ERA Real Estate Announces Affiliation With Columbia River Realty; Expands Brand's Footprint in Pacific Northwest Region

ERA
Published: November 14th, 2019

November 14, 2019 // Franchising.com // MADISON, N.J. - ERA Real Estate, a global franchising leader, today announced the affiliation of Columbia River Realty, headquartered in Washougal, Washington, a growing riverside town with a strong community feel. With 30 independent affiliated sales agents, the company marks the brand's expansion into the vibrant Pacific Northwest market.

Established in 2013 by Charline Wright, a 14-year real estate veteran with a business career spanning four decades across multiple industries, the company will now serve clients as Columbia River Realty ERA Powered. The ERA Powered® branding model allows a company who has invested in building local brand equity to affiliate with the ERA® brand and have access to all it has to offer, while also going to market with its existing brand identity.

The Pacific Northwest has long been a popular travel destination and it has recently become a hotspot for relocation due to its beautiful landscapes and unique combination of city living, beach life, and mountainous areas. According to United Van Lines' 42nd Annual Movers Study, which tracks customers' state-to-state migration patterns, Washington and Oregon rank in the list of top ten inbound states in 2018.

Details:

• Columbia River Realty has helped more than 700 families buy or sell their homes since opening their doors in 2013. Company founder and principal broker Charline Wright attributes their success to hardworking affiliated agents, experience, high-level service, relationship building, and community involvement.
• The brokerage is outpacing the entire RMLS average in terms of performance. It is up 9.3% in transaction sides and 25.9% in sales volume over the last 12 months, while the RMLS is down 4.9% and 1.4% respectively.
• Charline and her team share their passion for their local community and strive to make their clients' real estate experience easy and affordable. The company is eager to maintain and extend their local client relationships with platforms and services like the ERA Buyer Follow-up Program, which helps affiliated agents stay "top of mind" with clients post-sale, and ERA® Moves, a program that allows affiliated agents to provide clients with exclusive offers, discounts and services.
• Charline's growth plans include opening additional offices in Clark and Skamania counties, and is excited to use ERA tools such as iProspect to help her company identify productive sales agents who are the right fit for her business as she builds out her teams in those areas.
• Columbia River Realty has the only brick-and-mortar real estate office in Washougal and is located in the heart of downtown. Their location helps strengthen their local market presence by providing convenient access to their client base as well as their local community, with whom they have a close relationship. Many local groups hold meetings in their conference room, and it's an annual drop off point for donations to the Washougal Schools Foundation fundraiser.
• Charline has deep family roots in the area, tracing to Louisa Wright, who was one of the first settlers and also the first female physician in southwest Washington. Wright attributes her as one of her personal and professional inspirations, taking pride in following in her footsteps to lead and provide for her community and those who live in it.

Quotes:

"Charline has built an amazing business with deep ties to the local community. With the ERA Powered® brand model, she can continue to build upon her local brand name recognition while benefitting from the support, training and technological infrastructure that only ERA Real Estate can provide. We look forward to working with her as she grows her business and strengthens her company's presence in this growing marketplace. We share Charline's commitment to the client experience, and we welcome her and her team into the ERA network."
- Sherry Chris, President and CEO of ERA Real Estate

"We've worked hard to build our business and our relationship with the community, and we're excited about tapping into the power of a national franchise while maintaining the feel of our friendly neighborhood brokerage. As we looked at ways to modernize and streamline efficiency for our growing business, we were at a point where we needed a robust marketing and operations toolkit. Affiliating with ERA gives us access to industry-leading resources and programs to improve our sales agents' efficiency, while freeing up more of their time to build stronger client relationships."
- Charline Wright, founder and owner of Columbia River Realty ERA Powered

About ERA Real Estate

At ERA Real Estate, we don't adapt to change, we create it. We believe that our core business values of collaboration, innovation, diversity and growth are needed now more than ever. As a global leader in the residential real estate industry for more than 40 years, ERA was the first real estate franchise to expand internationally, the first to post listings online, and is the only national company that offers the Sellers Security® Plan program.

The ERA Real Estate network includes 40,000 affiliated brokers and independent sales associates and approximately 2,300 offices throughout the United States and 31 other countries and territories. ERA Franchise Systems LLC (www.ERA.com) which operates the ERA Real Estate system, is a subsidiary of Realogy Holdings Corp. (NYSE: RLGY), a global provider of real estate services. ERA Real Estate information is available at www.ExploreERA.com.

Media Contacts:

Maggie Rohr
973-407-4027
maggie.rohr@teamera.com

Katharine Dunn
502-419-8507
kdunn@hudsoncutler.com

SOURCE ERA Real Estate