Right at the top of the list? Realogy: The parent company of Coldwell Banker, Century 21, ERA, Better Homes and Gardens, Sotheby's and more. (did you know that all of these companies are owned by the same entity?)
Let's look at a few facts here: First of all, Realogy was split off of a larger corporation, Cendant, a few years ago when the market was hot. The reasoning? Their real estate divisions were doing great and they thought it was a good time to spin off the company and get the money spinning it off. A private equity company called Apollo bought the company on April 10, 2007 using a HUGE amount of new debt. Big problem....they paid a price at the top of the market, and now the business is down significantly and paying the debt payment is getting harder and harder. They have tried to work things out with their lenders. (Private investors for the most part.) However, they have been unable to come to an agreement and even lawsuits to get the debt reorganized have failed. Now, in no way am I saying that the big real estate names are going to die. However, as they are known now, it is doubtful they will be a) owned by the same company and b) operate in the same way next year.
I am a data fiend and obviously I watch our comeptitors very carefully. Here is a link to public filings to the SEC by Realogy (Even though they are no longer a public company they are still required to report certain items.)
1 comments:
Nice and concise conclusion. The Realogy brands will continue on, but most likely under a different ownership structure and possibly separate structures. Most people forget that, except for the NRT offices, over 95% of the combined Realogy offices are independently owned, meaning that although they may share a brand name, they are in essence local businesses. Their umbrella parent company may change, but the individual companies (at least the ones that are running a good business model) will still be around, and still carrying the same brand name.
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