provides relocation services to dozens of the nation's top corporations and has the largest market share of any relocation company. This association produces hundreds of referrals and third-party listings to the company.
The company provides access to the services of Coldwell Banker Mortgage in all of its residential branch offices
