Lancaster News 6/3/2008
The two most successful real estate companies in northwestern Lancaster County are merging their Elizabethtown offices.
Preferred Realty is joining forces with Prudential Homesale Services Group today. The union of these two companies will add 38 agents to Prudential Homesale's staff of nearly 1,000 agents.
This morning, the Preferred Realty partners shared with their agents that "we are joining with Prudential Homesale to give our customers every opportunity in the market-place. Large firms have the resources to promote our customers’ homes more extensively on the Internet and in print".
Combined, Prudential Homesale and Preferred transacted 45.42% of homes sold in the Elizabethtown school district last year and 38.14% of homes sold in the Donegal school district. This is four times the sales pace of the #2 companies in each of these markets.
Preferred's 2007 sales volume adds another $66 million to Prudential Homesale's $2.39 billion. This sales volume is more that twice that of the second-largest company in south central PA.
"The addition of Preferred continues to strengthen our service capabilities between Lancaster and Harrisburg" said Homesale’s Managing Directors.
Located halfway between Lancaster and Harrisburg, Elizabethtown is frequently selected as a place to live by families with a family member working in each city.
Prudential Homesale's other Lancaster County locations include offices in the northern and western suburbs of Lancaster, Mt Joy, Ephrata, Willow Street and Quarryville.
Homesale’s Business Development and Relocation Division, HomeSale Mortgage Services and HomeSale Settlement services are located at 131 Centerville Road in Lancaster.
Prudential Homesale will relocate its Elizabethtown office at 155 East High Street into Preferred's 9,600 sq. ft. office at 48 South Market Street.
With its corporate location in Lancaster, Prudential Homesale is the only regional real estate headquartered in south central PA. The Company has 25 offices in 9 Pennsylvania counties with over 1,250 agents and employees.
REALTrends magazine ranks Prudential Homesale as 19th in the nation in combined realty, mortgage and title transactions.
The Patriot News Real estate group joins Prudential
Wednesday, April 02, 2008BY DAN MILLER of The Patriot-News
Imagine that every McDonald's in the midstate decided overnight to become Burger King or Wendy's.
That's big news in the fast-food business. But it might not concern someone who just wants a hamburger in a hurry.
That's one way to look at Tuesday's announcement by the region's biggest residential real estate company that, from now on, it will be Prudential HomeSale Services Group and not Coldwell Banker.
Some offices with Lancaster-based HomeSale have had an affiliation with Coldwell Banker for 25 years.
According to Doug Rebert, a managing director with HomeSale, the company's switch to Prudential has to do with Coldwell Banker's parent company, Realogy Corp.
"Realogy seems to want to add more franchising brands to their stable," Rebert said. He said HomeSale wonders whether the Coldwell Banker name can command as much attention being part of an umbrella of real estate companies owned by Realogy.
Realogy also owns Century 21, ERA and NRT. NRT is the parent company of Jack Gaughen Realtor ERA.
Jack Gaughen is HomeSale's closest competitor in this region. Jack Gaughen had a 2007 sales volume of $1.17 billion, according to REALTrends Magazine. HomeSale registered $2.09 billion.
Rebert expressed concern over how much debt Realogy took on as part of last year's acquisition of the company by Apollo Management LP, a private equity firm.
Coldwell Banker CEO Charlie Young said, "The debt Realogy holds is no factor and plays no part in the way we manage our relations with" affiliates.
HomeSale was Coldwell Banker's top affiliate in Pennsylvania.
Young said Coldwell Banker is committed to a presence in the Lancaster-York-Harrisburg market. He would not say if Coldwell Banker will affiliate with another company or form a company-owned operation.
Camp Hill Realtor Dan Piscioneri, who is affiliated with Century 21, said he doubts if a company's affiliation or parent makes any difference to the average home buyer or seller.
Piscioneri said Century 21 has had six owners over his 25-year relationship with the company. "The consumer has continually received quality service," he said.
Jack Gaughen spokesman Dick Tucker declined to comment.
Rebert said customers will benefit from what he contended is Prudential's more robust Web presence. He said prospective buyers and sellers can access property information online faster because of Prudential's partnership with Yahoo.
CNBC
HomeSale Realty Services Group Affiliates with Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, Inc.| 01 Apr 2008 | 10:00 AM ET Font size: NEWARK, N.J., Apr 01, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, Inc., a Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU) company, today announced the affiliation of HomeSale Realty Services Group, Inc., previously affiliated with Coldwell Banker. HomeSale Realty Services Group will operate as Prudential Homesale Services Group, Prudential Bob Yost Homesale Services, Prudential Bob Yost - Sites Homesale, and Prudential Landis Homesale Services.
"We are delighted to welcome Prudential HomeSale Realty Services Group to our affiliate network," said Laurie Keenan, president, Prudential Real Estate Affiliates. "The company has forged an impeccable reputation for customer service and innovation, and it is the soundest of corporate citizens. It is an ideal fit for the Prudential Real Estate network." HomeSale Realty Services Group, a full-service real estate brokerage, operates 23 offices with 1,200 sales professionals and employees. It serves Adams, Berks, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Perry, Schuylkill and York counties in South Central and Southeastern Pennsylvania.
"We chose to affiliate with Prudential Real Estate because we felt it was the best fit for the future," said Rick Doyle, president, HomeSale Realty Services Group. "Prudential Real Estate offers global brand strength, vision and values that are closely aligned with our own. Prudential Real Estate also sets the pace for real estate technology, and our company is focused on leveraging technology to better serve our customers." HomeSale Realty Services Group has earned numerous honors and distinctions. It has been the number one Coldwell Banker affiliate in Pennsylvania for the last 11 years, and number three overall in 2007 with $2.092 billion in closed residential sales. In addition, the company has earned Coldwell Banker's Chairman's Circle award (top 10 percent of all Coldwell Banker companies worldwide) for 21 straight years. Central Penn Business Journal named the company as one of the best places to work in Pennsylvania, as well as one of the Top 50 fastest-growing companies. REAL Trends ranks the company as number 16 nationwide in the combined delivery of real estate sales, mortgage originations and title closings. REALTOR(R) Magazine places HomeSale Realty Services at number 29 out of the Top 100 Companies for transactions.
Experience and vision help drive this company. Its four managing directors - Doug Rebert, Pete Slaugh, Ronald Landis and Mark Korman - combined have more than a century of experience in real estate. In addition to real estate, mortgage and settlement, other company services include insurance, warranty, relocation, and rental management and builder/developer services.
Keenan said the new affiliation creates a "dream team" for Prudential Real Estate in Pennsylvania. One of its leading affiliates, Prudential Fox & Roach, REALTORS(R), dominates the greater Philadelphia market. Another, Prudential Preferred Realty, is a mainstay throughout Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas.
"We have an enviable presence in the Keystone State with some of the finest real estate companies in the nation," Keenan said. "Real estate consumers throughout the state and region will benefit." Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services is Prudential's integrated real estate brokerage franchise and relocation services business. Prudential Real Estate franchises are independently owned and operated. Companies are selected based upon outstanding performance records, high levels of customer service and shared business values with those of Prudential. Prudential Real Estate provides franchises with business strategies using Operation Reviews as well as numerous benefits, including access to Prudential Real Estate's Online Seller Advantage(SM) program designed to provide real-time information to sellers with the touch of a keystroke. Prudential Real Estate is one of the largest real estate brokerage franchise networks in North America, with nearly 2,100 franchise offices and approximately 64,000 sales professionals in the franchise Network as of December 31, 2007.
Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader with approximately $648 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2007, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Leveraging its heritage of life insurance and asset management expertise, Prudential is focused on helping more than 50 million individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth. The company's well-known Rock symbol is an icon of strength, stability, expertise, and innovation that has stood the test of time. Prudential's businesses offer a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds, investment management, and real estate services. For more information, please visit www.prudential.com.
Under construction...