Realty Executives Expands Reach in California

February 8, 2010
By Allison Landa, News Editor

Courtesy Flickr Creative Commons user the_tahoe_guy

Real estate franchise Realty Executives is looking to add to its approximately 700 outposts and 11,000 employees. The firm has launched 13 new franchises in California since July 2009 and is looking to expand further.

“People are misguided to think that you should sit on the sidelines and wait for an ideal market – instead, we see these dynamic economic times as an opportunity to ride the upswing,” Realty Executives California regional developer Mark Vost told CPE. “I think the tough real-estate market has afforded a much-needed cleansing for the real estate industry. The truly productive real estate professionals are left because they know how to leverage opportunities that exist in today’s new real estate reality.”

Vost said the company chose to expand its commercial and residential reach in California due to the state’s resilient real estate market and significant state economy. He also asserted that signs of recovery have been seen in California since the second half of 2009.

“With California’s rebounding market, we are definitely seeing an uptick in real estate overall,” he said. The 13 new franchises are located in the cities of Burbank, Cerritos, Cypress, Fair Oaks, Perris, Richmond, Turlock, West Covina, Rancho Cucamonga, Solana Beach, Woodland Hills, Simi Valley, Chino Hills and Temecula.

Giuliana Ury, a broker/owner at Realty Executives Milano in Richmond, Calif., plans on expanding her commercial real estate business this year.

“I am planning to grow both the residential and commercial,” she said. “Currently I have two executives only working commercial, including myself, and I am planning to hire more.”

Ury believes that working in the commercial markets is still a difficult endeavor due to the credit crunch. However, a decrease in prices during the recession helped her find commercial opportunities that may not have otherwise existed in the expensive San Francisco Bay Area.

“It was very difficult to make properties cash flow and we had many defaults,” she notes. “Hopefully the market is correcting itself and will recover and be healthier than it was.”

Based in Phoenix, Realty Executives has offices in the United States, Africa, Australia, Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, France, Greece, Honduras, Israel, Mexico, Panama, Poland, Romania, Nicaragua, Spain and Turkey.