The Coldwell Banker Real Estate brand currently has offices on six continents, in 47 countries and territories. There are more than 600 Coldwell Banker Real Estate offices outside of the United States. However, the company started out with just one man's idea to provide for the customer unselfishly. Colbert Coldwell founded the company in 1906. The Great San Francisco earthquake had devastated his hometown and he was determined to help rebuild it.
A common practice of the day was for real estate agents to take advantage of vulnerable earthquake victims by offering to purchase their property for substantially less than market value and then reselling the property for strong profits. This created an extremely lucrative business for realtors, yet it hurt the victims and the industry as a whole. Colbert Coldwell, had great disdain for this practice and left his firm to form a new real estate company with a mission.
With the help of two associates, Colbert founded Tucker, Lynch and Coldwell. His new company would be based on a revolutionary philosophy: the client's best interest above all. In 1913, another real estate professional, Benjamin Arthur Banker, joined his team and in 1914, Banker was invited to become a full partner in the firm. In the 1920s another partner joined the firm and the newly renamed Coldwell, Cornwall and Banker moved to their new location in San Francisco.
Up until this time, Coldwell Banker Real Estate was primarily focused on commercial business. By 1937, the company had 7 offices in northern and southern California and had entered the residential business that same year.
After a comfortable expansion and steady growth for the previous 34 years, The Company was preparing to look forward to expansions beyond California. The company became Coldwell, Banker & Co, after Bruce Cornwall left in 1940 By 1950, Coldwell Banker Real Estate had entered the national real estate arena by opening an office in Phoenix, AZ, with further expansions into Seattle in 1969. In the 1970s, Coldwell Banker Real Estate acquired prestigious residential real estate firms in Atlanta, Chicago, and Washington, DC
In 1965, Arthur Banker passed away at the age of 81. In 1967, founder Colbert Coldwell, at the age of 84, also passed away. It is said he never retired from the company, continuing to work until his death Before their vast expansion across the USA, Arthur Banker would pass away in 1965 at 81 years old, and in 1967 Colbert Coldwell died at 84 years of age, working up to the time of his death.
The Sears Financial Network would acquire Coldwell Banker real estate company in the 1980s. The network already in place by Sears as a franchisor would help catapult the Coldwell Banker real estate company with locations all over the USA.
The Coldwell Banker real estate company had succeeded in opening offices in all 50 states by 1990 and beagn to llok to international expansion. The 1990s until the 21st century saw further expansion by Coldwell Banker Real Estate into the international markets and ultimately they were acquired by HFS, Inc, an international franchisor in the hotel and real estate business. HFS eventually spun off the Coldwell Banker real estate company into its Realogy division. Today, the Coldwell Banker real estate company, and its parent company Realogy, are involved in 25% of every residential transaction in the United States.
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