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Weekly UpdatesTHE BIGGEST OF RESIDENTIAL real estate agencies in Arkansas got bigger in a year that marked an end of a home sales boom. Crye-Leike Realtors pushed its 2008 sales volume in the state to $900 million (up from $837 million in 2007) as it remained No. 1.
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Among the top 10, only Keller Williams Realty of Little Rock joined Memphis-based Crye-Leike in reporting sales gains in 2008. The firm moved from No. 11 and $128.2 million in 2007 to No. 7 and nearly $141 million.
Accompanying the sales slowdown were consolidations and closings. Six of the 40 largest firms joined forces through mergers.
The biggest during the past 12 months was the late December 2008 sale of Coldwell Banker Advantage Realty to Rector Phillips Morse.
At its peak, Coldwell Banker Advantage Realty ranked as the third-largest residential real estate agency in the state for 2007, with a $323.8 million sales volume and 208 licensed agents and brokers.
The combination of the two Little Rock companies produced Coldwell Banker RPM and solidified the position of Rector Phillips Morse as a leading residential player. Founded in 1955 by William F. Rector, RPM is a mainstay among central Arkansas realty firms.
Coldwell Banker Advantage, which opened in February 2001 with 14 agents, was founded on the purchase of Coldwell Banker McKinney & Co. Realtors in west Little Rock. Led by Wayne and Paulette Richie, the firm stayed on the acquisition trail to amass market share in central Arkansas.
During its nearly eight years of operations, the company grew to become the third-largest residential real estate firm in Arkansas and No. 91 among Coldwell Banker franchisees nationwide.
The 10 buys ranged from six-agent shops to large operations. Among the deals were the Cabot office of Jacksonville-based Bart Gray Realty in 2003, Real Estate Central in North Little Rock and Bart Gray Realty of Jacksonville in 2004, Coldwell Banker Alliance at Hot Springs Village in 2005, Arnett & Associates Realtor of Cabot and Rainey Realty of Little Rock in 2006 and Coldwell Banker Alliance Realty of Hot Springs in 2007.
"We realized there were too many players in the market for its size," Wayne Richie said. "Sometimes the reality comes that it's better to seek out someone to merge with, to combine forces and make a stronger company."
That scenario was repeated in northwest Arkansas in July 2008 when Benchmark Real Estate of Lowell was folded into Griffin Co. Realtors of Springdale. The merged operations ranked Griffin Co. No. 15 with a 2008 sales volume of $95.2 million.
In 2007, Griffin Co. ranked No. 12 ($125.2 million), and Benchmark ranked No. 39 ($43.3 million). That combination would have ranked No. 7 in 2007.
"What it's allowed me to do is spend more time on sales and listings," said Rick Hawes, who led Benchmark. "That is what I prefer to do, instead of management, which used to take up 30 to 40 percent of the day."
Hawes opened Benchmark in August 2003 as the primary broker, and most of the company's agents accompanied him in the move to Griffin.
"When you have double overhead and someone has extra space, it makes sense to merge," he said. "And when it's a tighter market, you have to do what you have to do."
This month, the two largest Saline County residential realty firms merged to create Baxley-Penfield-Moudy Realtors. The new firm represents the combination of Phillips Moudy Duke Real Estate of Benton and Penfield Real Estate of Bryant. The 2008 sales volume of the two companies would have ranked No. 19.
"We've flirted with this for awhile," said Tom Baxley, principal broker. "We've been talking about this on and off for three or four years. We just didn't get all the pieces put together until this year."
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Little Rock's Chenal Properties slipped out of the top 50 in 2008, with a sales volume of more than $16.6 million. The company, which focuses on upscale Chenal Valley lots in west Little Rock, ranked No. 38 with a 2007 sales volume of $43.7 million.
Mi Casa Real Estate Co. of Springdale (No. 49 in 2007 at more than $32.1 million) also slid out of the top 50. Its 2008 sales volume was $15.6 million. Cooper Homes Realty in Hot Springs Village (No. 46 in 2007 at more than $35 million) simply closed its sales office in 2008.
Slackened residential sales in 2008 saw a return to the $5 million threshold to qualify for the top individual sellers list. The baseline was $5.5 million in 2007, which drew more than 200 agents from across Arkansas. For our team sales list, $10 million remained the minimum.
Casey Jones of The Janet Jones Co. in Little Rock stayed atop the list of the top-selling residential agents with $28.6 million, and Meza Harris, who works out of the Rogers office of Lindsey & Associates, led the biggest-selling sales team at $28.6 million.
The real estate community double counts the sale of a house in recognition that the buyer and seller are often represented by different agents and companies.
The doubling reflects a system that rightfully acknowledges two sides to every transaction. However, instead of dividing the sales price of a property between the buyer's agent/company and the sale's agent/company to determine sales volume, both agents and companies get credit for the entire amount.
If a $100,000 house sells and one company is home to both the listing and selling agents, the company is credited with $200,000.
With this backdrop, the real world dollar total of houses sold is more like half the sales volume reported by companies and agents. Take 7 percent of that total to get a feel for what that translates into in terms of commission revenue--money that actually flows through firms and agents.
By George Waldon
george@abpg.com
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