Coldwell Banker is adding a new affiliate comprising more than 1,300 agents in Southern California.
Known as Coldwell Banker Envision, the team spans Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Orange Counties, with 14 offices across markets such as downtown Los Angeles, Long Beach, Huntington Beach and Hacienda Heights.
Luis Carrion, a commercial real estate professional, is the CEO and owner of the affiliate. Though he specializes in the commercial sector, his agents work in residential, luxury and commercial real estate.
Carrion and his teams are joining Coldwell Banker after about two and a half years under Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, another brokerage. Before that, Carrion spent more than 10 years at Coldwell Banker. The decision to return to the brand comes amid broader industry changes, Carrion told Homes.com in an interview.
"It took me a lot of time, a lot of research to talk to the different brands out there," he explained. "The real estate market is changing, right? The way the technology, the online brokerages and things like that have created a lot of changes in dynamics for real estate people."
That said, Coldwell Banker's nearly 120-year history was a big draw for Carrion.
"It's a brand that still remains very strong," he said. "It aligns with my principles of the personal touch with the agent."
One of the biggest changes in the real estate industry right now is the pending merger of two of the biggest brokerages: Compass and Anywhere, which is Coldwell Banker's parent company. Carrion said the deal wasn't a determining factor for his move, though he sees it as a positive signal for the industry at large.
All told, Carrion says he sees the move to Coldwell Banker as an opportunity for both agents and clients who will now have access to a vaster network.
"Internally, obviously, our operations are still being driven by agents and clients," he said. "At the larger scale, there are a lot more opportunities for growth because there are more opportunities to create better technology. There is more, basically, funds to do more things...At the end of the day, you become part of a larger network."