The merger of GMAC Real Estate and Real Living into a single company operating under the Real Living brand is living up to the potential envisioned a year ago, with brokerages representing the vast majority of agents making the transition.
When the merger was announced in November 2009, parent company Brookfield Residential Property Services said it expected it would have 10,000 agents working from 600 offices under the Real Living brand, generating annual sales of about $20 billion.
With more than 50 brokerages affiliating with the Real Living brand so far this year, the franchise now has 394 offices and nearly 9,000 sales professionals. Real Living announced Wednesday the 10 most recent companies to affiliate with the franchise.
The majority of the companies that have adopted the Real Living brand this year were former GMAC Real Estate companies that have elected to continue with Real Living, the company said.
Just weeks before the Real Living merger was announced, GMAC Real Estate lost one of its biggest brokerages — Atlanta-based Metro Brokers Inc., which employed 2,100 agents at the time of the split.
Metro Brokers affiliated with Realogy Corp.’s newest franchise, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, in December. A month later, Realogy hired former GMAC Home Services President and CEO John Bearden.
Both Real Living and Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate have labeled themselves "lifestyle brands," a term marketers apply to companies that attempt to align themselves with consumers’ values and aspirations.
