Realogy, the largest U.S. residential brokerage, announced changes intended to help agents and franchises.
The moves include the integration of the Coldwell Banker affiliate network and company-owned brokerage, creation of a new Realogy Expansion Brands portfolio led by Sherry Chris containing the Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate and ERA brands and the Climb brokerage operations, as well as the creation of a new product and innovation group to serve the respective franchises and Realogy.
The addition of the product and innovation group will combine agent technology, partnerships, learning and recruiting under one team led by Simon Chen, the former ERA CEO.
"At Realogy, all of our efforts are focused on growth, and we continue to transform ourselves to deliver new products, services and technology that further fuel our powerful brands and the businesses of affiliated agents and owners," said Ryan Schneider, Realogy president and CEO. "These changes are designed to empower our teams to move faster and more nimbly take advantage of Realogy's scale and resources to benefit agents and franchisees across all of our brands."
Effective Jan. 1, 2020, the integration kicks off with the Coldwell Banker unified leadership team to be led by Ryan Gorman, who is also the CEO of NRT, a Realogy subsidiary.
Also in January, current Coldwell Banker CEO, Charlie Young, will transition to a senior advisor role, supporting the integration.
"Coldwell Banker is an iconic brand, and great brands are continuously seeking new ways to grow even stronger," said Gorman. "In working closely with Charlie and his leaders to plan for the roll out of the recent rebrand, it became clear how powerful a unified Coldwell Banker brand team could be in serving our affiliated agents, franchisees and consumers."
In July, Realogy announced it was partnering with Amazon, the world's largest retailer, to match homebuyers with real estate agents through a program called TurnKey. Realogy has more than 50,000 agents.
Potential buyers will be able to go through their Amazon account, click on TurnKey, put in details about the size, price and location of the home they want to buy, and then be matched with one of Realogy’s agents. In return, customers get up to $5,000 of Amazon products and assistance called a “Move-In Benefit,” which includes help with chores and product installation through a division of the retailer called Amazon Home Services.
