Happenings: Industry News Bulletins

Century 21 Real Estate LLC announced the addition of four new residential real estate brokerage companies

Acquisitions & Affiliations

Century 21 Real Estate LLC announced the addition of four new residential real estate brokerage companies into the Century 21 System in September. The additions include: Century 21 Blue Ridge Properties, Sylva, North Carolina; Century 21 HomeStar, Garden Grove, California; Century 21 Manhattan Realty Group, Orlando, Florida; and Century 21 Premium Realty, Frederick, Maryland. In addition to these new companies, Century 21 Real Estate LLC expanded its network by 18 offices to a total of over 7,800 offices worldwide.

Weichert Real Estate Affiliates, Inc., the franchise arm of Weichert, Realtors, has added franchise offices in Kansas City, Mississippi, and Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The first new affiliate is: Weichert, Realtors – Silver Star Associates, Kansas City, Mississippi. Robert Jones is the owner and broker of record of this three-year-old company. Broker William (Bill) Brady came aboard as the new manager. The second new affiliate is: Weichert, Realtors – Carroll & Company, Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The five-year-old Middle Tennessee company is owned by Broker David Carroll; wife and Affiliate Broker Sharon Carroll is chief operating officer.

Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates, Inc. announced that its real estate network has expanded to serve many areas of central Massachusetts. Turner-Pieters & Hazel, Inc., a firm that specializes in finer homes and country properties, has joined the Sotheby's International Realty network to enhance its client services and market listings to more qualified buyers located throughout the nation and world. Nancy Hazel owns the firm, which will now do business as TP Hazel Sotheby's International Realty.

Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, Inc. announced the affiliation of Prudential Professionals Real Estate, a newly formed real estate brokerage. After more than 16 years in the real estate and property management industry, broker and co-owner Brooklyne Hardy paired her extensive industry experience with partner Kenneth Jackson, a senior Information Technology (IT) manager.

Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates, Inc. announced that one of the largest and most successful real estate firms in Spain will join the Sotheby's International Realty luxury real estate network. Kristina Szekely Real Estate, will soon offer its clients exclusive Sotheby's International Realty services to help market homes to well-qualified buyers from around the world.

Aram Minnetian, president of Weichert Relocation Resources Inc., announced that an affiliated Weichert company has acquired Corporate Relocation Services (C.R.S.). C.R.S., which was formerly owned by Paxton Van Lines, will remain a separate legal entity, ensuring consistency and continuity of service for its existing clients. The acquisition accelerates Weichert's diversification into the government market segment, a move that is expected to drive increased revenues and profits.

Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, Inc., a Prudential Financial, Inc. company, announced the affiliation of Realtycorp, which will now operate as Prudential 1st Realty. Prudential 1st Realty is located in Jonesboro, Tennessee. It services residential properties in Jonesboro, Paragould and Newport.

Personnel Notes

RE/MAX International has named Gerald R. Steen vice president, franchise sales. Previous to this promotion, Steen was director, franchise sales for company operated regions with oversight of franchise sales operations in seven company-owned regions, Mountain States, Pacific Northwest, St. Louis, Central/Northern Ohio, Pennsylvania/ Delaware, Central Atlantic and Southwest.

Chase announced that Amy Marcussen has joined its home mortgage group as National Head of Construction Lending. This division supports the needs of consumers who need construction financing on their new homes and are working with local home builders. Marcussen will focus on building the national products and processing platform so Chase can provide a seamless mortgage experience for consumers and builders during construction.

William A. Watson, Jr., president of Watson Mortgage Corp., announced that Bill Watson III, has been named Watson Mortgage Corp. executive vice president. In his new position as executive vice president, Watson will lead the company on-site, directing all day-to-day operations.

Halstead Property, LLC, a leading residential real estate brokerage firm in New York, announced that Fern Hammond and Sue Marcus have been named as senior vice presidents. Previously, Fern was an executive vice president at MLB Kaye and Marcus was an executive vice president at William B May/C21.

First American Title Insurance Company announced that its Lenders Advantage Division has named Thomas L. Schlesinger senior vice president, director of national settlement services (NSS) operations. This role is in addition to his position as vice president for First American Title Insurance Company.

Buffini & Company has announced that veteran sales and management expert Rick DeLuca will present at their events nationwide in 2007. DeLuca provides intensive business training for agents, lenders and brokers. His success and real-world experience as both agent and broker position him as one of the industry's leading authorities and trainers.

William Raveis, chairman and CEO of William Raveis Real Estate & Home Services, announced the creation of an Agent Service Team in the company's Greenwich, Connecticut offices. The program's main goal is to enable the company's sales associates to dedicate themselves to their listings and their customers while relying on the Agent Service Team to back them up by handling the crucial operations management of the sale.

An advocate for children's hospitals for many years, Vinnie Tracey, president of RE/MAX International, has been named chair of Children's Miracle Network, a position that allows him to continue to support their efforts. Since 1983, this special alliance of 170 premier children's hospitals in North America has raised more than $2.7 billion, which has helped provide the finest medical care, life-saving research and preventative education, and helps more than 17 million children annually overcome diseases and injuries of every kind.

John Yen Wong, sales professional with Prudential California Realty in San Francisco, was named Person of the Year by the Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA) during its inaugural convention October 12-14 in Long Beach, California. Wong, a founding member and past national chairman of AREAA, was selected by a panel of industry leaders for his unwavering commitment to AREAA's mission, which is to increase homeownership opportunities for Asian Pacific Americans and help empower the industry and its members-mortgage and real estate professionals-to better serve this growing market.

New Products/Services

Century 21 Real Estate LLC announced the launch of CENTURY 21 Mobile, an innovative listing and agent locator and financial resource tool designed for consumers on the go. By accessing mobile.c21.com or mobile.century21.com, consumers can now search for properties, agents, and offices, as well as utilize interactive financial tools-such as a mortgage calculator-at their convenience via their PDAs, cell phones and other handheld devices with Internet access capability.

Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corporation has taken the next step in providing the upfront control consumers demand when looking for homes on the Web with its launch of an enhanced mapping feature on www.coldwellbanker.com. By using Microsoft Virtual Earth technology, the mapping feature enables Web users to view Coldwell Banker properties from a variety of perspectives within a state, city and community, while also allowing them to see a home's proximity to ten important service categories, including: schools, shopping, dining, health services, banks and places of worship, among others.

RE/MAX unveiled a new Web site for the RE/MAX Caribbean and Central America region (www.remax-caribbeanislands.com or www.remax-centralamerica.com). The new version keeps one of the main features of the old site-clickable maps-and now has individual pages for each country or territory, including relevant content and maps indicating the location of the various offices in the region.

Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. announced the release of PropertyTaxDirect, a secure online service that provides lending institutions with aggregated property tax data for loan closing and escrow account setup. This service instantly provides address standardization, automated tax ID search, tax agency identification, correct tax amounts to collect at close, tax line setup and more. This enables lenders to deliver the most accurate tax payment cycle to their borrowers and to their servicing departments.

Advanced Access Vice President and General Manager Justin Davis, announced the unveiling of the company's latest technological advancement in real estate Web site design, with the launching of Classic Package^TM 4.0.

NAR's Marketing & Business Development department announced the recent release of NAR's first-ever official guides on home buying and home selling. These consumer-focused publications-The National Association Of Realtors Guide to Home Buying and The National Association Of Realtors Guide to Home Selling-combine the collective data and knowledge from NAR leaders and industry experts.

Zillow.com announced that it has made its Application Programming Interface (API) available free of charge to third-party consumer Web sites. By implementing the API, other Web sites can recreate Zillow's functionality on their domain, turning member sites into mini real estate portals that include detailed information from Zillow's extensive database on millions of homes. The company is offering two different APIs: home valuations and property details.

Birdview Technologies announced the launch of its TeamSite product. Teamsite is the first product designed from the ground up specifically for agent teams and top-producing agents. The TeamSite product follows in Birdview's long line of tools designed to help real estate agents stay in front of the online consumer.

a la mode has added advanced lead management and lead routing features to its Broker XSites' product line. Broker XSites are specifically targeted to the needs of small- to mid-size brokers. Grouped lead routing with Broker XSites allows brokers to automatically route Web leads to the agents most qualified to close them, based on property type, geographic area, or other pre-defined criteria.

Joint Ventures

Real Living Inc. announced the addition of Google mapping tools to its Web site, RealLiving.com, and that all of its listings can now be searched on Google, giving Real Living client listings worldwide exposure.

Realogy Corporation announced that American Home Shield (AHS) is now the exclusive provider of home warranties for Realogy's private label Century 21, ERA, and Coldwell Banker home protection plans, in addition to home warranties used by Cartus for its relocation clients. Realogy and American Home Shield recently signed a five-year marketing agreement that will extend through September 2011.

Chase and The First American Corporation, provider of business information, announced the formation of Quantrix Valuation, a joint venture designed to assist in property appraisals. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Prudential California/Nevada/Texas Realty announced a content partnership with Google to provide property listings and agent information to the online search engine's searchable content. The content partnership with Google will grant home sellers increased visibility for their property listings, as the partnership allows home buyers greater access to search for properties with specific attributes including details on bedrooms, baths, lot size and address.

First American International Services Group, a member of The First American Corporation family of companies, announced that Sebring Capital Partners, L.P., a wholesale residential mortgage lender, is partnering with First American International Services Group to utilize the division's extensive offshore capabilities.
8Awards/Accolades

John Silvia, sales professional with Prudential Prime Properties in Middletown, Rhode Island, was named the 2006 Rhode Island Realtor of the Year by the Rhode Island Association of Realtors. Silvia was selected from a finalist group of five local boards' Realtor of the Year winners. He was honored at the National Association of Realtors Conference and Expo in New Orleans. Silvia has been a consistent multimillion-dollar producer and a Prudential Real Estate President's Circle and Leading Edge award winner, placing him in the top 5% of Prudential Real Estate's national sales force. He is the immediate past president of the Newport County Board of Realtors.

Events

Century 21 System will convene for the 34th annual Century 21 International Convention on March 12 – 15, 2007. Century 21 System members from around the globe will "Go for the Gold" in Las Vegas as they host this annual gathering at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. This upcoming event will offer networking and learning opportunities that assist attendees in maintaining a competitive advantage in their marketplace.

Openings

Realty Information Systems, dba Help-U-Sell Real Estate, announced the launch of its global expansion, with offices in South Africa that offer Help-U-Sell Real Estate's fee-for-service business model. Since opening an office in Pretoria earlier this year, the company has already established 12 franchise offices throughout the country.

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