Franchise network Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate has entered the New York City market with the addition of a Staten Island brokerage, the network announced today.
Safari Realty, a 23-year-old brokerage with more than 50 agents, will now be known as Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Safari Realty. The brokerage is owned by Fran and Frank Reali and serves the New York metropolitan area.
"The increasingly informed consumer seeks a highly trained real estate professional, and our affiliation with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate will provide high-level training, tools and resources that will continue to give us an edge in the market," said Fran Reali, in a statement.
A subsidiary of Realogy Corp., Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate has about 7,000 sales associates and more than 200 offices. Last month, the network announced it had signed a 25-year master franchise agreement to expand the brand across Canada, its first foray outside of the United States.
At the time, Sherry Chris, the network’s president and CEO, told Inman News there were a series of additions to the U.S. franchise network planned this year.
The network currently operates in 24 U.S. states. Its size increased dramatically last year with the addition of brokerages in Texas, Florida, Nevada, Virginia, Maine, New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana, Oregon and California.
A 20-year franchise agreement to add Prudential California Realty and Prudential Nevada Realty to its list of affiliates last year increased the network’s agent count by more than one-third. That brokerage, which now operates as Better Homes and Gardens Mason-McDuffie Real Estate, had 1,900 agents and 36 offices in Northern California and Nevada at the time of the announcement.
