Dallas-based Ebby Halliday Real Estate Inc. has expanded its massive North Texas footprint with the acquisition of luxury boutique brokerage Williams Trew Real Estate.
With the acquisition of the Fort Worth-based, 80-agent firm, Ebby Halliday furthers its position as the largest independent broker in Texas and one of the largest in the U.S.
“Timing is everything, and the timing of this move meets current market needs and positions our company to better serve current and future residents of Fort Worth,” said Mary Burleson, president and CEO of the Ebby Halliday Companies, in a statement.
Two of Williams Trew Real Estate’s co-founders, Martha Williams and Joan Trew, will stay on board and help run the company, which will maintain its brand and be known as Williams Trew, an Ebby Halliday Real Estate Company.
Williams Trew’s third co-founder, Marshall Boyd, will stay on board through the transition and then pursue other business endeavors.
As part of the acquisition, Williams Trew has dropped its 3-year-old affiliation with Realogy’s international luxury franchise brand Sotheby’s International Realty and will join a referral network, Luxury Portfolio International, run by the international broker network Leading Real Estate Companies of the World.
Ebby Halliday, which has approximately 1,600 agents in 30 offices, is also a member of the network. Ebby Halliday closed 19,513 transaction sides for a total sales volume of $6.4 billion in 2013, making it the ninth-largest brokerage in the U.S. by dollar volume that year, according to Real Trends.
In August, Kuper Sotheby’s International Realty acquired an 84-agent nearby independent firm, Austin-based Amelia Bullock Realtors.