A HISTORY OF COLDWELL BANKER UNITED, REALTORS®
May 2014
Coldwell Banker United, Realtors® was founded by Richard A. Smith as Richard Smith Company on July 1, 1970, in College Station, Texas. Originally a commercial brokerage company, it entered the residential market in 1971. By the mid ’70s, the company had become the volume sales leader in Bryan-College Station with two offices and 16 sales agents handling residential, commercial, industrial, and farm and ranch sales. The company also had started a construction division and was active in land development. During the ’70s, several highly successful land syndications were formed with local investors.
In 1986, the company affiliated with Coldwell Banker, the nation's largest real estate company, and operated as Coldwell Banker Richard Smith, Realtors®. However, as a franchisee, it remained an independently owned and operated company. Since affiliating with Coldwell Banker, the company has grown rapidly.
On March 1, 1990, the company acquired five Coldwell Banker residential offices in the Austin area from Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage.
On January 1, 1996, the company acquired eight residential real estate brokerage offices in the greater Houston area from Coldwell Banker United, Realtors® and three residential offices in Killeen/Ft. Hood from Coldwell Banker Wright Real Estate. These acquisitions made the company the largest Coldwell Banker affiliate in Texas in transaction sides and the 5th largest affiliate in the nation.
In 1997, the company expanded again in Texas with the acquisition of ERA Whisenhunt in Killeen, Coldwell Banker Lighthouse Realty in Galveston, Aldous Realty in Lake Jackson, and Nancy Sartain, Realtors® in Houston. Between February 1998 and the end of 2000, the company acquired Ferester & Associates, RE/MAX Southbelt, and five Century 21 offices in the Houston area. All were converted to Coldwell Banker United, Realtors®. In March 2001 the company acquired the residential operations of Henry S. Miller, Realtors® in Austin and Houston which at that time included 12 branch offices. Then, in August 2001 the company acquired the Will Clark Real Estate office and the Century 21 Real-Tec office in Angleton, Texas.
On September 11, 2002, the company extended its operation to the southeast when it acquired 11 offices in Charlotte, North Carolina and Columbia, South Carolina. At the time of this acquisition, all company offices adopted the name Coldwell Banker United, Realtors®.
On June 23, 2003, the company expanded to East Texas by acquiring three offices from Pirtle Real Estate Services in Tyler, Bullard and Whitehouse, Texas. The Lindale, Texas branch was acquired from Town & Lake Realty in August of 2003.
The year 2004 brought the company several new additions. In January, the company acquired Forest Associates Realtors® located in Northwest Houston, Texas; in June, three Coldwell Banker Stepp Tuttle offices in Rock Hill, Ft. Mill and Lancaster, South Carolina; in July, Hunter Realty in Statesville, North Carolina; and, in August Coldwell Banker Real Estate Professionals in Conroe, Texas. Also, in the spring of 2004, the company acquired Buyer’s Agent Realty in Spring, Texas.
On January 4, 2005, the company acquired Lakehaven Associates offices in Mt. Vernon, Texas, Mt. Pleasant, Texas, and Emory/Lake Fork, Texas. On May 3, 2005, Coldwell Banker Treadway, Realtors which is located in Texarkana, Texas was acquired by the company. House Hunters of Texas, an Austin, Texas company, was acquired in July 2005. Commins-Moses Realty Company, Inc. of Sumter, South Carolina was added to the company’s roster in May 2006. In the Houston area, the company acquired Coldwell Banker Madeline O’Brien and Coldwell Banker Swilley-Hudson in September 2006 and Coldwell Banker Mandola Realty in February 2007. Lilly Real Estate in Mt. Pleasant, Texas was acquired in April 2007.
On August 20, 2007, the company acquired Coldwell Banker JME Realty, headquartered in Pensacola, Florida. This company operated 20 residential and two commercial offices in the Florida panhandle and the Gulf Coast areas of Alabama and Mississippi. In the first quarter of 2008, Coldwell Banker United, Realtors® purchased several offices in the Panama City, Florida area from NRT and Coldwell Banker Coastal Properties in Charleston, South Carolina.
In November 2008, Coldwell Banker United, Realtors® acquired, through an asset purchase, Century 21 Bob Capes Realtors® in Columbia and Aiken, South Carolina. This asset purchase doubled the size of the company in that area and made it the largest brokerage operation in the state.
In December of 2013, Coldwell Banker United, Realtors® acquired Coldwell Banker Premier Realty in Baytown, joining forces to strengthen its position in local residential real estate and relocation business.
Currently, the company's offices are located throughout central, southeast and northeast Texas; the Florida panhandle; and North and South Carolina. All offices are managed by a Vice President - Branch Manager with a wealth of experience in residential real estate sales.
Coldwell Banker United, Realtors® is the #1 company in the Coldwell Banker network of independently owned affiliates as measured in transaction sides and adjusted gross commission income.
According to "REAL Trends®" a leading industry trade publication, the company, in 2012, was ranked #8th nationally among all real estate companies in transaction sides and #9th nationally among all real estate companies in sales volume. The "REAL Trends®" report is a compilation of nationwide studies of leading real estate companies that represent a comprehensive collection of data assembled on the leaders of the residential brokerage industry.
Coldwell Banker United, Realtors® currently operates 59 residential branch offices and three commercial branch offices with a sales force averaging 2,000 sales associates and over 275 employees. The company closed 25,022 transaction sides in 2013 with a sales volume of over $5.7 billion.
According to RIS Media's Power Broker Report for 2013, Coldwell Banker United, Realtors® ranks #8 in transaction count and #12 in sales across the Nation.
The company is a principal broker with Cartus, a company which provides relocation services to dozens of the nation's top corporations and has the largest market share of any relocation company. This association produces thousands of referrals and third-party listings to the company.
The company provides access to the services of Coldwell Banker Mortgage in all of its residential branch offices. The company offers title insurance through United Title in selected Houston, Texas markets.
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