A sign maker reveals the new Real Living yard sign and brand that will replace the GMAC Real Estate brand and its thousands of for sale signs throughout the United States. (Photo: Business Wire)
Toronto-based Brookfield Residential Property Services has acquired Real Living Network Services, a real estate firm based in Columbus, Ohio, and will merge its GMAC Real Estate offices with Real Living in the U.S.
Real Living does not have any Canadian offices, and at this point the future of Canadian-based GMAC offices is unclear. Brookfield Residential Property Services is a division of Brookfield Asset Management Inc., the parent company of Royal LePage.
In a news release, the company says the move was set in motion late last year when Brookfield acquired GMAC Real Estate. Earlier this month, it acquired Real Living Network Services, a subsidiary of Real Living Inc.
“In Real Living, we found the ideal partner and brand for what we are hoping to accomplish with our real estate operations, which we are committed to building even further,” says Graham Badun, managing partner and CEO of Brookfield Residential Property Services. “We explored a number of options, including creating an entirely new brand from the ground up, but our customer feedback and research kept leading us back to Real Living. Both companies share many of the same core values and combined will be part of a bigger, stronger network of brokers and sales professionals.”
Badun says, “We are thrilled to have Real Living as our flagship U.S. real estate brand, and welcome Real Living’s 2,000 brokers and sales associates into Brookfield RPS’ North American real estate network of almost 30,000 real estate professionals. We look forward to further expanding the size of our network by adding new franchisees that are truly looking for something fresh and different, and we are excited about the opportunity to take the brand to new markets internationally.
Real Living’s Harley E. Rouda, Jr., a long-time real estate industry broker, owner, operator and franchisor, has been named president of the newly combined operations.
Real Living was founded in 2002.
“We brought a truly fresh approach to the industry earlier this decade when we launched Real Living as the first-ever consumer lifestyle real estate brand, and we will continue to do so by bringing new programs, services, support, training and technology, to our brokers and sales professionals,” Rouda, Jr. said in the news release. “There is an incredible need for a broker and agent-centric brand that is consumer-focused, yet managed by an experienced team that understands real estate. Combined, Real Living and GMAC Real Estate have that team as well as a truly differentiated brand,” he said.
