A major real estate brokerage company merger gives GMAC Real Estate a new name while expanding the Real Living real estate brand and growing the U.S. operations of Canada-based Brookfield Residential Property Services.
The merger of GMAC Real Estate and Real Living, which will operate under the Real Living name and under parent company Brookfield, represents the second sizable U.S. expansion of Brookfield operations in the past two years.
Brookfield — which is based in Toronto and operates the Royal LePage and others brands in Canada — entered into a deal to purchase GMAC Home Services LLC, including its real estate brokerage operations, in September 2008 (see story).
Financial terms of the latest deal were not announced.
Harley E. Rouda Jr. — son of Real Living’s founder, who established his first brokerage company, HER Realtors, in the basement of his home in 1956 — will lead the merged company as president. Real Living was established in 2002.
The joining of Real Living’s roughly 2,000 agents and 130 offices with GMAC Real Estate will give the merged Real Living operations about 10,000 agents and 600 offices, and an annual sales volume estimated at about $20 billion, according to a company announcement today.
That brings the Brookfield total to about 30,000 sales associates across North America, with about $50 billion in annual sales.
Graham Badun, Brookfield RPS’ managing partner and chief executive officer, told Inman News in June that GMAC Real Estate was seeking a new executive to run the firm and also seeking a new name.
Badun had taken on a dual role as GMAC Real Estate interim president in June, when former GMAC Real Estate President and CEO John Bearden stepped down.
GMAC Real Estate sold off all of its corporate-owned brokerage offices across the country after its acquisition by Brookfield, culminating with the sale of Chicago-based luxury brokerage Koenig & Strey GMAC Real Estate to HomeServices of America Inc. that was announced in September.
In the 2009 Real Trends 500 list, based on an annual U.S. brokerage company survey, GMAC Real Estate’s company-owned operations had ranked fifth in the nation based on sales volume, and 12th based on closed transaction sides. …CONTINUED
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