Real Estate Franchises: Most Recognizable Brands for 2009

Not sure if it has been blogged on AR before... 

So here it is, the Top 10 real estate franchises, most recognized by the real estate industry as quality national brands are:

Keller Williams Realty Coldwell Banker Real Estate RE/MAX International Century 21 Real Estate Prudential Real Estate Sotheby's International Realty EXIT Realty ERA Real Estate Weichert Real Estate Affiliates Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate

Survey methodology:
The poll was conducted online within the United States between December 3rd and December 11th, 2009 among 11,355 real estate professionals.

The franchises that made it to the Top 5 were to be expected and are also the five largest real estate franchises in the country. The Top 5 also comfortably attracted more votes than the second five on the list, strongly pointing to the industry's own internal belief  that these are the top five franchise brands that agents would like to work for.

Keller Williams Realty's surprising #1 ranking was most likely due to the strong, above average online and social media presence of their agents and the fact that during 2009 Keller Williams Realty surpassed RE/MAX in agent count according to a widely published REAL Trends survey..

The 103-year old Coldwell Banker franchise has been the beneficiary of many NRT, Inc. acquisitions that have allowed the brand to remain at the forefront of many agents in a positive way.  RE/MAX with their powerful consumer portal has also enjoyed the highest profile on national television of all the brands, thereby probably contributing to their high ranking.

Most interesting was the strong showing of Sotheby's International Realty at #6, ahead of ERA Real Estate (a more established brand in real estate) and EXIT Realty (a more bolder promoter).  The ranking was most likely attributed to the luxury homes image that many agents attach to the brand.

Long standing independent and northeast-based regional Weichert REALTORS converted to a franchise seven years ago and has steadily grown.  Impressively it was able to break into the top 10 as a recognizable national brand.

Also surprising was the fact that newcomer Better Homes & Gardens squeezed out companies like Realty Executives, John L Scott and Windermere (both still regional players) to claim the last spot in the Top 10. This was most likely attributable to the recent news that 2,000-agent Metro Brokers switched from GMAC to BH&G as well as a few other key acquisitions.

Article from REtrends.com
More on that survey...

Catherine "Cathy" Chaudemanche
Real estate agent & Realtor associate
Agent Leadership Council
Keller Williams Realty / Middlesex County market center