Latter & Blum President, Richard Haase; Realty Associates Broker, Peter Merritt; and Latter & Blum Chairman and CEO, Robert Merrick.
Latter & Blum, a New Orleans-based real estate brokerage, has merged with Houston-based Realty Associates, the companies announced yesterday.
This is Latter & Blum’s Texas debut; the brokerage said in a statement that with this acquisition, annual revenue will be an estimated $4.3 billion.
Realty Associates in Houston will now operate as “Realty Associates, ERA Powered.” Peter Merritt will still be the broker-in-charge at the office.
“Our expansion into Houston provides our company access to the second-largest market in the United States,” said Robert Merrick, Chairman and CEO of Latter & Blum, in a statement. “There is a lot of synergy between Houston and our current operations in Louisiana and Mississippi. This move will make Latter & Blum the best-positioned company to serve the real estate needs of the oil and gas industry across the Gulf Coast.”
“Joining with Realty Associates allows us to take advantage of the substantial population movement in and between all of our existing markets and Houston,” said Richard Haase, President of Latter & Blum, in a statement. “As we diversify and grow our service area, we also lower our costs. That allows us to deliver more services and tools to our Agents so they can better serve our clients.”
“Our agents will have the support and services typically offered by other major companies in our market,” said Merritt in a statement. “Our partnership with Latter & Blum Inc. will now allow us to offer greater services to agents, homesellers and buyers throughout the Greater Houston market.”