Coldwell Banker: Offering Real Estate Services Since 1906

From Demir Barlas

Here's a Profile of the Century-Old Real Estate Franchisor.

Coldwell Banker was founded in San Francisco in 1906 as a residential real estate company. Today, Coldwell Banker, headquartered in Parsippany, NJ, offers both residential and commercial real estate services through its corporate offices, as well as through franchisees in 47 countries and every US state.

Coldwell Banker is owned by Realogy, which owns other popular real estate brands such as Century 21. Realogy is itself owned by the private-equity company Apollo Management. Coldwell Banker does tens of billions of dollars in annual business in the US and Canada.

Coldwell Banker Residential Services,

Coldwell Banker offers brokerage services to both buyers and sellers. The company prides itself on its use of online technology in this area. The Coldwell Banker web site offers buyers not only the ability to conduct a property search through searchable databases of hundreds of thousands of houses for sale, but buyers can also use the Personal Retriever, an automated program that notifies buyers when houses they might be interested in (based on inputs such as sale price, neighborhood, etc.) hit the market.

In addition, Coldwell Banker offers buyers an index of financial calculators, relocation tips, comparative market analysis and other information pertinent to buying a home. Sellers, meanwhile, can use the Coldwell Banker website to obtain home value estimates, watch streaming videos and read tips on home improvement and home staging, learn more about their neighborhood (in order to assist in setting the right price) and contact Coldwell Banker sales associates.

Coldwell Banker's international network and suite of brokerage services enable customers to easily buy and sell a home at the same time, reducing the complexity and stress of dealing with separate brokerage agencies during a move to another house.

Coldwell Banker Commercial Services

Coldwell Banker entered the commercial real estate market in the mid-1990s. The company deals in office space, industrial and hospitality real estate, retail and other commercial categories, and serves not only as a brokerage but also as an auctioneer, construction manager, investment analyst, property developer, property manager and provider of other value-added services.

Coldwell Banker Franchising

Unlike Century 21, which adopted the franchise model at the beginning of its history, Coldwell Banker did not offer franchising until 1982, 76 years after the company's founding. Since 1982, however, Coldwell Banker has prioritized this part of its business, and today the company has roughly 3,000 franchisees, mainly in the US and Canada.

Although Coldwell Banker doesn't release franchise information on its web site, franchise information site FranchiseMall.com claims that Coldwell Banker's franchise fee ranges from $13,000 to $25,000 and that the company charges a 6% annual royalty. Both of these fees are in line with norms in the real estate franchising industry.

What Makes Coldwell Banker Different?

The real estate industry was slow to adopt certain forms of online technology, but Coldwell Banker was an early adopter of RSS, streaming video and the like. Today, the company maintains a commitment to leveraging technology for brokerage services.

Coldwell Banker's business model is flexible enough to accommodate a slowing real estate environment in which home prices are flat or falling. For example, in Ireland, Coldwell Banker boldly instituted a rental guarantee that indemnifies landlords against the risk of absentee or deadbeat tenants. Worldwide, Coldwell Banker also offers property management services that can be valuable to prospective buyers who can't sell their homes. Such services allow Coldwell Banker to go beyond the limitations of typical real estate brokerage and offer a wide variety of options to both buyers and sellers.

Coldwell Banker also has a global vision and is pushing into relatively unexplored markets such as Vietnam and Turkey, a country in which the residential mortgage is a brand-new financial product. In 2007, Coldwell Banker partnered with the Egyptian company Betna to extend Coldwell Banker franchise opportunities to 20 countries in Central and Eastern Europe. At a time when some other real estate brokerages lacked a compelling international strategy, those daring moves have expanded Coldwell Banker's reach and offer buyers and sellers truly global options.

Finally, Coldwell Banker has made a dedicated effort to serve niches within the residential real estate business. Specifically, the company's Coldwell Banker Previews International program targets an affluent buyers' market, and the company's "Best of Your Life" initiative targets consumers between the ages of 50 and 69.

Contact Coldwell Banker

A contact page highlighted on Coldwell Banker's web site offers buyers and sellers a way to find and get in touch with local Coldwell Banker agents. There is separate contact information for potential Coldwell Banker franchisees. The corporate telephone number for Coldwell Banker is 877-373-3829.

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